Johann's Garden

The following are my comparative observations of the various myoga ginger ( Zingiber mioga ) cultivars currently available in the United States. Clones currently found in the United States: 'Japanese Cream' - This was long circulated without a cultivar name, being simply sold and traded as myoga.  This appears to be the old (mostly) sterile pentaploid Japanese form of myoga ginger.  At my nursery I designate this plant as 'Japanese Cream' due to the cream color of it's flowers and to distinguish it from the other cultivars which are now available.  Since it seems to be one of the most widely circulated clones in the United States I will use it as a reference point when comparing the others. 'Crûg's Zing' buds developing 'Crûg's Zing' - This is a clonally propagated selection which was brought back from Je-ju Island in South Korea.  In this region the  Zingiber mioga  population is tetraploid and fertile which means that they reproduce both b...

Note: The early months of 2022 have produced the most erratic winter weather I've seen since I began growing pomegranates.  I've already confirmed a number of plants in my garden which normally overwinter fine have died (including at least one native species).  We're in need of some first hand data for what pomegranates will both grow reliably here as well as produce worthwhile crops of fruit.  While it's easy to find nurseries selling pomegranates of various cultivars with claims that they will be fine in our area, it is NOT easy to find people who are actually growing and fruiting those same cultivars around here.   Now, I'm not willing to simply trial any and every pomegranate I can get my hands on.  Because we don't have long hot summers it's best to stick with trialing cultivars which already have a reputation for being early ripening as this intuitively seems like a good approach.  However, because there is very little information available about...

The following is a record of "hardy" Passiflora s I've trialed in my Pacific Northwest, USDA zone 8a climate with wet winters and lots of freeze thaw cycles (as opposed to places that freeze and then stay frozen till spring).  Passiflora incarnata (un-named purple flowered selection) - received as root cutting via ebay seller.  The cutting did produce a vine, but it ultimately failed to thrive and did not overwinter. Passiflora incarnata (un-named white flowered selection) - received as root cutting via ebay seller.  The cutting did produce a vine, but it ultimately failed to thrive and did not overwinter. Passiflora incarnata (seedlings grown from Tradewinds Fruit seed) - I successfully grew two seedlings from this seed source, but after a couple years I culled one because it did not match the vigor of the other in bouncing back from the roots each spring.  The seedling which I did keep has finally set fruit in its third year (due to lack of available cross pol...