The story of our Madumbi – Granadilla Plant

Shushu

We have some tyres in our veggie garden, along the fence and I thought it would be great to plant a Granadilla to climb along the fence, so I gave a plant to Jonathan and told him where to plant it.  He did!

All of a sudden, this “granadilla” was going crazy and basically taking over.  I took my 87-year-old mother to see this really strong plant.  She said, that’s amazing, but where did you plant my Madumbi?  I told here right next to it.

Then Filip was watering the garden from outside the fence and rested his arm on “the plant” he INSTANTLY came up in a HUGE rash and we had to take him to the doctor!  He told Filip to be very careful Never to eat Passion Fruit anything as he is Highly allergic!

So I looked online about allergies to Granadilla. I saw that they had smooth, shiny leaves, this one has furry leaves.

Then the hunt was on.  What the hell is this plant? We asked everyone..

So I went back to my mother and asked her, where actually did your Madumbi come from? “Oh, John, my brother brought it from Natal”  I said, “did you see it, mom?”  She described a gourd type plant with a stem growing out of it!

Then, my mother’s carer, Pinkie, said “Grannie, I am sure John said it is a ShuShu”

CLUE!

Yes, Google said, this is a Chayote. I can’t even pronounce that. But apparently it is a GREAT, HEALTHY, vegetable.

Mystery solved, then I did some research.

What an amazing Plant! It grows over 5 meters tall and wide, and just carries on year after year!