Green Fruit

And the green grass grows all around, all around, and the green grass grows all around. So does our small jade plant.

One thing about living in Hawaii ... everything is so green during the spring. I took advantage of the beautiful sunny day yesterday and wandered around the house. It was supposed to rain, but it didn't, all the better for checking our emerging fruit.

The jabon (pomelo) tree in the back is bearing fruit; you may recall I posted some pictures of the blossoms a while back. The fruit are still on the small size, but come summer there will be some gigantic yellow fruit weighing down the branches.

In the front yard, we have an avocado tree that seems determined to be a bonsai ... it just doesn't grow any taller than four feet or so. It alternates between being bushy green and leafless brown, seemingly unable to make up its mind what it wants to be when it grows up. At any rate, it'll be many, many years before any fruit develop.

Our scrawny fig tree is bearing fruit, but we can't let them mature beyond the pale green. Once some of the light yellow and purple color begins to appear, the birds attack them. So, the wife picks them early and believe me, there's nothing less tasty than a green fig.

The papaya tree is fruiting nicely with clumps of the green fruit hanging on for dear life. I know they're got going to get fully ripe on the tree, but that's okay. Pick 'em when they show a hint of yellow, let them hang around the kitchen for a bit and they'll ripen nicely. Hopefully they'll be sweet.

We had several strawberry guava trees in the front yard, but all but one were removed for the cycads that now grace the spot. The strawberry guavas are now beginning to develop, looking like miniature green balls huddling in clutches. Soon they'll be turning red and we'll have overflowing buckets to munch on, or make guava jelly.

And then there's our Pirie mango tree at the top of our driveway. Pretty sad-looking fruit. All that are there are teeny little mangos, about two-inches or so in length. The rain and wind play havoc on the flowers, ripping them from the branches. Eventually there'll be a modest crop that the wife can gloat over. Me, I don't care. I don't care for the perfumed Pirie aroma. Gimme a Hayden any day of the week and twice on Sundays.

Green is good:

Jabon (Pomelo)

Figs

Papayas

Strawberry Guava

Pirie Mango