After the discovery of the new world most travelers bound there died of scurvy. British scientists discovered 1790 a remedy: lemons. The main producer at the time was Sicily. Due to sudden worldwide demand for lemons, prices went through the roof. To producers looked for protection and thus the Mafia was founded. Hans Fritschi feels like e Red Indian on the warpath.

Our daily bicycle routine leads us to the shores of the mighty Mekong river where we detect a real Strawberry tree. Then we notice a salmon stranded at the shores of this great river. Since it is dead already, we want to turn this tragedy into opportunity by smoking it, without smoke. In the end we can eat most delicious smoked salmon. Another wonder at the Mekong.

I take you through my beautiful garden where I grow plants usually not seen in Thailand tasting fresh figs. I have giant lemons as well and Chinese olives. But the real focus of the first episode lies in chocolate making.

What a difference! On the left hand side you see some African Baobab trees (Adansonia digitata) kept in concrete rings at one of our two Thai garden locations. On the right hand side you see the same kind of Baobab planted in the ground six years ago. All are eight years old, but the concrete rings worked like a straight jacket so those Baobab trees can still be moved and sold in Thailand and Laos.

One customer near Pattaya wanted to buy two 8 year old Baobab trees to plant in his garden. So we took them out of their concrete rings. Look how mighty those roots are already! Once properly planted in the ground, they will take off very quickly. Talk to us if you are interested in buying an 8 year old Baobab tree in Laos or Thailand, and we will figure out how we can get such a beauty to you: hansfritschi1957@gmail.com

Since this Baobab fan was located close to our Pattaya garden, we delivered the two giants to him.His two Baobabs should take off quickly now.

We have fresh nutmeg seeds and seedlings for sale that can be sent all over Thailand or picked up at our Nong Khai location if you happen to be in Laos. We have different nutmeg plant sizes grown from seeds. Only fresh nutmeg seeds can germinate and it takes several years until they fruit.

The closed ripe fruits of the Thai and Lao nutmeg trees fall to the ground and open up within a few days.

When the nutmeg shells open up, you can see a red or white skin over the nut. This is called maze and can be dried and ground, then used as a spice similar to the ground nutmeg. Both, nutmeg and maze, are used in Thai and Lao cuisine.

The fresh nutmeg seeds have to be planted as soon as possible once the protective shell has opened up, they can only germinate if planted in the first 10 days after the shell has opened. Nutmeg seeds or seedlings are hard to find in the plant markets of Thailand and Laos, but can be ordered with us.

The seed is placed on top of the soil, just half covered, half on the surface. Then the nutmeg seed will first root, later shoot up. We can only mail nutmeg plants up to 1 m to your location in Thailand or Laos, for bigger plants inquire about delivery or visit our gardens in Pattaya and Nong Khai.

You can always send us an Email and ask, how we can get nutmeg seedlings or fresh nutmeg seeds to your location in Thailand or Laos. hansfritschi1957@gmail.com

Our grafted Booth 7 Avocados are flowering right now and will produce delicious fruits in Thailand and Laos in about six months. This Avocado variety has round fruits with a nutty taste. We sell grafted Avocado trees in Thailand and Laos.

Thanks to our two locations in Pattaya and Nong Khai, we can send rare plants all over Thailand delivered to your home or – if you are in Laos – you can get grafted Avocados from our Nong Khai location.

The leaves are damaged right now, but will recover soon.

We had six eager students recently that wanted to graduate from our very own “Chocolate Academy”. We taught them the art of making a basic chocolate from the cocoa fruits and other plants of our own Discovery Garden Pattaya, we offer the same at Discovery Garden Nong Khai.
Why do you need banana leaves to make chocolate? Seems to be a conundrum.
You and your friends may learn this, too, we organize guided tours through our Discovery Garden Pattaya or Nong Khai, followed by chocolate making upon demand. The minimum participants is five persons, we are also open over the usual holidays, but need your booking as fast as possible.

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We sold 1 Parana pine (Araucaria angustofolia), 1 Spanish lime (Melicoccus bijugatus), 1 Calabash tree (Crescentia cujete) , each 1 grafted avocado tree (Hass and Booth 7 variety), 4 figs, 1 Pandanus utilis, 1 Passiflora incarnata, 1 cotton plant, 1 yellow lemon and 1 cocoa seedling to a friend in Chiang Mai (Thailand) recently. First we thought we need 3 oversize boxes to fit in all those rare plants, in the end we only used one and they all arrived well. We can send rare plants to your home in Thailand or you can pick them up from our garden in Nong Khai if you are located in Laos.

All the plants filled into one huge box.

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When I traveled the Peruvian Amazon region five years ago, I found the sweet Guabilla bean in a local market and took some seeds to Thailand. My tallest Guabilla tree (Inga marginata) is now about seven or eight meters high in Pattaya, another one is in Nong Khai, close to Laos. We have now Guabilla trees for sale in Thailand and Laos.

The seeds of the Guabilla tree cannot be found in Laos or Thailand.

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