I got on a gardening kick recently. I think it started with some seeds I
bought impusively while on vacation in Hawaii. My favorite flower was Bird
of Paradise and I love coffee, so I was going to grow them both (dream it:
grow, roast and brew my own coffee… lol). I’d never grown anything
before. I’m still waiting for them to sprout – it turns out that coffee
germinates for 6 months().

Anyways, having started there it expanded to Chives, Mint, Tyme, Chile
Peppers, Red and California Poppies. Then I bought a couple bromiliads and
a couple plants I haven’t been able to identify yet (including a bulb with
the most incredible orange flowers). It was all very Darwinian in
philosophy because space is limited to a window in my apartment: a whole
packet in one little pot and whatever takes over gets to live.

The edible stuff that wasn’t killed by trial-and-error was killed by that
hear wave a week ago (except the Chiles). I was a little sad, having
coaxed them along. But I’ve got a germination tray of two type of coffee
(Arabica and Kona) and there’s Hops, Chocolate Vine (it has flowers which
smell like chocolate!) stratifying in the refrigerator. The Desert Rose
seeds arrived in the mail last week.

It’s all a little been a botany experiment. Part of the exercise is to
learn enough about the plants from the net to take germinate, grow and
propagate them. I searched for several hours for seeds from a purple plant
coffee which I read about. No dice, but I learned plenty about the global
coffee trade.

Comparing the dried flowers from the unidentified-orange-flower-bulb with
the desert rose seeds leads me to suspect I may have successfully got it
to seed (I did pollinate it). I’d be delighted to have a few more pots of
that little wonder.

So there you go. One of my most recent projects is discovering my green
thumb.