Briarpatch Blog - plants

Pawpaw Productivity

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 00:28:10 -0400

A Floridata visitor name Jan had this question for Steve, who is our pawpaw plant profiler - she writes: "I have a paw paw tree that I started from a seed. I was told that it needed another companion tree to produce fruit. Well my hubby mowed down the trees but the folowing year my tree produced fruit. Could it be that I have one that does not need a companion? I started more seeds and will they be sufficient for the companion tree or must I get another? " Steve's responds: "Pawpaws are self-fruitful (each plant has male parts that can fertilize the female parts to produce fruit) - but they say you get more fruit if you have 2 trees (so the plants can fertilize each other). Seedlings will work." If Jan made a pawpaw pie for her hubby it would be so good that he would probably pamper and protect her pawpaw patch. Pawpaws are North America's largest (and maybe tastiest) native fruit. You can read more on pawpaw (aka Hoosier banana, Indian banana) in Floridata's Asimina triloba Profile.

More On Olives

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 22:49:00 -0400

I received a message from a Floridata visitor name Judy who sent some interesting info after reading new olive Profile. She srote that a man named Don Mueller operates a small commercial olive grove in Jackson County, Florida (in the Panhandle). He produces both olive oil and table olives and you can check out his web site here: Green Gate Olive Grove. Best of luck to Don with his olive venture! I was surprised to learn that there was once an olive industry in the southeastern USA. Thomas Jefferson was an early advocate of olive cultivation in The South and commercial operations continued until California opened up and the industry moved west. Now, decades later, the olive is once again commercially grown in the southeast supported by organizations like the Georgia Olive Growers Association. Judy also turned me on to this nursery called Olive a Dream Trees (locations in Florida and California) that specializes is saving old olive trees. They then transform the trees into living sculpture - like huge bonsai trees! Really, really pretty... I hope my tiny little 'Arbequina' olive tree back home in Florida is safe and doing OK. I planted it just before I left for Kentucky six weeks ago. It's rained there and as long as the deer haven't trampled it or other wise defiled it, it should be doing fine.

Re-located to No.Ky.

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 23:10:00 -0400

Hello from Kentucky. Last month I packed up the dog and we drove to Northern Kentucky to stay with my brother's family. Last November my 26 year old nephew suffered a terrible injury that damaged his spinal cord causing loss of use of the lower part of his body. He requires a lot of attention until he learns to adapt to his situation with the help of physical and occupational therapists. He's doing well but of course we all worry about him none the less so I came up to be one of his caregivers until June.It is nice to be useful and it is nice to experience a "northern" springtime again after spending the last thirty years in Florida (I am kind of homesick...) We arrived on March 7th, within a few days the ornamental pear trees began blooming along with so flowering quince shrubs and redbud trees. At the same time the daytime temperatures reached 80F and then EVERYTHING began to bloom at once! I had just experienced an "accelerated" spring in Tallahassee and now again in Kentucky! I'm in Northern Kentucky, just across the river from Cincinnati, Ohio. I grew up in this area but haven't lived here in more than 30 years. It's fun to visit my old haunts and see how the trees have progressed over the decades. Many of my favorites are still around and many of them are flowering species that I was hoping to photograph. It's disappointing that the record heat zapped the blossoms of many of the crabapple and flowering plum and cherry species prematurely. Many of the tulips that I saw were sun-burned and bleached. I did manage to photograph some beautiful white and pink dogwood trees, redbud and Japanese magnolia. Mostly though I'm focusing on taking pictures of the flowers of many of our most familiar tree species like the red maple and Norway maple. I'll have new photos and post Profile updates for more tree species later in the week. The heat wave is over in the Cincinnati area and now we're in for a few nights of possible hard freezes. I hope it doesn't happen but I'm going to cover up my sister-in-law's clematis vine and dark blue Stokes aster . Stay warm and frostproof!