A temptation facing gardeners in North Central Florida is to plant shrubs and trees which are sensitive to frost, since the “frost line” is quite further south about the level of Orlando. We do this all the time with smaller plants, just assuming they will have one season like annuals. A good example of this temptation is the AVOCADO, farmed in south Florida and Mexico. Our Florida garden has two avocado trees, both from varieties native to the mountains of Mexico. One variety, “Joey” has thrived and I’d now about nine feet tall. It is a beautiful tree with dark green glossy leaves and lighter green new leaves budding out in spring. This year, it was covered with blossoms, pale yellow-green blooms on the end of 2-3 inch stems. None appear to have pollinated, possibly because the other variety planted as a pollinator, the Mountain Mexican, has yet to blossom. This variety has grown more like a bush, even when pruning it for a single trunk. It also has glossy leave with its new leaves a handsome reddish color. Both trees are caged to prevent buck deer from removing the bark off the trunk during rutting season. I also covered them with frost cloth preferentially during the six spells of frost this year. They weathered the cold nicely and many new leaves are opening up. Avocados will always be an aspiration in this garden. There is, I am told, a Mexican avocado growing on the UF campus with fruit each season. I am patiently waiting.
TAProots
Commentaires