Eating My First Sugar Apple from my Own Tree

After waiting for more than 2 years, finally I can eat a ripen sugar apple, from my own trees! Han been a week waiting for this one ripen, everyday I check it to make sure I'm not miss it. Because if already very soft, it is very easy to falling from the stem and you can't eat it anymore, it will be just a mess.

From 12 tiny baby fruits, only 7 survive, eeeerrr... well... not 7 but only 6 , because accidentally I knock of 1 of them while I'm moved the pots :(

I expected 1 of my trees will have a red-puple sugar apple ( Kampong Mauve), but non of them. Maybe even you start your seedling from red sugar apple, it's still can bee different from the mother plant due to cross pollination? maybe... not sure.... But I'm still happy without the red one, because they taste the same.

Sugar apple who's ripen at the tree, they look much better and also taste better. I never can't eat sugar apple from the store, for some reason , they taste awful and look ugly also.
My hubby never eat this one before, he like it the taste but hate the seeds :)

Here's the picture of a ripen from the tree sugar apple and what the inside look like.

Ripen Sugar Apple

Ripen Sugar Apple, Fresh picked from the tree

The pulp very soft and sweet but be careful with their seed, lots of seeds. Will keep all the fresh seeds for a while, maybe someone at Gardenweb will want it..


So far my 2 Cherimoya seedling doing very good, 1 of them almost died because something eating almost all the leaves, so glad it's coming back. Cherimoya leaves much bigger than sugar apple.

2 months old Cherimoya Seedling

And here my avocado seedling, about 2 years old and I'm try to keep it as a small tree, with hope still can bearing fruits for me someday.

2 years old Avocado Seedling

This month also for my Queen of the night cactus, started from 2 tiny leaves from my parents garden, have her first bloom, we bring in the pot inside so we can watched her blooming progressively from 7 pm until mid night. For my surprised, this also the first time for my hubby seen this.

Queen of the night cactus at 7 pm

Queen of the night cactus at 9 pm

Queen of the night cactus at 11 pm

Queen of the night cactus at 12 am

Here's also my Blood Lily with her first bloom this year (spring) got 1 tiny bulb from my parents garden 3 years ago and this year she have 3 tiny babies !.

Blood Lily

Blood Lily

Blood Lily

I felt that fall will coming very soon, the temperature recently very nice with nice breeze.Mocking bird and Sparrow house bird has been back to our yard since last week. But the butterfly still busy flying around at our yard, lots of them... so lovely.

Ixora and Butterfly

Happy Friday everybody, wishing you all have a blessing weekend.

Hand Pollination for Sugar Apple

Two years ago I saw sugar apple at oriental store close to my area, they have 2 different color, green-yellowish and reddish sugar apple, I bought one each of them with hope that I'll planting the seeds and have my own sugar apple tree.

I'm growing up eating sugar apple almost every week, at my parents yard, we have 4 big sugar apple trees, they are all the green yellowish type.

With my surprise, the seeds easily to germinated, since I believed this plant can't handle our winter cool, so I only keep 3 of them and toss the rest but still keep some of seeds if I need it later on.

On winter, every time the temperature below 50F, I'll moved it to my sun room, they still look suffer, loosed lot of their leaves but soon after the temperature get warm again, the new grown will start coming and after the third year, following with flowers... only few but made me excited and can't wait to see the tiny fruit at my trees, but it not happen ... after all the bloom falling, still no any tiny fruit.

At that time I though probably the trees just too young to bearing fruit and this spring it's happen all over again for 2 months, still no tiny fruit yet. So I looking at internet for the answer, I need do a hand pollination !

Sugar apple have a unique flowers, first open, it will be a female flower for about 24 hours and the next day it will become a male flower for only few hours. So you should be know when the male flower mature and ready. On beginning May at my zone, the male flowers mature about 2-5 pm but soon after the temperature getting hot, they mature earlier.

Female Flower Sugar Apple

Male Flower Sugar Apple

For beginning I'm using small brush for hand pollination but for some reason it doesn't work good for me, the pollen didn't really sticking at my brush, you need a natural brush maybe like from feather. So I'm trying used a cotton bud, just tuck and rubbered gently around inside male flower to pick up pollen and than stuck it into the female flower, also gently please and it worked !

With only a few left over flowers at the trees, and only for 2 weeks, my trees has have 12 tiny fruits, yeaaay..! For now, I need to stop hand pollination them until next year. 
Thanks to 'eggo' at Gardenweb for his awesome explanation on how to hand pollination for cherimoya, you are rock :)

Since my trees still young and small, I hope they can handle take care their 12 tiny fruits until become mature.
And can't wait for my cherimoya seed to germinated, has been a week, still no sign yet.

Happy father's day for all wonderful fathers wherever you are !

