As many of us know, vanilla is the highly prized seed pod of the orchid
vanilla plant. I simply love the aroma of this plant and its derivative -
vanilla. My question: for a retiree, is there any place in the USA that
vanilla grows naturally - or can be induced to grow naturally.

What a combination! The fragrant aroma of vanilla and the pleasure of
these orchids vining over my home! Anyone who has found this garden of
paradise, please speak up!!

Jim

"Jim Schott" wrote in message ...
As many of us know, vanilla is the highly prized seed pod of the orchid
vanilla plant. I simply love the aroma of this plant and its derivative -
vanilla. My question: for a retiree, is there any place in the USA that
vanilla grows naturally - or can be induced to grow naturally.

South Florida has several native species of vanilla (e.g. V.
barbellata), and I suspect that the commercial vanilla, V. planifolia,
could be naturalized there. It should also grow well in Hawaii. If
your definition of "USA" is sufficiently broad, Puerto Rico and the US
Virgin Islands probably have right climate, too.

Nick

--

They have it!


http://naturalselections.safeshopper.com/

"Jim Schott" wrote in message
...
As many of us know, vanilla is the highly prized seed pod of the orchid
vanilla plant. I simply love the aroma of this plant and its derivative -
vanilla. My question: for a retiree, is there any place in the USA that
vanilla grows naturally - or can be induced to grow naturally.

What a combination! The fragrant aroma of vanilla and the pleasure of
these orchids vining over my home! Anyone who has found this garden of
paradise, please speak up!!

Jim

g'day jim,

it grows easily over here in the sub-tropics on the east coast of
northern australia. but growing the orchid and enjoying the aroma of
the vanilla pods in your kitchen is a long way in between.

the plant itself is nothing spectacular, the flowers are nothing
spectacular and have no discernable aroma, generaly being a greenish
colour that almost matches the vine.

you will need to learn how to hand pollinate the blooms, this includes
doing it in the correct time frame on the day, so far and i'm only
talking of me i haven't successfully hand pollinated. but then i'm
only doing hit and miss affair.

if you do get successfull pollination then there is still a long way
to go to get that vanilla you speak of, the bean takes about 12 months
to mature then there is a somewhat drawn out process to turn it into
useable end product.

i like the pant because it is unusual and not that easily come by over
here.

so go buy some and have fun, if you can try to learn what you can
about hand pollinating.

len

snipped
--
happy gardening
'it works for me it could work for you,'

"in the end ya' gotta do what ya' gotta do" but consider others and the environment
http://hub.dataline.net.au/~gardnlen/

Jim Schott wrote:

As many of us know, vanilla is the highly prized seed pod of the orchid
vanilla plant. I simply love the aroma of this plant and its derivative -
vanilla. My question: for a retiree, is there any place in the USA that
vanilla grows naturally - or can be induced to grow naturally.

What a combination! The fragrant aroma of vanilla and the pleasure of
these orchids vining over my home! Anyone who has found this garden of
paradise, please speak up!!

Jim

As you also probably know, vanilla is a tropical plant. You
might be able to get it to grow in the far south of Florida; but,
that would be about it. Why not just grow one IN the house?

Chris Owens


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