Tropical Garden Home Page Click Here

Tamarind Tree Lysiloma sabicu or Tamarindus indica or Leucaena leucocephala or Leucaena glauca or Mimosa leucocephala or Acacia leucocephafa
No matter how you identify it, this is a wonderful tree bearing four to six inch brown lumpy and a little hairy pods with sticky tamarind paste and seeds enclosed. In good times hundreds of these pods hang all over the tree. Over the years the trees will grow to be from thirty to eighty feet tall and will be about two thirds as wide as they are high.
Planting & Growth: Tamarinds like good loamy soil and lots of rain. On the down side they don't grow very quickly, but on the up side they are resistant to heavy winds which in Montserrat is a a genuine blessing. Full sun is their favored location, though they will put up with a bit of shade. When young they do like being fertilized.

For More Information: http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/tamarind.html
Text and Photograph Copyrighted © Krika.com 2008

THYME

Thyme (French Style) Herb Thymus vulgaris L. or Curcuma procumbens
This type of thyme is preferred here in Montserrat, although it is difficult to grow, less flavorful than the Caribbean thyme described below and more often than not it is unavailable. The latter thyme is also a much more attractive plant which can be easily incorporated into a flower garden and it takes well to being planted in a natural (uncemented) rock wall.
Benefits: Thyme has many uses apart from its flavorful contributions in the kitchen. As a tea it is used effectively to treat everything from coughs and colds to headaches and hangovers.
Text Copyrighted © KO 2008

**Spanish Thyme, Broad-Leaf-Thyme, Cuban Oregano, Indian Borage, Allspice (Montserratian name) Plectranthus amboinicus
This is truly a wonderful plant. It is extremely easy to grow, performing more like a weed than a valued plant and it tastes better than French thyme! WOW, it doesn't get better than that! Aside from using it fresh from the garden in anything we are preparing that calls for thyme, we use very thin slices of its fleshy somewhat hairy light green leaves in salads and they are delicious.
Planting and Growth: These fleshy plants are easy to grow and to propagate. In the tropics pick a semi shady location for summer plantings or a sunny one for the winter. Take a six inch cutting from a healthy plant and stick it in decent soil. Give it some water and it will be off and running. These plants are heavy feeders, so don't stint on the fertilizer, compost or manure when you can get it. After letting the original plant grow for a year, take a cutting and start over. These plants seem to age more quickly than most, loosing their beautiful appearance.
Benefits: This thyme is also used as a tea in Montserrat, but we don't know yet what the health benefits are apart from those we derive from having a lovely cup of tea.
Text and Photograph Copyrighted © Krika.com 2008

**Ti Plant, Hawaiian Ti Leaf Cordyline fruticosa or Cordyline terminalis
The bright red and deep pink leaves of this plant add color to a shady garden. The fact that it is a great survivor as well puts it high on my list of favorites! This very colorful leafy plant can grow to a height of about twelve feet. Its leaves are about fifteen inches long and are an appealing blend of purple and hot pink.
Planting and Care: This plant prefers bright shade to come into its own and it is very receptive to regular rainfall, but doesn't need it to be beautiful.
Landscape Architecture: This is a perfect plant for a shady location as its color will add spice to a mainly green environment.
Text and Photo Copyrighted © KO 2008

Tin Roof Tree See The "G" Page Groundleaf

**Tomatillo Physalis ixocarpa or Physalis philadelphica
This wonderful very sensitive and attractive perennial plant produces the "green tomato" so essential in Mexican cuisine. Its growth habit resembles the normal red tomato in some ways, but it does become a rather large plant in a short time if all goes well and in so doing it produces lots of tomatillos. When ripe these are light green roundish fruits covered in the peculiar tomatillo papery wrapping. Slip off the covering to find the green tomato which before washing has a slightly greasy feel. After washing, tomatillos are usually cooked and included in an upcoming meal, either as a broth base to a stew such as clamoli, or a "gravy" to a dish such as queso cilantro, or simply as a green salsa for tacos or whatever meal you may be enjoying. They are delicious and once cooked they can be frozen for future use.
From: Mexico
Planting and Growth: If you have a lot of seeds, plant them directly in the garden where germination will be very limited as is usual here in the tropical Caribbean. With access to few seeds, I always use a starter soil mix that I make and get the seeds off and running as small plants before I set them out in the garden. The tomatillo may be treated much as a tomato plant and is subject to the same pests and diseases. They are very vulnerable to dustings of volcanic ash and to the acid rain that we often get here in Montserrat because of the activity of the Soufriere volcano. Tomatillos may be staked as you would with tomato plants, but in our location the high winds seem to tear staked plants apart. So, instead of staking, I lay flexible seed starter trays on the ground and lay the tomatillo laden branches on them to keep them from direct contact with the soil. This has proved much easier than staking and much more productive as our plants do not suffer as badly in the high winds.
Text Copyrighted © KO 2007

