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You Can Taste A Difference When You Grow You Own Fruit

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By MONICA BRANDIES, Tribune correspondent

Published: October 10, 2007

Unless you have walked through the Garden of Paradise or been a member of the Rare Fruit Council International, you cannot imagine the wonderful fruits you can grow easily in Central Florida.

If you get to the Fall Plant Festival at the University of South Florida this weekend, be sure to visit the council's display in the back corner of the front row near the street. Perhaps 50 to 60 kinds of fruiting trees, shrubs and smaller plants will be for sale.

Better yet, they will have displays of some of the fruits, and the growers will be glad to answer questions. There will be fruit juices you have never heard of for sale. If you get there early, try the pina colada. It is my favorite. It is easy to make, but the recipe makes a gallon. I have made it to serve to company, and I froze the extra. See the recipe below.

Jimmy and Sally Lee of Thonotosassa, both master gardeners, are among the fruit gurus you will meet there. They have a forest of fruit and flowers on their 3 1/4 acres. There were 140 kinds the last time they counted. Each tree grows almost up to the next one, and the whole area seems shady as you walk beneath and around them. Most are about 25 feet tall and must get enough sun from the top because they are laden with fruit. A few grow beneath large oak trees, where they get extra protection from frost.

They have avocado trees at least 50 feet tall, and they harvest these treats from June until February. They must wait for the fruits beyond reach to drop and then grab them before the wildlife does.

Whatever new fruit trees they find during their visits to other growers, if Jimmy Lee gets a bit of a stem, he can graft it and soon have a tree.

'I have 10 different kinds of pommelos,' he said. 'They have 40 different kinds at the Florida Citrus Arboretum on Lake Alfred Road in Winter Haven. Every time I go there I bring home more bud wood.' He also has a cross between the pommelo and a very sweet grapefruit.

'Everyone who tastes that wants to have a tree,' he said.

They are excited this year with the first fruiting of a native pistachio that is only three years old and grew from seeds given to them by a friend on Merritt Island. These nuts are nothing like the ones you buy, but very tasty.

Papayas loaded with fruits of different shapes abound among the other plants. 'Whatever we eat, the seeds and skin go into the compost, and those just come up all over,' Jimmy Lee said.

For the past few years, the couple have enjoyed the fruits of a Flying Dragon, a cactus that is climbing one of the few palm trees on the property. 'There are four different kinds,' Sally Lee said. 'This one has white fruit inside that red shell.'

She also was thrilled to see their first cherimoyas, which the Lees found when they were just ready to eat. They also have the related sugar apple, atemoyas and 10 kinds of bananas that are making their biggest bunches yet this year. Homegrown bananas are equally superior in taste to store-bought as fresh green beans are to canned.

One of the advantages of growing your own fruit, besides having some to pick almost every day of the year, is that any fruit tastes better fresh-picked than shipped, and many that you can grow easily are never available for purchase because they have no shelf life or market demand.

If you can't get to the USF festival, the council meets at 2 p.m. the second Sunday of every month - at the Garden Club at 2629 Bayshore Blvd. in Tampa - if the members are not at USF or on a field trip. Visitors are welcome. Some fruits are on sale before the meetings, and free samples are available on the refreshment table. Visit www.rare fruit.org for information.

Today's Pick

Figs, Ficus caria, are so easy to grow in our area that I still have the first plant I put in nearly 20 years ago. Mine is still a shrub, and it will probably look like bare sticks if you come to my Open Garden on Nov. 10 and 17. Fig plants were still bearing fruit for the Lees last week, quite late in the season. The leaves often look a little rusty just before they fall off. Figs root easily from cuttings. Like most fruit plants, it needs as much sun as possible. Figs also are sensitive to nematodes, so mulch them well. I was amazed that I could never see the flower on them, but then I learned that it blooms inside the fruit. When it's ripe, the fruit may be green, yellow, pink, violet, brown or black, depending on the variety. The Brown Turkey and Celeste varieties are well recommended. Ripe fruit hangs down and is soft. And if you don't pick it, the birds will, so you might want to plant this close to the house or along a well-traveled path so you can pick it often.

Now's The Time To ...

• Get Lewis Maxwell's small book, 'Florida Fruit,' or Marian Van Atta's 'Growing and Using Exotic Foods' on your next trip to the library or bookstore. You will use either one for years. I use both. There is also an extensive chapter on edible landscaping in 'The Florida Gardener's Book of Lists,' the ultimate reference for growing almost any kind of plant in Florida. More recently published books include Charles R. Boning's 'Florida's Best Fruiting Plants' and Jackson and Davies' 'Citrus Growing in Florida.'

•Add to or replace some of your plantings with trees, shrubs and vines that bear edible and delicious fruits.

•Make pina colada drinks: Combine 1 ½ large cans of unsweetened pineapple juice, one can of sweetened condensed milk, one can cream of coconut (not coconut milk), and mixi well (put last two ingredients in a blender if they are lumpy); add enough water to make a gallon and chill; and shake well before pouring.

Upcoming Events

The USF Botanical Gardens 2007 Fall Plant Festival will be from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $4 for adults and free for members and children younger than 12. Parking is free. For details, call (813) 974-2329 or visit www.cas.usf.edu/garden.

Monica Brandies can be reached at monicabrandies@yahoo.com.

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