Tradescantia pallida: A Versatile and Easy to Care for Edible for Your Florida Garden

Tradescantia pallida, also known as Purple Heart, is a beautiful and versatile plant that can be grown both indoors and outdoors. It is native to Mexico and has a trailing habit, making it perfect for potted planters or ground cover. Tradescantia pallida is also relatively easy to care for, making it a great choice for beginner plant owners.

Description

Tradescantia pallida is a perennial plant that grows to be about 6 inches tall. It has thick, fleshy stems that are covered in purple leaves. The leaves are oval-shaped and have a pointed tip. Tradescantia pallida produces small, pink flowers in the summer.

Cultivation

Tradescantia pallida is relatively easy to care for. It prefers full sun or partial shade and well-drained soil. Tradescantia pallida can be grown outdoors in USDA zones 9-11. In colder climates, it can be grown indoors as a houseplant.

To water Tradescantia pallida, water the soil deeply when the top inch of the soil is dry. Tradescantia pallida does not need to be fertilized often. However, you can fertilize it with a balanced fertilizer once a month during the growing season.

Prpagation

Tradescantia pallida can be easily propagated from stem cuttings or from divisions. To propagate from stem cuttings, take cuttings that are about 4 inches long and remove the bottom leaves. Dip the cuttings in rooting hormone and plant them in well-drained soil. To propagate from divisions, simply divide the plant into two or more pieces.

Benefits

There are many benefits to growing Tradescantia pallida. It is a beautiful plant that can add color to your garden or home. Tradescantia pallida is also relatively easy to care for, making it a great choice for beginner plant owners. It is edible to rabbits and ducks. Additionally, Tradescantia pallida is a versatile plant that can be used in a variety of ways. It can be used as a ground cover, in hanging baskets, or even as a houseplant. 

Problems

Tradescantia pallida is susceptible to a few pests and diseases. Aphids, mealybugs, and scale insects can all damage the plant. Additionally, Tradescantia pallida can be susceptible to root rot if the soil is too wet.

Conclusion

Tradescantia pallida is a beautiful and versatile plant that is easy to care for. It can be grown both indoors and outdoors and has a variety of uses. If you are looking for a plant that is both beautiful and easy to care for, Tradescantia pallida is a great option.

Muscadine Grapes

      One grapevine planted several years ago now yields more grapes than I can ever harvest. This year I was able to reach four quarts of grapes for eating. They are sweet and crunchy. You know they are ready to harvest when the grapes are soft and springy, if they feel hard then they need more time on the vine. They seem to last quite a while in the refrigerator. Yes Muscadine grapes have seeds in them unless you are able to get a variety without seeds. 

New Side Yard Garden

     After the neighbors put in their new plastic fence, I learned that I had a few more feet on that side of the yard. That would have been helpful to know before they cut down one of my while I was at work. 

     It took a lot of digging to remove the African Honeysuckle from that part of the yard. Months later I am still finding sprouts from buried canes that need to be ripped out.

     These gingers, taro, and the new moringa tree have all survived the winter and are well on their way to providing an excellent shade hedge.

     This picture was taken in December not long after the plants were put into the ground.
 

Cannas

     If you've met me, you probably know that I gush over cannas, my favorite root vegetable. And I have never eaten a single one other than the green leaves. 

    I was introduced to the fun and ease of growing bulbs and tubers when I briefly lived in Michigan, and the love of it has stayed with me with cannas, amaryllis, and taro. Cannas are my best, they have amazing flowers for months on end.

     Sadly, over the years my canna collection has been dying down, mostly due to neglect and cold winter weather. Im not going to pretend that I am a perfect person. I have three kids and a job, trying to fit in exercise and watering the plants has been rough.

     They absolutely need water in the summer to survive. The native Florida cannas, which I have none of, grow in boggy areas at the edges of ponds and lakes. I havent ever seen any growing in a river. Mine are in pots sunken into my ponds, many of which I built primarily for canna and water hyacinth culture. And yes, the rabbits love to eat cannas!

