About 8 - 10 years ago Oliver drove from Colorado where he was living with his brothers back to the Spring Hill Homestead. With his belongings, he also brought the precious cargo of home grown avocado trees - 2. Both Tyler had started from seed and grown and babied in Boulder. They were a few feet tall at the time of Oliver's arrival, and Tyler told me that 1 was a Haas variety (I think purchased at the supermarket) and the other a large, organic one purchased at the farmers market in Boulder. Well, the little Haas is still growing but was/is affected by the winters here in Spring Hill more than the larger variety. Today the little Haas is about 10 - 12 feet high and seems to be coming into its own now that the trees in the backyard were cut back; the larger Haas is, well I have no idea how tall it is now.😊
Today was the very first year that the large Haas blossomed and I was sure they would just blow away. BUT, they didn't and it fruited wonderfully. Lost a couple to mother nature, and a couple weeks ago the garbage bandits (raccoons) discovered the soon-to-be ripe fruit was ripe enough for them. I had intended to harvest them this month, but had to pick them sooner because they munched down at least 4 before I realized the tree was under night attacks. The fruit is delicious and I look forward to the next crop. Total harvested in 2020 (post bandits) was 15. Now I just need to figure out how to keep the bandits out of the backyard.
P.S. Happy birthday, Thelma. May all your dreams come true. 💓
5 comments:
Guac at Rosie's!!
I didn't know that you could grow Haas in Florida. We have a Hayden mango in our yard and you just have to plan to lose a few to the squirrels and bluejays, or harvest early!
Brought back memories. we planted an avocado from a seed and our backyard neighbour did also (you need two we were told )
when we moved to NY about 7 years later they had walnut sized fruit - wonder what happened to them?
loved your photos especially the last. you have a beautiful back yard
we have the same critter problem with our pecans and blueberries - ah well ‘c est la vie’
beautiful and peaceful looking back yard. Enjoy!
We too, had a similar experience: after Hurricane Andrew hit Miami in 1992, our oak trees threw off a lot of acorns; some of which landed in the staghorn ferns handing from the oaks. We removed several of the small starters and brought them with us to High Springs. Two of them survived and are now over 20 feet tall.
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