Consumer Q&A: Exotic Plants

Q: I live in south Georgia, and we have quite a lot of palm trees in our landscapes. I have one that has ripe yellow fruits each year. It has fernlike fronds and is a full-grown tree. I really like it and want to treat it properly. My concern is what to do with the brown fronds that hang from the lower section. Do I cut these off?  If I do, at what length and at what time of year? Does it have any special fertilizer needs?

A: According to your description, your palm sounds like a jelly palm (Butia capitata). It is also called the wine palm and pindo palm.

The brown fronds on the lower section are dead and can be cut off at any time of year. You do not have to cut the dead fronds off, but you may want to do so to make the palm look neater. There is no rule about how far back to cut the dead fronds, just don't damage the trunk. Most people leave a few inches of stub and make all the "boots" uniform. Boots are the stubs of dead fronds that encircle the palm trunk. They create the cross-hatch pattern that is familiar on our native cabbage palmetto. The fronds are easy to cut off with a large pair of loppers. Leave the green fronds. They are manufacturing food for the tree. Be careful when you are on a ladder doing any kind of pruning!

Your jelly palm doesn't have any special nutrient or fertilizer needs. When it comes to fertilizer, too little is always better than too much especially with woody, mature plants. Jelly palms are naturally slow growing. You should not try to force a lot of growth with fertilizer, even when they are young. If you apply any fertilizer it should be in the late spring or early summer. Your tree probably doesn’t need any fertilizer at all.

Q: I saw a ‘Flying Dragon’ tree with lemon-like fruits in a catalog. Is it hardy in Georgia? Is the fruit edible?

A: ‘Flying Dragon’ is a variety of trifoliate orange (Poncirus trifoliata), the most cold-hardy member of the citrus family. It will grow throughout Georgia and even farther north. Unlike the regular form of trifoliate orange, ‘Flying Dragon’ has spiraling stems and curved thorns that give the appearance of a Chinese dragon taking flight.

Trifoliate orange is almost exclusively grown as ornamental for its dark green thorny branches, white flowers and attractive fruits.

Although the fruit is fragrant and citrusy, the pulp is extremely sour and chock full of seeds. We have heard of people using the fruit to make marmalade, but have never tried it ourselves.

The thorns of trifoliate orange are formidable. Back in the 1980s Fort Bragg was planting them as a barrier. We haven’t heard how successful the effort was, but a hedge of trifoliate orange is a lot more difficult to get through than barbed wire and would give even Brer Rabbit pause. Removing a thicket of trifoliate orange would be like going into battle against a syringe-laden army of octopuses. ‘Flying Dragon’ would be less dangerous since the thorns do not stick straight out, but it still needs careful handling.

Trifoliate orange is listed as an invasive species in some areas – a scary thought if you’ve ever accidentally bumped into one. For more information, see the Invasive Plant Atlas of the United States.

On a lighter note, branches of standard form of trifoliate orange are used in Christmas decorating to make gumdrop trees. The decorator removes the needle-like tips and sticks gumdrops on the thorns. The branches of the standard form and the contorted ‘Flying Dragon’ may also be used (with care, of course) in Good Friday and Easter floral arrangements to signify the suffering of Jesus.

Q: Can we grow ‘Fuyugaki’ and other oriental persimmons in Atlanta?

A: Yes. ‘Fuyugaki’ (sometimes simply called ‘Fuyu’) and most other oriental persimmon varieties will do well in all of Georgia, except perhaps the mountains. ‘Sheng’ is one of the most cold-hardy varieties and it would be a good choice for someone in the mountains who wants to give oriental persimmons a try. ‘Maekawa Jiro’ is also listed as a very cold-hardy variety that might work in the mountains.

‘Fuyugaki’ is the most popular variety of oriental persimmon. Other varieties you may want to consider include ‘Wase Fuyu’ (sometimes listed as ‘Matsumoto’), ‘Gwang Yang,’ ‘Hana Gosho,’ ‘Jiro,’ ‘Eureka,’ ‘Tanenashi,’ ‘Ichi Ki Kei Jiro,’ ‘Saijo,’ ‘Great Wall’ and ‘Kyungsun Ban-Si.’

Many oriental persimmons are sold bare-root although some nurseries do sell them in containers. The bare-root ones are shipped in late winter while the trees are still dormant. Get your order in soon.

Q: What is the “goya melon” I see on television infomercials that people on Okinawa eat? Can we grow it in Georgia? If so, where can I find seeds?

A: The “goya melon” you see on infomercials is Momordica charantia, more commonly known in this country as “balsam pear.”  It also goes by the names “bitter melon” and “bitter gourd.”

Balsam pear/goya melon is a tropical vine that likes full sun and fertile soil. It is easy to grow. If you can grow cucumbers or gourds, you can grow it. It has long been grown in America as an ornamental novelty. Thomas Jefferson grew it at Monticello.

The fruit is a bumpy curiosity that turns golden orange when ripe and splits open to reveal seeds covered with bright red pulp like a screaming Technicolor cucumber. The fruits are edible when green but supposedly toxic when ripe. The red pulp is edible, but the seeds are also supposed to be toxic. There is a similar species, Momordica balsamina, known as “balsam apple” that is less frequently grown and generally considered less ornamental.