     My mother bought me these bright pink beauties for my birthday last year. Maybe I had told her how much I loved the pink ones with the big flowers. And these, like my few other pinks, appear to be dwarf cannas, not climbing the 8 feet like the nondwarf variety.

    Somehow these have not just survived, but thrived in the location that I placed them, chosen mostly for safety. They have been blooming since March, and its now almost June. The tubers are growing so large they have nearly broken the plastic pot holding them. The leaves have been yellowing, notbsurebif thats from packnof nutrition, the heat, or fromndyingbdownnat the end of the season. I want to divide the pinks and repot, but when I get a few minutes to take care of it I realize that they have sent up yet another flower. Which begs the question:

     Do tropical bulbs need to be separated after flowering is completed, or can you separate them and transplant at any time?

     

   

Piper auritum, Rootbeer Plant, Mexican Pepperleaf, Hoja Santa

    I found this beautiful plant at a plant sale at the local botanical gardens. One of the cute ladies there stopped me and said, "Are you sure you really want to buy that? It's invasive!"
     I looked down at the inncoent little plant. It had one seed leaf and one true leaf and a REALLY cheap price. Then I considered my scale of invasiveness (fucking bamboo at damn near the top, followed up quickly by burmuda grass and orange honeysuckle) versus her scale of invasiveness (who knows) and replied that yes, I was going to buy the edible invasive Mexican plant. I have other wonderful edible plants of Mexican origin, like the Cardinal Sage and the Agave Americana. What could go wrong?
     It took Rootbeer plant almost a year to start growing, but at the start of the rainy season it took off. Its still one compact plant, and hasn't sent out any runners that I can find. It has started to form the unusual white growths shown in the picture. I can't wait to see what happens with those.
     Culinarily, according to Wikipedia it is most commonly used to wrap food (meat and fish) in prior to steaming much as corn husks and banana leaves are used. It has safrole in it, the main ingredient in sassafrass, which is considered to be a carcinogen. So it appears that eating large amounts of Rootbeer plant is not a good idea, even though it is one of the main ingredients in mole verde and is used to make tea and add flavor to chocolate drinks.

     I have found that rootbeer plant does freeze down where it is planted in my front yard, but it came back in the spring. Its still a very compact plant, attractive, and smells fantastic.

Eat the Water Hyacinth

Raw

     If you want to grow your own food, you may have to open up to the idea of eating some fruits and vegetables that are not commonly found at the grocery store. And if you live in Florida, you're going to be working with a whole different plant set and growing season changes than them Yankee gardeners. All this flexibility in diet isn't easy, most people eat the foods that they were raised eating and find trying new foods to be difficult.

     Water hyacinth is my new favorite local food. It's a water plant that grows in warm water, and is well known for how quickly it creates baby plants. In the past it has been used to pull toxins out of water sources, indeed, water purification is one of it's advantages. After I had added it to my pond the water instantly cleared and the fish became visible. Because the pond water is kinda yucky, I feel that water hyacinth should always be cooked, and I handle it like it's contaminated with E.coli (as it may be after the great manure spill of 2016). 

     According to Green Deane, the best way to eat water hyacinth is to stir fry, and I completely agree. With oil and garlic preferably. It has a taste not dissimilar from some good fresh green beans, which are hard to come by nowadays. The texture is decidedly different, as the air bulbs are crunchy and airy, like eating potato chips, and can be a bit chewy. Overall I would say that water hyacinth is quite palatable.

     Water hyacinth is very different from other fruits and vegetables. Because it is so unusual I couldn't get the kids to try it, what a shame! It's so easy to grow in the pond - right plant, right space - that is seems to be ever bearing. Like ever bearing crunchy green beans! Even if the kids never eat it, I know I can eat it and the rabbits do quite enjoy the green bits (they won't eat the roots.)

     This video talks a little bit about how water hyacinth is used at this lake to feed local livestock, including chickens.

