I am pretty sure I have spoken previously about the house where I started all this gardening mayhem.
It all started with a Key Lime tree in my back yard. Then I got some banana plants, coconut trees and form there my love of tropical fruits and plants? Well, lets just say it never quit.
Problem is, now I don't live in a zone 9b/10 area any more.
But the other day I had the opportunity to go by my old house. As we drove by I managed to get one decent picture with my cell phone. I also talked to the neighbors who tell me that the gingers and bananas are invading their landscape. They also say that they absolutely LOVE them. I'm glad I could help. LOL. Here's the picture I snapped on the way by - with some labels.
I was also awed by the fact that the original palms are still there. These palm trees were started from seeds that were swiped... uh picked up around different neighborhoods in the area and include several foxtail palms, triangle palms, hurricane palms and even a teddy bear palm. The sea grapes were eagerly trying to put on some fruit. The mango had fruit, the avocado had fruit, the citrus had fruit, and if I'd have had my way I would have looked over the fence to see what all was left in the back and side yards of what I had planted. Unfortunately hubby isn't into stalking so I didn't get to see back there, but at least I know the owners are taking care of the trees that were most important to me.
The mango is now so large that you can no longer see the home at all! I LOVE it! The avocado is about 30' tall...*sigh*
On one hand it makes me sick to think all the hard work that went into making these trees live past their infancy stages was reaped by someone else. I mean we only got two crops off the mango before we sold the house. These owners will have fruit for the rest of their lives - if they want it. The avocado was still young and had only given us 5 fruits. LOL. That one wasn't so hard to part with. The citrus was a cocktail tree with tangerine, ruby red grapefruit and Meyer lemons. YUM! We could see that the Key Lime tree was doing fabulously as well. Great news for them. The citrus in our county has all but been wiped out so I'm very jealous of those 2 trees.
More than anything what it's really done is make me think ahead. I've spent so much time and energy focusing on the trees here at our current house and only a little on the property in Alabama. But, realistically that is where I need to concentrate more of my efforts. Alabama is where I'm going to end up homesteading long term and where I'll need mature trees in 5-10 years. Trees take that long to truly get established.
So I've been talking quite a bit with the hubby and we have a new plan. It's not like we are going anywhere for the next 5-10 years so we still intend to continue to grow what we can here. Meanwhile this year I'm going to aggressively start rooting new plants from what I have here that will do well there. A lot of what I have needs a good rootstock there and will need purchased as small trees, but some things like my pomegranate, persimmon, thornless blackberries and blueberries can all be grown from rooted cuttings. I'll also need to look into which of my guavas can be grown there. I know one of them can but for the life of me I can't remember if that is my pineapple or strawberry guava? Hmmm...
So that is a large project i"m going to start this year and I'm hoping that I'll have transplants to take with me next year. I could be getting ahead of myself. It may take longer for the plants to get large enough/strong enough. But I figure I have enough plants around to experiment with for now.
Oh, and on a side note- but a very good side note? Hubby agreed to buying a REAL greenhouse for up there so I can bring my (dwarf/potted) mango tree and a few choice citrus plants when we do move up there. BONUS! There is just something about growing up down here. I don't think I can live with out fresh tropical fruits. Now? Best of both worlds. :-) I'm wondering just how big I can get him to agree to on the greenhouse before he tells me no. ;-) hehehe.
OK - I'm off to make of list of supplies i need for rooting. This is all new to me!
See you soon!
Barbie~
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