Before my 2 " firsts " since planting palms and subtropicals , I wanted to show you my Ensete Maurelii Banana that is getting respectably big and showy . It has a lot of growing left to do and should be huge by September .
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A first for me is that my Manihot grahamiis started way up the trunk this spring . Normally they die back close to the ground but they started 5 feet up the trees this year due to the mild winter . You can see where the new growth is growing out high on the trunk and where some old growth was killed by the 19F low last winter . I'll trim off that dead :
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Jim was right that Citrus trees just get rid of some of the many fruits they produce . My theory is that the plant discards whatever fruit it can't grow to maturity and discards the fruits that would sap the plant of too much water and energy .
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Here's the Citrumelo around Christmas . I bunched up all the fruit that fell on the lawn around the base of the plant for festive purposes , but I was wondering if any of the seed from all that fruit would sprout this year ?
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Some seed did sprout , and that is the other first for me :
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A closer view . I actually didn't know if the seed was viable . I'll dig some up and plant them in pots :
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Most fruit are about golf ball size now :
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Washy update . The wet weather is helping to lower the skirt fronds and enhance the new green fronds . The green fronds will drop too as more growth comes out of the crown . Almost looks good but it needs another few weeks to have the look I want it to have :
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A few more " firsts " still left to see are my big Butia flowering and producing fruit , this Washy flowering , and I'd like to see my Mekong Giant Bananas flower for the first time . The Mekongs didn't die back to the ground for the first time since I've grown them , so they should be pretty mature .
I predicted the Butia would flower this season . We'll see?
Thanks for looking ,
Will