Rambutans used to be a rarity here in the U.S., but they can now be found in many Asian supermarkets or some farmer’s market. Before there was fresh ramutans, the best version were usually found canned. And with all the syrup they put in, it’s just takes away the unique taste and possible health benefits of this tropical fruit.

For those not familiar with rambutans it might look a bit out of this world. With the spikes and all, but don’t worry the spikes are harmless, very soft and flexible. Peeling the fruit can be tricky, but possible with your fingers or a knife. Just make sure you slice around the skin and don’t get to the flesh or seeds.

The taste is sweet with a bit of tartness. And if you’ve tasted lychee or longan, these are not so different.

Thailand is the largest producer of rambutan, but it is commonly found in other South East Asian countries as well. Even Australia has found success with marketing rambutan. It’s always exciting for me to find tropical and unique fruits have gained some popularity now.

I didn’t plan on growing any climbing spinach this year since I wasn’t too impressed with them. Well it turns out it wasn’t the plant to blame, but my lack of gardening skills.

Why do I say this? It’s because when the climbing spinach ended up growing on their own in mom’s backyard garden they all looked great! Of course it’s because she takes good care of her garden by fixing the soil, pest control and watering her plants daily.

Here is a perfect heart shaped climbing spinach vine leaf. The best climbing spinach grew out of the potted Mexican lime tree. It produced some of the biggest spinach leaves I’ve ever seen. The bigger leaves were the size of my hand, but those ended up in my salad.

And it made for a great summer salad that was crisp and cooling. All I did was sliced up the veggies and tossed it with rice bran oil, apple cider vinegar, honey and along with some tangy plums, cool iceberg lettuces, plus garden cherry tomatoes.

Here’s one that volunteer to grow along with Thai Basil. Theses guys like to climb, so best to grow them along fences or trellis. This one is just climbing up a small bamboo stick. Note, in the back row are mom’s super hot chili peppers. She has grown them in pots every year and they produce lots of peppers. Almost too hot and spicy for my taste buds!

I happened to be at UC Davis recently and came upon this garden patch. There were all kinds of neat plants, fruit trees, and flowers. One of the fruit tree that caught my eye was the cornelian cherry.

The tree itself had such pretty green leaves and the fruit hanging from it reminded me of gem stones. But not to be confuse with carnelian gemstones.

One of the neatest thing about using cornelian cherry as landscaping is because they can be planted in partly shady areas under large trees. And it only takes 2-3 years for them to bear fruit.

When ripen, the fruit looks like bright red coffee beans but shaped like olives. And the fruit itself is tart and tasty. The taste also reminded me of cranberries. If I had baskets full of cornelian cherries, I would love to turn them into jam.

I had other appointments that day so I didn’t get to spend much time at the garden. But it turned out that the garden I stumbled upon at UC Davis was part of “The Arboretum gardens“. The last time I visited this campus was almost a decade ago and it did not look this pretty. So next time I am in the area again, I will definitely pack a few sandwiches and have a picnic at the garden. Which happens to be open 24 hours a day, every day of the year, and there is no charge for admission.

I just ran out of my last bottle of seabuckthorn facial cream made by Sibu Beauty. Not that there was anything wrong with Sibu’s cream, it’s just that I wanted to give a different brand a try. So I picked up a bottle of seabuckthorn facial cream made by Seabuck Wonders. To my surprise, Seabuck Wonders has been around for almost 20 years and I’ve barely heard of them.

This cream goes on smoothly and my skin just soaks it up. It’s lightly scented with orange essential oil and not overpowering at all. I normally use this facial cream at night because it doesn’t have much SPF protection, maybe SPF protection of 4-5. But if I were to use it in the daytime, I would normally apply mineral power with natural SPF.

Here’s a list of some of the benefits of the cream (as mentioned by SeabuckWonders):

Enhances skin tone and texture
Made with certified organic Sea Buckthorn
Vegan; Non-GMO
Paraben-free; Cruelty-free
Naturally scented with essential orange oil
For all skin types

Besides all the beauty benefits, the company also believes in sustainable farming. As noted by Seabuck Wonders;

“The berries are harvested once they have reached maturity and allowed to re-fruit the following year. Only the minimum number of branches and leaves necessary are removed, leaving the majority of the plant intact, to continue to grow for the next season’s harvest. These practices allow for healthy trees and a sustainable source of income for the farmers.” That’s what I call good farming and business practice.

At the moment Seabuck Wonders is having a sale on their berry oil, facial cream, and body lotion set at their website. Enter coupon code SUN50 fro 50% good until July 7, 2013.

Btw, I love seabuckthorn that much and even have my own plant, which is now 4 years old. It’s gotten a bit bigger now, but no seeds yet.

I can’t remember the last time I ate a star fruit (aka carambola). So when I saw these at the Asian market I had to give them a try.

