Pruning and Preparing for Old Man Winter. Plant of the Day: Pineapple "Ananas colossus"

Fall Flower Show

The first snow flakes of this winter fell on my windshield on my way to the Conservatory this morning.  My first thoughts were how beautiful the tiny flakes looked as they fell from the dark gray overcast sky.  My subsequent thoughts were on the outside chores that I still needed to get done before old man winter digs his heels in to stay.  Always more work to get done.

The air temperature in the Conservatory reflected the freezing temperature outside.  The North Garden and the Palm Dome were warm, but the Sunken Garden and the Bonsai areas were very cool.

Despite the cool temps, there were some interesting things to see today.  In the Sunken Garden, a new flower show has started!  This is the Fall Flower Show and it includes some chrysanthemum varieties, ornamental grasses, and cute little ornamental pepper plants.  It is garnished with swiss chard plantings throughout the room.  The aroma is not as strong as with the summer flower show, but there is still a nice smell in the room.

Arabian Coffee Plant-Recently Pruned

Pruned Panama Rubber Tree

In the North Garden, I noticed that the gardners have been busy pruning many of the plants.  I’m dismayed to see that they hacked away at the top part of the beautiful coffee plants – the branches with all of the coffee beans, no less!  They cut back part of the Star Fruit tree (Averrhoa carambola), but left some of the star fruit for visitors to see. They also trimmed off the trunk section of the Panama rubber tree (Castilla elastica) that had died. Oh well, I know they’ll keep growing.  These are good things to do to help more light get to the understory plants.

Star Fruit Tree

The plant for day is the pineapple (Ananas comosus).  The pineapple, besides being delicious, is the most widely cultivated bromeliad in the world.  It is a herbacious perennial. Short stiff leaves surround the apex of the plant stem, eventually becoming the crown of the pineapple.  Pineapple is eaten all around the world.  It is canned, candied, juiced, eaten fresh or even fermented into a liquid for consumption.  Within pineapple fruit there is a protein eating enzyme called bromelain that has multiple uses – to tenderize meat, chill proof beer, tan leather and stabilize latex paint. 

Pineapple

Pineapple extracts are used in home remedies for skin issues like warts and can be found in some cosmetic skin treatments.  Pineapple juice has been used as a diuretic.  Pineapple fruit can help ease digestion discomfort.  Eating unripe pineapple can cause mouth and throat irritation.  Pineapple bran and chopped pineapple leaves can be fed to livestock.  As a fiber material, in some countries, chopped pineapple leaves are used to make nets or other textiles.

For more information (all websites accessed October 21, 2013):

http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=34

http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/pineapple.html

http://levins.com/pineapple.html