I'm in far NW Austin, and the first plant I bought from the Wildflower Center died very quickly. I planted two more closer to the house wall & they've made it through 3 winters, with some dieback after cold spells.

Good luck!

Annie at the Transplantable Rose

Omar

Jolana, there are a couple or three on the grounds of the Natural Gardener as well. If one of the bushes I'm thinking of is really one, it's pretty big ~ four feet tall and wide. Blooming now, too. I think there's another one by the pottery section that's taller than I am ~ trained like a small tree. The two that seem to do better are in shade or partial shade. The one that's in a raised bed in sun and doesn't get regular water isn't doing as good as the others.

I'll be at work today, so I'll double-check to make sure those really are Barbados cherries. And here's hoping you have good luck with that seed, but if you don't or just want some more, we sell them in sizes from 4" pots to three gallons.

I bought the original two at Schumachers.

This spring I bought a standard at the nursery down the street.

See the link for planning your harvest. LOL!

Annie

Guess what? I'm stopping by Schu. on my way to Austin today :-)

Molly, thank you and I take it yurs isn't a dwarf? That is a bummer you might have to move it
If you do, do it as soon as you can.

K, thanks for the list, after eating one a while back ;)
I came home and researched them real well and if I get a huge bumper crop from one tree my good neighbor said she would help me put them up, lol

Annie, you have had it a while, the only way besides seed for me w/hibiscus has been layering

Roselee, the green I see might be a weed, don't be jealous yet, lol
You stinker, I wish I was *going* by there today.

Sure, you do. Witnesses = accomplices. One of them already confessed. Right, Roselee?

Tammy, did you just happen to have a "jumper" in your pocket too?...Just wondering.....

Omar

Omar

Either that or they were Mexican Jumping Barbados Cherries, lol.

Roselee can't defend herself at the moment because she is out of town.

Hugs, T

And then she insisted me and Miss Innocent take a bite. Then we all ran for the woods!

Earlier I had warned Jolana that a man had been arrested and put in jail for collecting cuttings at the Botanical Center. Honest. My blood ran cold when I saw it on the news. I have never taken cuttings, but with all those seeds zipping around through the air who knows where one might land.

BTW, this particular Barbados cherry was a larger fruited, more exotic, and probably tender variety since it was growing in an indoor area.

That was a different variety, not the one I got?
They weren't marked but I did tell DH that the leaves didn't look like what I thought they were supposed to
oxoxox

If it is the latter, there is a wholesale nursery in Gonzales that grows them, and they don't grow anything that freezes, because they don't heat their greenhouses. They grow very easily from cuttings. I have 2 of them in my yard.....

If it is the former, those things cannot be killed, and will grow anywhere! I love them all.

Janie

Please tell us more about 'the latter' BC CHERRY TREE that is available at the wholesale nursery. Is that the one you have? We'd like to have a larger fruited one. I'm mainly getting the ones from Schumachers for the birds as far as the fruit is concerned (although it is edible for people too) and also because they are pretty and easy to grow.

Scroll up or down on the link below to read more.

The one with the many pink flowers that grows in a weeping habit, and has the little red berries are indeed native to Texas. They grow from seeds freely, and are easily transplanted. I have them growing out back, close to the dog's water faucets. They get big too.

How much are they at Schumachers? I can get them for about $9.00. (the bushy trees)

Janie

OMG, Miss Innocent says she thinks that *I* picked it off the tree! :-(

In all the hulabalo at finding ripe cherries everywhere I honestly don't remember, or either don't want to. LOL!

Wow -- those are some beautiful Barbados cherries on that California tree. Thanks for the tantalizing link!

Your welcome, I love that tree

Janie

I don't particularly like that feeling.

Jolana and Tammy, remember those bushy BC growing outside the Botanical Center? I took pictures of them. They were probably the dwarf one -- ya' think?

I was thinking the dwarf variety were more of a ground cover. It probably depends on soil conditions and how much fertilizer and water they receive as well as possibly variety differences. The ones at growing on the Schumachers grounds were not that large, but guess I better move the ones I planted as a ground cover just in case. Thanks for the tip.

I was wondering if anyone would be willing to sell me some of your barbados cherry seeds or cuttings. I can pay in cash or postage. Please let me know.

Thanks ~ Bo

I doubt they'd work this far north though. :(

There are many varieties of Barbados cherry trees. What I believe to be a more tropical one that Janie facilitated us in getting got nipped a little on the side away from the wall by the first freeze even though it was covered with a blanket. I then put two thick blankets over it and stacked big bags of leaves around the base before this last hard freeze, but I just checked and the freeze got it too. Oh well ... maybe it will come back from roots.

There are still some seeds hanging on some of the Schumachers ones, so send me an email through my page if you still want some, Bo.

No doubt most of us lost some plants, but it couldn't be avoided. We did the best we could so let's just keep on being happy with gardening anyway.

Will the branches sprout new leaves in spring or will new growth come from the ground? Heck, I hope something sprouts up or I'll be doing some serious plant shopping...

Happy gardening, in spite of hard freezes!

I just this minute scratched the bark of the more tropical one with larger fruit that I got from Jolana through Janie and it is bright green at the ground level so it looks like all of them here will come back from the roots :-)

In case anyone's curious... these can take a very hard pruning if you want a fuller shape. They can grow quite tall - up to 15 feet - or act more like a 7-foot bushy trees. They make for a nice screen against our fence. I've been experimenting a bit but learned the hard way about pruning. Last spring they'd gotten so overgrown that I went at them with my loppers. I pruned in mid-March and shortly after we had a few frosts. One of the trees, which I pruned back very hard, had begun to put out some new leaves and branches, but the frost killed the tender growth and with it the tree. So they are probably best pruned in the summer or at least with enough time for the growth to harden before any frosts--at least in my zone.

The rest of the trees survived my early pruning and were amazing all summer--full of leaves and flowers, and especially beautiful from September to November. As Janie mentioned, they have a weeping habit, which looks gorgeous against a fence. However, they did need some soaker hosing several times this summer because of the drought.

I wish I knew what variety I have but they are older. In any case, I'd keep them protected until they are established. It seems like they survive quite well here in Austin. North of here they may have some trouble.

Tim

Tim