Clematis and Hydrangea

I planted my H.F.Young Clematis on my back side flower bed on fall 2011 and this spring he is blooming very nice, lots of blooms, some got so big and semi double ! On this our hot spring, the colors become very pretty blue.with purplish stripes.

Looking such a beautiful, breathtaking climbing vine, make me want buying more.. and I'm lucky to found a  Clematis at Lowe's this spring, I bough Dr. Rupel and Carnaby.

I'm not really happy with Carnaby Clematis, she can't handle hot, the flowers fade soon after they bloom and become white, less than a week, her most of her leaves turn brown. I need to moved her around for couple weeks to find a good spot for her and make sure she can growing better. Glad finally she can adjusted and start showing new growth and showed some her pretty flowers. She get full sun until mid day and partial sun until 3-4 pm.

Dr. Ruppel Clematis so far his climbing nicely and repeat bloomer. Got full sun until 3-4 pm and the color of his flower ca handle our summer hot very nicely, it's red-purpelish flowers with deep red stripe, few days later, they will become purplish.

First day

3-4 day later

Another surprise this spring I got it from hydrangea, I bought it on sale at WMart last summer, a very healthy plant but without flower or tag. And this spring she have bunch of bloom and the color so beautiful, bright pink.

Today, I bought another hydrangea, at another store and gotit on sale also but this time have a tag on it, it's call Peppermint hydrangea from Forever & Ever hydrangea, hope she will re bloom for me this year or I will waiting patiently until next spring :)

Before, I though take care hydrangea will be very complicated and every time I'm really hesitate to try it until I found a very cheap hydrangea on sale and decided to try and glad I did. so far my Hydrangea only need little bit pruning, keep the soil moist and morning sun only at our zone, and they happy as can be...

Amaryllis First Blooms part 2

Well, after waiting fro more than 2 years, finally my first Hippeastrum bulb grown from seed are open, but I'm still can't identify them.

It could be a cross seedling or their petal color not stable yet.
So far I love the white one, so elegance... did you agree with me ?
And have a slightly fragrance, can't describe it but it is smelt nice for sure

And here the other, she look like my old Ami, but the new one have a lighter color, or maybe will change later, next year.

Still waiting for others bloom, even the temperature has been upper 80'F at day, they growing slow or maybe because I check on them too often ? ha !

Update :
After waiting for a week, finally they blooming, small-bright red, so lovely...

Hope next year, most of my seedling will be start their first show.

The Papaya Tree After the Freeze

This year, we have a very mild winter, I have a big hope that some of my papayas fruits will ripen before freeze and I'm right, 2 papayas has been have orange blush at their skin, so I picked them and wrap it with paper bag. a week later while I check it, they all covering with some kind of white fungus, yuck.

3 days after I picked them, freeze kill those trees ! 

Here's the Trees before freeze

And here's the Tress few days later after freeze

I planting the trees too close to the wall, and only get the sun from morning until midday, seem like they tried looking for more sunlight, until they are facing that way. My niece said I have a lazy papaya tree :-)

Today, while I planning to pull all of them, I saw a new sprouting at the bottom, yeaaa... they are coming back ! Each tree have more than one stem, aaahmazing.

Wishing I will have a better luck with them this year, crossing my finger ;-)

Another tropical plants who's surprisingly back to life after I'm forgot to save them from freeze last winter are :
1. Two years old avocado seedling
2. Bougainvillea
3. One year old Angel Trumpet cutting
4. Paper flower vine
5. Kangkong (asian vegetable)

The other's who's not survive:
1. Double Layer Pink Hibiscus
2. Red  and Pink Mandeville vine

Still keep watering them with hope they'll be back to me

My Amaryllis Seedling have Their First Bloom !

Last week, I found out that some of my amaryllis seedling have a budding, since than the first thing I do first in the morning is checking on them, it's really cheer up my days a lot....!

It is exciting want to know how's the flowers look like, because all their label was gone after I re pot them.

Almost 3 years ago, a very nice lady at Garden web gave me a lots of ami seeds, half of them not sprouting and half of the seedling not survived during the cool winter. But most of them multiply fast, even before they given a flower, so I quest, I have more than I need now. I'm thinking to give away some of them after I identify them, or perhaps I can trade it.

Here's the pics I took today, their first flowers smaller than my ami from store, maybe because their bulb also still tiny compare with my older ami.

This one probably Minerva, seedling from my own ami.
No she isn't, still don;t know what her name

I have no idea what it is, but love the color, red-pinkies
Buds looks so red, but she is my minerva baby

Will posting the others soon after their blooms bigger and get color...

And here's my Barbara Jackman H.F.Young Clematis blooms this year, so far she a good repeat bloomer from early Spring until early winter, love her him much. Will looking for another Clematis with other colors for my arbor

Aaaah... I love spring, the best season of the year !