White Eggplant

‘Japanese White Egg’ is a heavy-yielding heirloom that will produce egg-shaped fruit, hearkening back to the origins of this vegetable’s name.

Ripening early, this container-friendly plant will reach maturity in around 65 days. The fruits of this variety are shaped like large eggs, about 2-3 inches long, and at their peak they are rich and creamy tasting.

I've been growing this eggplan variety for a year now. 

Seeds are available now including the dwarf purple eggplant. 

 

Batoko Plum

It's been a year from seeds and finally I outplanted my first Batoko Plum/Lobi-lobi (Flacourtia inermis), grown from seeds that I germinated last December 2020.

The fruits are edible and can be processed into wine.

Seedlings of Batoko Plum. There are still some available for release. You can also reach me at BORIS PRIVATE SANCTUM Facebook Page. 

 

 

Kamagong Ponci

Outplanted last March 2020. This Kamagong Ponci (Diospyros poncei) is now at 6ft tall even with minimal care at the frequently flooded area. Diospyros poncei is threatened by continuing forest fragmentation and forest cover reduction as well as degradation through anthropogenic disturbances like charcoal making, illegal logging and shifting cultivation. The population is severely fragmented with subpopulations split across islands. The plant is classified as 'Endangered' in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species(2019).

A year from now and it would be a different view! 

 

Nam-Nam (Cynometra cauliflora)

Additional on my rare fruit collection — Namnam (Cynometra cauliflora). It is native to Malaysia and it can  be found in South East Asia, India and Sri Lanka. The young fruit is very sour which is cooked with sugar to make a compote. 

Fruits of Nam-nam hanging in its stem. 

Germinated seeds extracted from the fruits of Nam-nam. Some seedlings as well. 

For availability of seedlings of Nam-nam you can contact us here or on our FB Page — BORIS PRIVATE SANCTUM. 

 

Barbados Cherry

Planted additional Acerola cherry/Barbados Cherry (Malpighia emarginata) . It is native to Paraguay and Brazil in South America and Central America. It is known for being extremely rich in vitamin C. It also contains vitamins A, B1, B2, and B3, as well as carotenoids and bioflavonoids, which provide important nutritive value and have antioxidant uses. 

Photo of the mother tree which we got the cuttings for propagation.

Ripe Barbados Cherry or Acerola Cherry. 

For rooted cuttings you can drop us a message here or inquire at our FB Page — BORIS PRIVATE SANCTUM.

 

New Banana Collection

Additional on my banana collection is the Pisang Seribu or 'thousand fingers' banana. Thousand Fingers bananas are seedless. The texture is soft and the flavor is very sweet. 

I was able to plant this one regular size sucker that I detached from the mother hill.

There are some small suckers with roots too. These small suckers needs to be grown first on polybags and wait for them to grow bigger soon before outplanting. 

For daily updates you can visit my FB page — BORIS PRIVATE SANCTUM. 

 

Dao or Pacific Walnut

Fruit fall of Dao or Pacific Walnut (Dracontomelon dao). Is a large tree that can grow up to 55 metres tall with buttresses up to 5 metres high. Fast growing and sun-loving tree species with edible leaves, flowers, fruits and seeds. One of my top choice for refo and tree planting. 

The exact age of the tree is undetermined. As you can see the butress is already a meter high. This is one reason why species like this shouldn't be planted near on any concrete structures. 

This tree is a candidate to be listed as a heritage tree. 

A 10-month old Dao tree grown from seeds. 

The germinants of Dao are individually transferred to polybag for nursery.

For seeds and seedlings you can inquire at Boris Private Sanctum FB page — @Borisprivatesanctum

  

Antipas — North Cotabato Trip

We visited Engr. Andres Pedregosa's farm in Antipas, North Cotabato for a feast of some fruits from his harvest. He is also one of our Society of Native Tree Enthusiast (SONATA) master. A fruit farmer/collector and a certified native tree grower. 

The highly priced Musang King (D197) variety of Durian from his farm is one of his precious collection along with Sultan, Puwang-manee, Maridagao (a native durian variety) and also with his Malaysian Jackfruit along with Malaysian Jade Rambutan and Mangostene.

This is the Musang King Variety. The most expensive Durian cultivar to date. This is from Engr. Pedregosa's 16yr old mother tree. 

The appearance is very tempting. The seeds are so small and that means the flesh is thick. Its texture is so creamy and it melts in your mouth, Sweetness is fantastic. Absolutely perfect!

This Durian is a local cultivar called Maridagao. According to Engr. Andres Pedregosa this is from a very old 80yr.old mother tree in his farm. The taste is sweet and with bitterness just like with other native local varieties. Taste-testing this fruit from a 80 year old tree is very memorable. 

This is also a Durian variety called Sultan. The fruit size is regular about 1kilo each fruit. Taste sweet with a little bit of bitterness. Still a very good variety of Durian to grow. 

We also feasted on this excellent variety of Jackfruit. This is a Malaysian Jackfruit. This variety changes my tastebud for jackfruits, I am not very fond of it but this one is different. Its flesh is so thick, its appearance is very pleasing and the taste is so sweet and juicy. Engr. Andres already gave us last year some planting materials of this variety and there's no regret to have this in our collection. 

The thickness of its meat is very evident. One bite and you'll surely go for more. 

After feasting all the fruits. We came to check some of his seedlings in his nursery.

A proud SONATA master along with his seedlings, ready to be outplanted soon to his arboretum in Antipas, North Cotabato. 

We enjoyed the short visit a lot, and there will be another in the future.  Thank you so much Bro and more power to your advocacy!

 

White Lauan (Shorea contorta)

Seed fall White Lauan (Shorea contorta). Fast growing straight bole tree, good as a plantation species due to its high market value. The last time I know it was 90/brd ft, that was 3 yrs ago. It is expected to get higher in the future. 

Already showing a sign of life. Dipterocarpus species is never a problem on its germination. As long as it is matured, the seed will germinate easily even with no soil. The only problem is that, its seeds are recalcitrant and losses viability as the day goes by. 

A fast growing timber species. This one is planted a year ago and it's already 10ft tall.

One of its characteristic is self pruning thus achieving a straight bole trunk. 

One of the mother tree in the wild. 

White Lauan (Shorea contorta) seeds are available right now in volume. Seeds of some other native tree species like Molave,Ypil, Lumbang, Narra, Kamagong, Yakal, Supa, Bitaog, Anahaw etc...you can inquire on my FB page "BORIS PRIVATE SANCTUM" anytime. Check it out with some other plant collections too. ❤️🌱🌳

 

Katmon Tree (Dillenia philippinensis)

Germinants of Katmon (Dillenia philippinensis). A favorite tree among Filipino garden enthusiasts. It is endemic to the Philippines and can be used for urban greening. Its fruit is known as elephant apple. Katmon grows in low to medium altitude forests throughout the Philippines, but does not survive the cold climates of the uplands.

Germinants are transferred to their individual polybag for nursery. 

A gorgeous white flower of Katmon.

A fruiting young Katmon tree.

Fruits of Katmon. Taste sour and very good for cooking 'sinigang', a Filipino dish. 

A young Katmon seedling that is outplanted and is already a part of my Food Forest.

If you wish to have Katmon seedlings and other seedlings and seeds of Philippine native tree species you can reach out to me in Facebook at my Page at — BORIS PRIVATE SANCTUM.