Red Dragons tropical suburban home garden

Red Dragons tropical suburban home garden A personal journey of developing and maintaining a tropical, suburban garden that is both productive and aesthetic. My sanctuary in the burbs.

Expand the top post to see my complete introduction of why and what this page is about.

The “Gumpun” Durian Challenge – Part 9 One Year After PlantingOne year ago I planted this grafted Gumpun Durian into a ...
09/05/2026

The “Gumpun” Durian Challenge – Part 9 One Year After Planting
One year ago I planted this grafted Gumpun Durian into a mound of scoria and attached 3 addition rootstocks via approach graft. Since planting out, the tree has grown 2m in height and is looking healthy.
Photos:

The Luc’s Garcinia Challenge – Part 8 Autumn FlushOver the past 2 years the fruit spotting bugs had pierced every shoot ...
09/05/2026

The Luc’s Garcinia Challenge – Part 8 Autumn Flush
Over the past 2 years the fruit spotting bugs had pierced every shoot on these trees resulting in failed vegetative flushes. For some unknown reason, this year, there is no evidence of these bugs and the trees are in full autumn flush. At the same time, they are in overdrive, producing masses of flowers.
Photos: simultaneous vegetative and floral flushing.

The Durian Challenge Part 3 Not All Seeds Are EqualI gathered seeds from freshly fallen durian fruit off 3 trees over 2 ...
06/04/2026

The Durian Challenge Part 3 Not All Seeds Are Equal
I gathered seeds from freshly fallen durian fruit off 3 trees over 2 consecutive weekends. The variation in the seedlings is striking - some are vigorous with large hypocotyls, others are slower growing with small hypocotyls, while some appear to be barely growing, and of course some just rot. The types and timing of grafting will be governed by the seedling vigour. The large, vigorous seedling will be grafted immediately, while the others will need to be nurtured and grafted when they reach a more optimal size,
Photo: the variation between seedlings that were planted on the same day.

Ornamentals
05/04/2026

Ornamentals

The Durian Challenge Part 2 Propagation - Grafting TrialsThe propagating trials begin. The advantage of having many seed...
02/04/2026

The Durian Challenge Part 2 Propagation - Grafting Trials
The propagating trials begin. The advantage of having many seeds is that the fear of failure is significantly reduced when trialling new techniques. When you only have a limited number of seeds you really don't want to lose any so you generally stick to tried and proven methods. With a large number of seeds, I can try many new grafting techniques and not be deterred by failure. So now I will be trialling everything that comes to mind. If the failures are too great, I will then return to the most successful technique - approach grafting.
Photos: seeds planted, sprouting and very early grafting.

The Russell’s Yellow Mangosteen Challenge 10 First CropFinally produced a crop of sweet yellow mangosteen - a total of 6...
02/04/2026

The Russell’s Yellow Mangosteen Challenge 10 First Crop
Finally produced a crop of sweet yellow mangosteen - a total of 6 fruit. Now that the male tree is producing many flowers, I can expect a larger crop next year.
Photo: First crop.

The Russell’s Yellow Mangosteen Challenge 9 Fruit DevelopingTen weeks after fruit set, the fruits are developing to a re...
24/02/2026

The Russell’s Yellow Mangosteen Challenge 9 Fruit Developing
Ten weeks after fruit set, the fruits are developing to a reasonable size.
To be continued.
Photo: Russells Sweet Yellow Mangosteen

The Durio graveolens Challenge Part 1 - Market Fruit Rustys Market had Durio graveolens (orange flesh) for sale at $25/k...
20/02/2026

The Durio graveolens Challenge Part 1 - Market Fruit
Rustys Market had Durio graveolens (orange flesh) for sale at $25/kg - that turned out to be $6.50/fruit. About 4 years ago, they were sold at the Mossman Market for $50/fruit. I purchased these specifically for the seeds and was disappointed to find only 1-2 seeds per fruit. The flesh surrounds the seed, so a few seeds only produces a little flesh. That is expensive flesh. The seeds will be sown.
To be continued.
Photo: "Wild" or "Jungle" Durian

The Dragon Fruit Challenge - Part 69 Hybrid MPH44First fruit on my latest hybrid to emerge. This is along a similar line...
19/02/2026

The Dragon Fruit Challenge - Part 69 Hybrid MPH44
First fruit on my latest hybrid to emerge. This is along a similar line to the Israeli "Desert King" variety. It is a medium size with sweet pulp and most strikingly, only an occasional spine. The genes for spines is usually dominant and almost impossible to breed out. I will continue trying to improve this line to make the fruit larger and fully eliminate the fruit spines, if possible.
To be continued.
Photo: The first MPH44 hybrid fruit.

The Durian Challenge Part 1 Wasted Fruit Today I visited my friend in the Whyanbeel Valley who took me on a tour to seve...
14/02/2026

The Durian Challenge Part 1 Wasted Fruit
Today I visited my friend in the Whyanbeel Valley who took me on a tour to several neighbouring properties growing tropical fruit. There were several durian trees mostly Monthong, Gaan Yao and Chanee that are dropping ripe fruit daily. About 85% of these fruit have been damaged by Cockatoos or borers, making them unsalable. The farmers simply let them rot on the ground. Some arils are still worth eating so I collected some to strip the flesh for freezing and gathered the seed for propagating rootstock that will later be grafted. It is heartbreaking to see so much wastage - who would want to be a commercial grower! That is one reason why the fruit cost so much.
To be continued.
Photos: a) Salvaged, wasted durian fruit b) harvested seed for propagation.

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Cairns, QLD

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