What's Growing On?

Cardamom. Eletteria cardamomum. Anyone can grow it and it has the most sweet-smelling foliage that God has yet created. It grows from rhizomes but spreads out in the garden in slow motion, and is entirely manageable, in the manner of other rhizomatous plants such as lily-of-the-Nile (Agapanthus) and the common flag iris (Iris germanica). In its tropical habitat, it grows to a height of ten feet while in Los Angeles and the dry southwest, where it must be sun protected, it is content to be a ground cover that grows no taller than a foot or two. I must also note that Cardamom does not flower in Los Angeles because night temperatures are too cold. The big difference, in fact, between subtropical and tropical climates is night temperature. In the tropics, warm nights are typical and it is the lack of fluctuation between day and night temperature that allows tropical plants to flower.

There is much to be thankful for in the garden. Mostly, it's just the opportunity to become acquainted with extraordinary, selfless beauty. I see plants that keep putting out flowers, nearly 12 months of the year, with no fertilizer and barely any water. I have a perennial red salvia that is four foot tall by four foot wide. It is home to flocks of praying mantids and its foliage is redolent of musky mint. I also have a perennial hebe (HEE-bee), of similar dimensions that has, at this moment, a hundred lavender and white bottlebrush flowers, about one inch in size, and it just keeps blooming and blooming. These salvia and hebe plants themselves are not glamorous. However, their flowers make a statement not just about beauty, but about perseverance and legacy. For without flowers, there would be no seeds which, like children, might develop into a unique sort of individual never seen before.