 

Monarda punctata, Horsemint, Spotted Bee Balm

   I was at the forest garden and snapped a nice picture of an interesting looking flower near the road that I had never seen before. It was growing under the edge of shade from trees but also getting a few hours of sunlight as it was near the road. To me, these are among the harshest conditions known to plants.
     Then later I found an article on social media put out there by the Pasco County UF IFAS office that touted the horn of beebalm. It specifically mentions how the flowers of beebalm herald the beginning of Florida's fall wildflower season. What it neglected to mention in detail was beebalm's edibility and medicinal uses, plus the fact that it's a native that grows with no irrigation!
     Green Deane says it has more thymol than the other mints. It can be used as a cough suppressant, an antihelminthic, anti-inflammatory. He also says that it can make a sedating tea. Which might be good if you have a cough.

     On Archive, there is actually a book discussing the production of thymiol using beebalm, and breaks down the costs by acre. It's an interesting read. The information from 1916 is still every bit as true today, even if our currency's value has changed over the years.
     I have often thought about the value of creating herbal teas and tisanes to treat some common ailments. Dehydration would be necessary, of course, along with a delivery system such as tea bags. Beebalm would be a great herb to start out with, as it is medicinal, safe, and native.

Wild Coffee, Psychotria Nervosa

     I like to call this plant Psycho Coffee, because it's just more fun to say. I bought this several years ago from the Nature Coast Botanical Gardens, and it has thrived with no care at all. When I planted it back then I heeded the advice of IFAS and put it in the full shade, where it doubled in height and width and produced two seedlings. The seedlings also thrived in the full shade with no care, no watering, nothing.

     Psycho Coffee is native to Florida, and Florida is its only home. It's hardiness is from 10B to 11, but it's growing well in the full shade in my 8A front yard. I happened to be at the Pasco County Earth Day celebration, and there was a gentleman there from the Florida Native Plant Society and he had some for sale, so I picked up another one and supported the Society. I have also spotted it growing as a huge bush at the entrance of the Boyd Hill Nature Preserve in St. Petersburg.
     Psycho coffee propagates by seed, and I have found that the easiest way to propagate it is to dig up seedlings and put them where you want them.
     The berries are edible, and have a large seed in them. They don't taste good. Flowers attract butterflies and the fruits attract birds. Some say that members of the coffee family contain a hallucinogen called dimethyltryptamine, but it is unknown if Psycho Coffee has that chemical. It's called Psychotria nervosa for the prominent ribbing on the leaves.
     Definitely a keeper because edible fruit, beautiful flowers that bloom for months and attract pollinators, requires no care or watering, and loves full shade.

Morning Glory, Ipomea purpurea

     Wikipedia says that Ipomea is a large family of over 500 flowering plants, which include many species called Morning Glory, Sweet potato, moonflower, and water spinach.

      Many of the Morning Glories contain alkaloids, making them not palatable and possibly toxic. Some say that the seeds of certain Morning Glory species contain psychoactive compounds. Obviously this area needs more research; however, it was enough of a problem that Louisiana banned the production of Morning Glories outside of ornamental purposes.

   Plants for a Future lists Ipomea purpurea as not edible, but does address the medicinal or hallucinogenic quality of some seeds.

 
     So possibly edible, possibly toxic. Probably something I will not continue growing on in the future, in favor of better plants, like its cousin Sweet Potato.

Tradescantia, Spiderwort 2019

     After several years of encouraging the spread of Spiderwort all over my little place, I have finally achieved sizable plantings. Enough extra Spiderwort that I could sell some at my future nursery, or bring some to the Fortress of Solitude.

     I really like Spiderwort. It sprouts in the Spring and blooms for months. It is one of the few native edible succulents, heck, I can't think of another. I once took the flowers and dyed them onto Easter eggs. There are so many reasons to keep Spiderwort around. Read my original post about Spiderwort HERE.