**Tomatoes Lycopersicon lycopersicum
I consider the tomato one of my essential foods. Red ripened in the garden or field, there is just nothing better. In New England I canned dozens of quart jars each year to enjoy in the coming winter. I could and have eaten them every day of my life that I could find freshly grown ripe red ones. Like so many of our favorite plants, they originated in Central and South America.
Benefits:
1)The luscious fruits of the tomato plant are also beneficial to the skin. Force a tomato through a sieve and apply the pulp and juice directly to your skin.
2) Tomatoes are highly nutritious, provide many of the amino acids needed for protein synthesis, including lycopene which is believed to help prevent several forms of cancer.
3) A diet including cooked tomatoes has been linked to a reduced risk of prostate cancer and other digestive tract cancers.
From: Central and South America
Varieties Suitable for Tropical Climates: Two of our favorites are Calypso, a small round tomato, and Sweet 1000 the best of the cherry tomatoes we've ever had. Each of these does well in Montserrat. Surprisingly, we visited the greenhouse of a local farmer, Daniel James, and he showed us his beautiful stand of "Rutgers" plants ladened with green tomatoes for the second or third time according to Daniel.

PROBLEMS

Blossom End Rot
This very strange problem occurs when there is a calcium deficiency along with an excess of nitrogen or water. Nitrogen in the form of ammonia especially is a major suspect in causing the problem. The solution is not difficult and you need not remove plants or plant materials as there is no disease component to the problem. First begin watering the soil regularly so there are no extremes of soil moisture levels. Second, test the pH of your soil if you can or simply add lime at the following rate: 1/2 pound of lime for every 10 square feet of garden space. This should raise the soil pH by one number. If the problem persists, do a second lime treatment and wait awhile to see what happens. Regular watering and raising the pH of the soil should do the trick. This process worked like a magic trick for our tomatoes and we'll now be using it with our green pepper plants which have had the same problem.

Surprisingly here in Montserrat where we have an extreme acid rain and acidic volanic ash situation there is no lime of any kind available to farmers or backyard gardeners. Go figure when we have six just under US $20,000 Department of Agriculture financed greenhouses awarded to local farmers. Can you imagine greenhouses in the Caribbean?

Links for blossom end rot information:
http://pubs.caes.uga.edu/caespubs/horticulture/blossom-rot.html
http://gardenhobbies.com/plantproblems/blossomendrot.html
Text and Photograph Copyrighted © Krika.com 2008

**Tourist Tree See The "G" Page GUM TREE

Tree Fern Cyathea arborea (L.) J. E. Smith or Cyathea dealbata or Asparagus virgatus or Schizolobium Parahyba (from Brazil) or Dicksonia
Growing to 20 or 30 feet in height, this truly enchanting fern likes moisture and a shady environment. Native to the Dutch East Indies, they like a shady place and moist, humus rich soil.
Text Copyrighted © KO 2007

Tree Hibiscus See The "M" Page MOUNTAIN MAHOE TREE

Tropical Almond Tree See The "A" Page ALMOND TREE

Tropical Gardening Links See The "L" Page -- LINKS and REFERENCES FOR TROPICAL GARDENING

Tropical Plants, Seeds and Trees See The "L" Page -- LINKS and REFERENCES FOR TROPICAL GARDENING

Tumeric, Siam Tulip Curcuma longa
Tumeric grows most happily in a shady spot in the garden, but will tolerate some sun. It is fond of water and rewards us for good care with lovely funnel shaped yellow flowers.
Text Copyrighted © KO 2008

**Turks Cap Cactus Melocactus intortus
When young, turks caps closely resemble barrel cactus; when more mature they become quite distinctive, having a wide cone like form as you can see on your left. When flowering (after years) they have very tiny fluorescent hot pink flowers that you'll have to put your glasses on to appreciate as you can see on your right.
From: Tropical America
Text and Photographs Copyrighted © Krika.com 2008

Back One Page

Top Of Page

Next Page