The outside skin appears waxy and is very smooth. There is a crispness to the fruit and to my surprise they tasted very familiar. Like a mix of really juicy Asian pears and a hint of apple flavor.

As for nutritional value, star fruit is high in vitamin A and C. For those suffering from kidney stones or on dialysis, this fruit can be dangerous or fatal due to the high level of oxalic acid.

Because these fruits are so rare, they are quite pricey. Expect to spend at least a few bucks for just 1 or 2 fruits. If I had to chose between a star fruit or dragonfruit, I would definitely go with the dragonfruit.

Besides the rather common fruit taste, the fruit itself looks very unique. I remember seeing a star fruit tree in Hawaii once. Other states in the U.S. that can grow star fruit would include Florida and Texas (due to their warmer climate). These fruits are imported from Taiwan.

This spring a family of Mockingbird made a nest right in the apricot tree. I’ve never seen a bird’s nest so close to our house before. Within a month the baby birds were big enough to fly off on their own.

Except they couldn’t fly on their own just yet. The two baby birds ended up on the lawn and was attempting to fly off. Since we have cats around, I didn’t put the babies back in the nest because they would have fell from it again. So I ended up putting them in a narrow box and hung it from a bigger tree.

The parent were able to locate their chicks with the chirping and was able to fly to the box and deliver food. Once the babies were big enough, which was within a few days, they all took off flying. Too bad I didn’t get the chance to photograph the baby birds, but they were very cute! Baby mockingbirds look like sparrows but have the long tails.

Northern mockingbird. Photo from Wikipedia by Ryan Hagerty. As nice as they look, they are one of the noisiest birds around.

This photo was taken a few weeks ago. Once the weather heats up, the fruits also begin to ripen. And June is the best time for apricot picking. Not just by me, but by the birds too.

June is almost here and I found my Peanut Cactus in bloom. This photo is from the first year of growing the cactus. It must have gotten it’s name from the peanut like stems.

As it grew out, the stems starting to stretch out. So for the longest time I thought it was named “Rat Tail Cactus”. But from looking at the bloom, it’s very much a hybrid type of peanut cactus. The blooms usually last a few days and start to wither off. For the next few weeks they will be flowering in succession.

In some ways the flower reminds me of the mini Orchid cactus (epiphyllum).

Most of the year it’s just a container full of scary spiky cactus. But when it starts to bloom, the color of the flower is spectacular.

Another interesting thing about this cactus is how easy it is to grow and propagate. I barely touched one of the stems and they fall off and start growing new stems. And of course it doesn’t need much watering.

Medinilla magnifica is possibly one of the most unique flower to come from the tropics. It is commonly known as Rose Grape for their pretty pink fruits that look like tiny grapes. It has thick glossy evergreen leaves and showy pink flowers.

Photo from Medinilla Magnifica

These plants are natives of tropical southern Asia, western Africa and the Pacific islands. So this means they prefer hot and humid climates.

It looks like this flower is starting to gain popularity as the most elegant and exotic house plant around. It has amazing flowers that bloom several times a year. Similar to orchids, the flowering period can last from 3 to 6 months.

I actually saw this Medinilla at the SF Conservatory of Flowers. Although there weren’t any showy pink leaves, there were plenty of pink grape like fruits.

We have several aloe vera plants in the garden, most are in containers. There are the plain green ones, some are spotted and one has variegated leaves.

We’ve probably had this Aloe Vera plant for 5 years. And this spring it started to blossom. I’m not sure when it will open up completely. So far I’ve seen succulent flowers come in shades of pink or yellow.

Notice the spiders have started to make the flowers their new home. I don’t mind spiders as much, as long as they keep out bad insects in the garden.

It’s a good idea to keep Aloe Vera around because of it’s medicinal value. What I like most is that it’s mostly low maintenance, so no green thumbs necessary. And of course it comes in handy for minor cuts and burns.

We went to visit Queen Wilhelmina Tulip Garden a few weeks back. It was still too early to see all the tulips in full bloom.

The tulip garden was named in honor of the once queen of the Netherlands. For the Dutch, tulips became a symbol of peace and reconciliation.

Nice pastel tulip color.

Pink Icelandic poppies.

A view of Golden Gate bridge. It’s to be noted that Golden Gate bridge will no longer have real people collecting toll now. It’s going to be all-electronic tolling by end of March. Drivers who don’t have FasTrak can pay a one-time fee at a kiosk before or after the toll plaza. Or they can pay by mail after a camera photographs the license plate and sends a bill to the registered address.

And here is more info about Queen Wilhelmina Tulip Garden as noted by S.F. Parks & Rec:

“The Queen Wilhelmina Tulip Garden, planted just below the Dutch Windmill, features thousands of tulips interspersed with Icelandic poppies, which burst into glorious flower in March and April.”

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