Cannas, surprisingly beautiful

     Came home from my so-called job to find these beauties in my back yard. I have them growing in a standard nursery pot that is sitting in a larger clay pot that has no drainage holes. It usually is filled with a few inches of water. They say cannas like to have their feet wet, and that definitely seems to be the case around here.
     Cannas are edible, and I have eaten the leaves, which have a mild flavor but are chewy. Would be an excellent base for a salad but I wouldnt use them for lettuce wraps. I haven't yet tried the roots.
     This is a plant that can be found at many nurseries. I have even seen them for sale at Meijers in Michigan, what a sight for sore eyes. They are distinctive and come in several varieties, including variegated and purple-leaved.

The Ginger Family

     While trying to discern if Stromanthe was a type of ginger, learned a few things:
     -The ginger order (Zingiberales) is a large one, including 68 genera.
     -Most members of Zingiberales are herbacious perennials with rhizomatous root systems (Wikipedia).
     -Straight from Wikipedia, the families of Zingiberales include
          -Cannas
          -Costus Spiral Gingers
          -Heliconias
          -Orchidantha
          -Musa Bananas
          -Maranta Prayer Plants
          -Strelitzia Bird of Paradise
          -Zingiber Gingers
     Most of the members of the Zingiberales Order are tropical or subtropical. Cannas are native to the new world, while most Zingiber gingers are native to Asia.
     Zingiberoides members have adapted to Southeast Asia's monsoonal climate, becoming dormant in the dry season as underground fleshy rhizomes. Marantas, Heliconias, and Cannas have adapted to swampy areas and have their rhizomes rooted underwater.
     Asarum canadense "wild ginger" of Eastern North America is actually not a ginger, and is not edible. If eaten it causes permanent kidney damage as it contains aristolochic acid. Try saying that 5 times fast.
     Members of the Maranta family can have Rosmarinic acid, a caffeic ester. Arrowroot is a member of the Maranta family. So is Stromanthe, so it is possibly edible and possibly awesome.

Red Sugarcane, Saccharum officinarum

   Last fall I took a road trip to a nursery called A Natural Farm, at Howie in the Hills, Florida. They had many interesting plants, which pleased me very much, including many that I already owned. I ended up buying three sugar cane rooted cuttings, and planted all three in the back yard. The back is sheltered from frost and winds, as best as I can make it. These are some pictures taken shortly after planting.

     Wikipedia says that sugarcane is the worlds most produced crop by quantity. It also says that sugarcane is a true grass. It is propagated by stem cuttings that must contain at least one bud. These three are stem cuttings.
     IFAS recommends cutting linger stalks into 6 bud seed pieces ( about 2-3 feet long) and planting that. Also, "Single node pieces, which contain a single bud, can be planted in pots or trays and later transplanted at the target site."

Salvia splendens

     I bought this little beauty on sale from one of the big box stores in the springtime. Clearly the shoppers there had passed it over for showier selections. It was significantly rootbound, with hardly any soil remaining in its tiny two inch container. Aside from that indicator, it looked like it still might be worthwhile since my yard has been very successful with tropical or cardinal sage. This picture was taken about two weeks after planting, shocking how much fuller the leaves became once they had a little bit of room to grow!

   Multiple internet sources say that Salvia splendens is native to Brazil and is a tender perennial that can't stand a freeze. Perhaps that is why it was looked over, it may have to be potted up in the winter and cuttings taken. Salvias can be propagated by cuttings and by seeds, but some varieties are not true to type.
     The internet is conflicted on whether Salvia splendens is edible or not. I will have to try it out on the rabbits, then watch them closely for hallucinations. Just in case.

Texas Sage, Scarlet Sage, Tropical Sage, Salvia coccinea

     It's hard to believe how many flowers this plant has over the course of the growing season. I feel like it blooms if it gets any amount of watering. I have even taken to trimming off the spent branches after the seeds have been thrown off to encourage more blooms. I feed the branches to the rabbits, of course.

