Rare Plants
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Red Gem Goumi: The Cultivar With a Cherry-Like Flavor From Kiev
Another addition to the goumi family in my garden: Red Gem. Unlike Big Gem, this cultivar has a clear selection history behind it - and the flavor reflects that.
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Tiger Eyes Sumac: A Compact, Non-Aggressive Variety That Puts On a Riot of Color
I added Tiger Eyes, a dwarf sumac variety, to my garden - from what I've seen, unlike wild sumacs it doesn't spread aggressively, and on top of that it puts on a genuine riot of color throughout the season. Let's look at the story behind this interesting mutation and its garden value.
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Violette de Bordeaux Fig: A Compact Tree Hiding a Huge Flavor
I added another one to my fig collection: Violette de Bordeaux. Despite its small, compact size, it's a variety whose rich flavor outshines many others - and one that thrives even in a pot.
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Hardy Chicago Fig: A Reliable Variety That Defies Harsh Winters and Fruits Every Single Year
I added another variety to my fig collection: Hardy Chicago. As its name suggests, it's remarkably cold hardy, and the best part is it fruits reliably every single year - a variety I'd confidently recommend even to someone just starting out with figs.
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Sultane Fig: A Small but Flavorful Variety From My Collection, Tasted for the First Time This Year
I tasted the first fruit this year from my Sultane fig - small in size, but genuinely delicious. A post spanning this dark-skinned French variety's history all the way to my own garden experience.
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Peter's Honey Fig: A Golden, Honey-Sweet Variety I Tasted This Year
I finally tasted this year's fruit from my Peter's Honey fig - a golden-skinned, honey-sweet variety that genuinely impressed me. A post spanning the fig's thousands-year history all the way to my own garden experience.
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Strawberry Tree: A Dwarf Tree Whose Fruit Takes a Full Year to Ripen
Commonly called the strawberry tree, this dwarf, slow-growing Mediterranean tree stands out with its bumpy, strawberry-like red fruit. Its most fascinating trait is that the fruit takes a full year to ripen from flower to fruit.
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Carob: A Mediterranean Tree Still Growing Patiently at 5 Years Old in Sakarya
The carob tree I planted five years ago, a classic Mediterranean species, is still growing slowly here in Sakarya. The answer to whether we'll ever see fruit is hidden in this tree's own biology.
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Cornelian Cherry 'Hasanbey': A Delicious Variety I Harvested Last Week
The 'Hasanbey' cornelian cherry cultivar stands out from wild cornelian cherries with its larger, sweeter fruit - I harvested it in the garden just last week, and it's a variety with real historical and garden value.
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Grafting 'Chico' onto a Fruitless Jujube: This Year's First Fruits
After years without fruit, I grafted a 'Chico' scion onto my jujube tree. This season the graft finally produced its first fruits - a patience-rewarded story from the garden.
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The Tekirdag Vine: A Hardy Guest in Our Garden
The story of a hardy grapevine we brought from a garden in Tekirdag, known for its pink-mottled berries - identity, permaculture value, and how to grow it.
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Tokat Leaf Grape: Grown for Its Leaves, Now Surprising Us with Fruit Too
The story of a grapevine traditionally grown in the Tokat region for its leaves - and how it surprised us this year with pleasantly sweet fruit.
Read more"Keep the cycle, the future is in your hands."
— HE-QA Garden
Permaculture for me is not just a gardening technique — it's a life philosophy. To repair the soil, keep the cycle and leave a richer nature for future generations. Every seed is a trust, every cutting a hope.
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Letters from the Garden
Seasonal planting calendars, rare plant introductions and permaculture tips. Once a week.