Here are 5 things to consider this week:

Fruit. Blue or purplish fruit provides health benefits due to the anthocyanins — known of their anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties — which given them their color.  For this reason, you may want to consider planting seeds of purple strawberries and blue watermelon. For now, the only sources I can find for seeds of these plants are in India (neeraseeds.com) and Great Britain (seedfella.com). Both companies ship to the US.

A deep purple cherry tomato known as Purple Bliss is the product of two decades of scientific effort and is now being marketed in Australia. The developer hails its nutritional value and, in describing it, remarked: “You are basically looking at a blueberry in tomato clothes.” Curiously enough, it was genes from a snapdragon flower that were inserted into the genome of a tomato to activate anthocyanin synthesis that gives this tomato its color. It’s not only similar in its nutrient value to that of a berry, but shares a bit of a berrty’s sweetness too. The seeds of Purple Bliss, when planted, produce tomatoes of the same kind as the mother plant, in the manner of open-pollinated varieties. Currently available to home gardeners in Australia, it’s only a matter of time until they will be available here as well.

Herbs. Winter cherry or ashwagandha (Withania somnifera) is indigenous to India with medicinal properties derived from its root. It’s a plant that is eminently suitable to growing in our area as it is accustomed to arid conditions and drought. Fruit are edible when ripe but bitter and not typically eaten. Extract from its root is regaled for reducing anxiety. Ashwagandha means “smell of a horse” in Sanskrit. The root not only has the odor of a horse but is supposed to provide strength of a horse for those who make use of it.

Flowers. Imagine a six-foot shrub that blooms six months of the year in near-drought conditions. Its wiry stems, studded with white, pink or violet flowers, may be cut for mixed bouquets and vase arrangements where they keep their vitality for more than a year. This plant is geraldton wax flower (Chamelaucium uncinatum), native to southwest Australia. It flowers from mid-winter until late summer. Geraldton wax flower has a light and airy growth habit. Its shoots lengthen rapidly and, once the plant matures, may be cut back by one third on an annual basis. It is easily propagated from stem cuttings in fast-draining soil or potting mix. Flowers are dainty little bowls with five petals and leaves are one-and-a-half inch needles. Both flowers and needles have a lemon scent. Plant it in half to three-quarters of the day’s sun.

To extend the life of leathery leaves — keeping them fresh in dry arrangements for up to five years — have them imbibe vegetable glycerin, a product widely available through Internet vendors. Upon removal from the mother plant, submerge stems in a solution consisting of one part glycerin to two parts boiling water. Allow the stems to soak up the entire solution. Foliage changes to autumn colors — dark red, bronze, mahogany, or brown during this process. You may need to keep the stems in the solution for several weeks, and add to it, until the foliage has assumed a uniform color. This process only works on leaves that, without this treatment, would normally persist in a dry arrangement.

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