One person's exotic crop, is another person's....potatoes! Potatoes are my exotic crop. Hey, don't laugh! I grew up with chayote squash but unable to grow potatoes (they do not grow well in the tropics). I did not realize until recently that: -potatoes will not form tubers in the heat. -potatoes need a low pH. How low? I have seen different figures. I guess I should start a thread on common (non exotic) crops. OK, so I managed to grow enough of them for one meal. This is terrible, because they were the best potatoes I ever tasted, and now I want more. I am trying again. I got enough potatoes (little bitty ones) that I can use them as seed. I will manage to grow potatoes some day. Some say it is easy. I started chayote squash in zone 10, now I will start again in zone 9. I even have a place for them. Very easy to start, get some at grocery stores that do not treat their produce. I got mine at a Mexican food store. It started growing sprouts all by itself, sure looks like an alien type of veggie. Very interesting indeed. I like it in creole dishes, if I call it mirliton then it really sounds exotic even to me! Some more: Methi greens (just use the fenugreek seeds from Indian stores). Aloo methi, yum yum.... Gai lan. I love it but it did not do too well for me. Should I try again? Pak choi. This does great and I will continue to grow them. I would like bananas so I need to take a cutting and transplant or something. I would prefer the plantain type of bananas. Some day I will manage to grow an avocado tree and get avocados. I am growing artichokes but this is not exotic to me, maybe to you? Corn! now that is exotic, not only in Europe but also in Los Angeles. Amaranth could be considered exotic? I grew it and now I have heaps of amaranth volunteers. I wanted it to reseed, but not that much!

Nice choices, Maria! Residence almost looks double, but it's hard to tell from the picture at Royal Colors' website... I really like Bogota, it's on my "wish list"... so is Supreme Garden, Pink Floyd, Santa Fe and a few others... I'm beginning to understand how this hobby quickly develops into a full-blown addiction! Every variety I see has merits that make it desirable... even the more common ones! I'm not so sure I'll be able to collect as slowly as I want to... the more I look at them all, the more I realize I want most of them!!! I can fully understand how and why Dizzy bought her latest unlabeled purchase! They're hard to resist! I even find the Crinum and Lycoris bulbs attractive, and some of the other rare types, as well... where does one draw the line?! I find that I'd really like to try to grow several types of Amaryllidaceae! This could get out of hand really fast! I'm running out of window space! Help... someone save me! :-)

Well, I received Gary's HUGE package today! I felt like it was Christmas! LOL! He shared so many beans, you should all thank him for his generousity! And please GARY, let me know of some varieties that you DONT have so I can send you back some good ones in return! sugarshane, gardenmom2, and Zebraman, if you do not mind, could you just send me an email or post to let me know that you are still in this and if your beans are sent out yet? No problems, just wanted to double check with the people who I have not seen active on the thead lately. Christy ***bonechickchris~Christy ***dirtdiggin~Toni ***booberry85~Becky sunnyk~Donna ***highalttransplant~Bonnie gardenmom2~Nichol ***grymntl~Bruce ***tormato~Gary sugarshane1313~Jim sassybutterfly 2008~Wendy ***dem pa~Don zebraman ***Daniel aka dirtdiggin Jr. luvgardening2/Nancy ***remy ***arroyogardener/Jamie ***reynal/Danny (*** seeds Received)

I grow everything from all over the world, together. I keep things from overwhelming their neighbors through pruning and careful placement of the larger ones. Eventually it will look like the jumbled mess that nature is up close. I am careful about leaf color and avoid anything that looks too civilized or has large over-hybridized flowers. So it is mostly natives of Mediterranean climates from around the world. I especially like things that spread by underground runners and self sow as long that they are not too vigorous. Most self-sowers can be kept under control by judicious deadheading and runner pulling. I avoid plants that have been labelled noxious weeds in our climate, even those that might not be a problem where I live. I have seen enough broom and pampas grass in the wild to want to perpetuate the problem.