Nice trees;-).

Harry, you are my fruit-growing hero. : )
Nice, nice pics, selection of trees, etc. Your place looks great. I hope you have a bountiful harvest!
Bluepalm

Wow. I love your photos Harry! I especially liked the green-colored mangoes dripping off their branches and the pitaya climbing your silk tree (you have to post pics when it blooms). It's great to see your tropical fruit orchard looking very healthy and thriving!

Thank you for posting pics of your beautiful fruit trees!

~Bo

Spectacular!

Loved that Dragon fruit growing all over the tree. Didn't realize you had a fruiting garcinia. How does the fruit taste? I see a few laying on the ground so I am guessing they must not be that great.

Based on your yard shots it looks like its going to be another good year for tropical fruit here in south Florida.....last summer was the best I'd ever seen for mangos, lychees, and longans and a lot of growers seemed to agree. Nice to see that we could have a 2nd consecutive good season. I guess that is what several years without hurricanes will do for you. Also, provided it doesn't freeze, the touch of real cold temps can help bring out more blooms in some of the trees, at least that was what one established mango farmer told me last season.

Lets just hope we don't get anymore freezes and it should be a good summer.

HARRY- Thank you for correctly acknowledging that all credit for fruit in your garden belongs to me.

Harry,

Your yard is the model I'm following with mine. Those are simply some awesome trees and very nice photo's. How come you have never gotten anything from that Alphonso Tree it looks healthy and well established?

Tony

Harry, WoW!! Everything is looking fantastic!! I can't wait till summer to visit your little piece of tropical heaven!

Harry, how old is your Pickering mango? I'm thinking of getting one of those, I love the shape of the tree, reminds me a lot of my Cogshall, I know you said it was a slow grower though right? My cogshall is actually a pretty good grower considering its a dwarf variety. Thanks!

beautiful trees, it definitely feels spring like today despite the cool breeze, i painted my strawberry pots :D

thats the tallest ice cream mango ive seen.
how long did you have your Alphonso for? are they really that poor producers?
i think i have the same variety Garcinia as you, its real cold hardy

WOW, beautiful!

-Ethan

Harry, is there something that caused your Ice creams trunk to grow like that or is that just the way it grew? Almost looks like a Bonsai.

hmhausman Can I live in your yard? Such a nice green yard!!!

Thanks to all of you for all the kind comments.

Maureen:
Actually, you could come live in the yard. I have a somewhat rustic mother-in-law type apartment in the back corner of my property. It was rented by a friend of mine for years. He's moved on to condo dwelling and the apartment is presently vacant. It does come with fruit picking priveleges.

John:
The garcinia is a kind of sweet tart mix. A bit more tart than sweet and I am not a pick tart fruit lover. In typical garcinia fashion, there is a poor ratio of edible flesh to seed and skin. Actually, I am hoping to get some mangosteen budwood and do some grafting of that budwood on the top of this tree.
Re: the Ice Cream mango, I bought it years ago (like 1995) from Maurice Kong....who supposedly brought it into the country from I think Trinidad. When I planted it out, the root system was terrible. I mentioned it to Maurice and his answer was that when he brings plant material in, he has to graft to whatever is available. That poor rootstock may have something to do with the way it is growing. I have no other explanation.

Mango Kush:
Nice looking strawberry pots!

Mango Kush and Tony:
My Alphonso mango was purchased whatever year the whole big hype went on about the coming of the fabulous Indian mangoes. It has grown quite a bit over the last two years....unhindered by fruit, sad to say. I think it needs a fungicide spraying regimen which I did not previously give it. I am trying to be more diligent this year to see if it makes any difference. So far, no matter how the mango supposedly tastes, I wouldn't give you two cents for it. Hopefully, I'll eat my words and perhaps even some Alphonso mangoes this year.

Nancy:
The Pickering mango is just about 2 years old. It has fruited fairly heavily for a small tree. It seems to be much more in the line of Julie and Ice Cream in growth habit. Cogshall would be in the next rung up in vigor and size.

Harry

I hate to say this, but cold outbreak #2 is on its way. The new GFS is showing 41F at Ft. Lauderdale later this week for a low temp, so 30's should be common away from the coast.

Not as bad as the earlier outbreak, but still something to think about. The AO is severely negative right now, which should allow that Arctic air to get deep south into the country.