   Texas sage is a tender perennial native to Mexico but found in Florida and other parts of the Southeast. It can freeze to the ground in the winter time, and I have lost several plants that way.  I have also lost a few plants to irregular watering. It is edible, has a bitter taste which is good for flavoring chicken. It is in the same family as the hallucinogenic sage, but it is unknown if Texas Sage has hallucinogenic properties. Maybe you can tell me?

    Propagation of Texas sage is primarily done by seed, but I suppose you could do cuttings of new growth if you were desperate. Texas sage is woody, so follow the same cutting directions as if you were making rosemary cuttings. I like to do nothing to propagate Texas Sage, and then later find seedlings in unexpected places, and I move the seedlings to where I want the plants to grow. The seedlings transplant easily.
     Flowers can either be red, pink, white, or possibly other colors I have never seen. Red is the most successful in my garden, but that could be because I have had red the longest. It gets visited by a variety of creatures including hummingbirds and bees.

Shell ginger

     Native to Eastern Asia, Alpinia zerumbet (Shell Ginger) is an amazing addition to any permaculture garden. It thrives with very little water and deep shade.
     It is edible, with the leaves being used to wrap rice dishes and rice cakes. Tisanes are made with ground leaves, stems, and roots. It is considered to have many antioxidants and to lower blood pressure.

    According to this study, Shell Ginger has many effects including antimicrobial (against E. coli), antiparasitic, insecticidal, anti-cancer, antiproliferative, antiinflammatory, analgesic, antiallergic, neuroprotective, and antioxidant properties. It has a proven efficacy against HIV virus and against neuroaminidase enzymes (Influenza viruses). Phytochemicals in Shell Ginger inhibit oxydative stress in adipose cells, and contribute to lipolysis. The phytochemicals also decrease intracellular triglycerides, which limits fat cell production/growth. A chemical in the roots called labdadiene inhibits glycation, preventing glycation related diabetic complications. Essential oils, specifically terpenin-4-ol, relax smooth muscles and decrease blood pressure.

     Apparently Shell Ginger is the local superfood that no one knows about! And here I am telling everyone. The superfood outside the back door...
    Propagate gingers by lifting the rhizomes and dividing them. Plant the rhizomes at the same depth ad the parent plant, or closer to the surface when in doubt.  It should be about as deep as the rhizome is tall.

     It has been my experience that all gingers hate being disturbed, and may look poorly for a year or two after dividing. One source says that after a Shell Ginger produces flowers/seeds then thay stalk can be cut to the ground and the rhizome will send up a new shoot. If you do any cutting, the stems and leaves make great rabbit food. Indeed, they think it's a treat! The cut leaves also have a wonderful aroma, not unlike a mixture of cardamom and ginger. Not too bad in a smoothie either.

Found Opuntia

     I feel like it's Christmas in the Springtime. When I was planting the Yucca filamentosa on the easement boundary of the new place I found several beautiful, native Opuntias growing there. I wonder if the previous owner planted them or it was just a fortuitous accident?

Opuntia placed using the STUN method, update

  It has been about two months since I planted all those tunas at the new property. They look great considering no rain and no care, right?
     It won't be too long, maybe another 6 months, and I will place them around the border of the new garden. It will be just one layer of fencing around my fortress of solitude.

Gratuitous Flower Pictures

Fortress of Solitude - Building a Moat

     Other than the Prickly Pear cacti that ai am propagating for my moat, I also have plans to use Yucca filamentosa as an additional barrier. If the yuccas were spaced appropriately it would be enough danger to stop most large animals, in theory. No deer preying on my garden!
    I planted out some of the immature yuccas from my house with enough spacing in between them for a row of prickly pear and then Agave americana on the inside row. Of the three aforementioned species Agave americana is the moat useful to me at the moment, as a leaf from it needs no adulteration in order to feed the rabbits. They like it! So having agave on the inside seems to make sense to me at the moment, even if I am sick from a cold and sleep deprived.
     Here is the beginning of the plant fence near the road.