Not Just Another "Vanilla" Blog Post!

"Vision without action is daydream.  Action without

vision is nightmare."   - Japanese Proverb

     My personal time this summer is quite limited.  Historically, one of my favorite warm-weather activities is to garden.  I leave the vegetable gardening in the capable hands of my father, however.  I mean gardening in the sense that I like to raise flowers for my wife and tropicals for our back deck.  Growing up, my mother and father had, and still do, a greenhouse brimming with plants.  During the coldest winter months, one could go to the greenhouse, sit in a hollowed-out nook and almost hear the monkeys chattering in the embracing humidity.  Actually, many books have been read by my mother in that very space.  Having been surrounded by plants my entire life, I have gained a vast amount of knowledge by listening to my parents and working with my botanical "brothers and sisters" through the years.  This summer, I pulled our tropicals from their winter abode and placed them under the shade of nearby oaks.  One mustn't throw such over-wintered plants directly into the sun, unless you like the look of crispy, curled leaves!  Where this summer is different for me is seen in the fact that one-half of our tropicals are still under those trees.  Sure, they are happy.  Our back deck, however, looks a bit bare.  Mind you, Mandy is happy with bare this year, as a summer not too long ago saw two rows of criss-crossing Buddhist prayer flags gracefully blowing in the breeze.  Let me just reiterate: I am an eclectic guy.  A typical summer on our back deck would be framed with sprawling scheffleras, fragrant plumerias, ambitious spurge, French lavender, temperamental geraniums, stalwart petunias, an orchid cactus, and a potted pomegranate.  This summer?  Smatterings from that list.  Not with me this year, due to its happiness near the reassuring tropical conditions of the greenhouse, is my vanilla orchid.  What started out as a leggy cutting, became a emerald green behemoth and one of the favorites of my collection.  Not as many people as you would think know that vanilla comes from a type of orchid.  Thanks to Edmond Albius (1829-1880) and his innovation in the pollination of the vanilla orchid flowers, vanilla became an even hotter commodity through global cultivation.  From the trail-blazing Totonac people of Mexico, to the great orchid-chasing Victorians, to today's use of vanilla in everything from cakes to cologne, the vanilla orchid can certainly be labeled a botanical mover, shaker, and money-maker!

Vanilla Orchid

Vanilla Orchid Flower

Vanilla Orchid Bean that develops from the pollinated flower.

Cured Vanilla Bean, which houses small, flavor-packed seeds.

Mr. Edmond Albius

Wikipedia offers this excellent summary of cultivars:

Article: "Vanilla"

• Bourbon vanilla or Bourbon-Madagascar vanilla, produced from V. planifolia plants introduced from the Americas, is the term used for vanilla from Indian Ocean islands such as Madagascar, the Comoros, and Réunion, formerly the Île Bourbon. It is also used to describe the distinctive vanilla flavor derived from V. planifolia grown successfully in tropical countries such as India.
• Mexican vanilla, made from the native V. planifolia, is produced in much less quantity and marketed as the vanilla from the land of its origin. Vanilla sold in tourist markets around Mexico is sometimes not actual vanilla extract, but is mixed with an extract of the tonka bean, which contains coumarin. Tonka bean extract smells and tastes like vanilla, but coumarin has been shown to cause liver damage in lab animals and is banned in food in the US by the Food and Drug Administration.
• Tahitian vanilla is the name for vanilla from French Polynesia, made with the V. tahitiensis strain. Genetic analysis shows this species is possibly a cultivar from a hybrid-cross of V. planifolia and V. odorata. The species was introduced by French Admiral François Alphonse Hamelin to French Polynesia from the Philippines, where it was introduced from Guatemala by the Manila Galleon trade.
• West Indian vanilla is made from the V. pompona strain grown in the Caribbean and Central and South America.
• The term French vanilla is often used to designate preparations with a strong vanilla aroma, contain vanilla grains and may also contain eggs (especially egg yolks). The appellation originates from the French style of making vanilla ice cream with a custard base, using vanilla pods, cream, and egg yolks. Inclusion of vanilla varietals from any of the former French dependencies or overseas France noted for their exports may in fact be a part of the flavoring, though it may often be coincidental. Alternatively, French vanilla is taken to refer to a vanilla-custard flavor. Syrup labeled as French vanilla may include custard, caramel or butterscotch flavors in addition to vanilla.

     Though the subject has logged a great amount of personal study time, I certainly will not have to worry about addressing the vanilla orchid when I detail Colonial gardening of early America.  Certainly the Colonists knew of the flavoring, but, due to its tropical nature, they did not cultivate the plant.  As I have pieced together materials for my upcoming Public History website concerning American Colonial Historical Landscaping, I have thoroughly enjoyed the head-first dive back into everything Colonial and botanical!  As a preview, and concerning Williamsburg, Virginia, the original gardening habits of such an old colony can be revealed in a number of ways.  Such methods include archaeological excavation, tax records, insurance policies, letters, journals, and maps.  In addition to analyzing the English, French, and Dutch influences on the landscape, anyone looking into authentic Colonial gardening must also consider appropriate plant inclusions.  Widely seen throughout the area were bushes of boxwood; dogwood, redbud, sycamore, oak, and pecan trees; herbs of horseradish, peppermint, sage, thyme, and chamomile; and columbine, butterfly weed, aster, daisy, iris, tulip, poppy, daylily, phlox, thistle, primrose, and peony flowers.  Just to name a few!  Of course, my upcoming website will address these plants, and more, with information and pictures.  Not only that, but I also plan on including such aspects as topiary shapes, architecture such as fencing and bricking patterns, boxwood/holly landscaping patterns, and gardening tips!  So, let's celebrate such ambitious plans for my upcoming Historical Landscaping website with the inaugural installment of...

Mickey's Gardening Secrets

SUMMER 2013

SECRET # 1:  The perennial periwinkle (example: vinca major) makes a superb ground cover for those areas that receive little to no sunlight.  Remember that the term "perennial" means that the plant will come back the following year under normal zone (find your zone below) conditions.

Periwinkle, Vinca Major

Gardening Zones (Simplified), Reference Numbers

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