Harry, thanks for the info on your Pickering Mango tree. I'm planning on either growing it appx. 7-8ft from the wall of the house, or growing it in a container(I haven't decided yet).

Harry, sorry one more question? Do you remember what size your tree was when you bought it? Debating if I want to spend the extra $$ for a 7 gallon or just get the 3gal? Thanks again!

Nancy:

I think I bought a 3 gallon size, if I'm not mistaken. I'd have to look it up. What are the price/size choices they are offering?

Harry

Pug, I picked up a pickering at the broward rare fruit sale about six months back. It was in a 5 gal pot. It was really huge which is what made me buy it. About 4ft tall and maybe even more than 4' wide. Definitely a great growth habit for people like us who need to protect the trees to keep them going. The one I have is blooming everywhere and already setting fruit. I think with a slower growing type you might as well get the largest you can find. I am not sure when the next rare fruit sale is, but the pickering trees they had at the last one were a really great deal.

Thanks Harry! I am still in the process of finding one, but I know there will be at least $20-$25 dollar difference between the two sizes? I might have to go out of town to find one...I'll have to see if one of the local nurseries will have it.

Jvand, you're right, I will probably end up getting the bigger size especially because it is a dwarf and a slower growing variety, great news on yours blooming already, Thanks and congrats on your nice tree. Do you have yours in a container or planted inground?

Mine is in a big container now. I am thinking about putting it in ground at some point and just doing the heavy protection for it but I am not sure yet. I'll probably see how it does in the container for a few seasons first.

Wow Harry, you are so lucky to have so much land to plant all these tropical fruit trees. You are living my dream. I hope your Alphonso mangoes fruit this year so we can get a report on how US grown Alphonso's taste! If I have 1/10th the land you have, I'd consider myself very lucky.

Harry
Did you use any protection at all for last month frost? I am surprised to see the trees looking nice and green. My 2 sapodilla trees are brown from the frost . Are those old photos ?How big is your yard?

Maureen:

I did very little cold protection. I put a pillow case over a newly planted Emperor Lychee. I wrapped my Borneo Red jakfruit in a sheet and pillow case over the top. And, I put a towel over a small durian seedling. That was it. The rest is as you see it. I have things that are burned from the cold. I just didn't take any pictures of those....other than the Malay Apple.

My property is 2.39 acres in total. Of course, between the house/garage, patio/pool and some non-fruting landscape areas, the actual fruit growing space is somewhere between 1.5 and 1.75 acreas.

fantastic pic harry....
i am really enjoying to see your pic now.
i wish i had a yard like you ....hhmm but impossible.
i just wondering , your tree are so huge and tall , how did you pick the fruit ?? must be very hard for you to get to the top rihgt ?

Akuza:
Thanks. I get up pretty high with a 16 foot orchard tripod fruit picking ladder and an extention pick and hold fruit picker. If the fruits are above 22 feet.....the birds can enjoy them.

Harry

Harry and Jsvand, I found my Pickering mango. I called at least 10-12 nurseries within 70 miles radius and no one had it except Crowley's nursery in Sarasota(thanks Jb_fla) for letting me know they had them. I decided to pot this one up, with all the cold snaps we've been getting lately, I didn't want another one to cover/heat...I'll just drag it in the garage, since its a dwarf.

It was in a 7 gal.but when I removed it to repot to a different pot...the roots were closer to a 5 gal. Wasn't as big as I would have liked and spent more than I wanted to but overall was pleased with the size considering no one had them at all in my area. I didn't want to wait till summer to get one, I'm very impatient once I decide on something,lol...

Jsvand, if you don't mind I would love to see a picture of yours...thanks!

BTW, when I was there she showed me a picture of a guy in
Miami that grows one(Pickering) the tree is 10 years old, the guy standing next to the tree(holding fruits) was 6ft. 4" tall and the 10 year old tree came to about his shoulder...Wide but short...this is my kind of Dwarf tree! I think this would make an excellent container mango.

I'll try this weekend. It's kind of stuffed behind a bunch of stuff in the greenhouse but I should be able to get to it.

Thanks, but only if you can get to it w/out knocking down another tree,lol...

Wow, so impressive! I too would love your size property Harry, but it would have to come with lots of helpers, LOL! The only mango I have is a manilla that was standing about six feet tall, but a raccoon or some other animal, broke off about two feet from the top.