re: Louisiana Tropical Fruit Gardening - Experiences and Updates

I have two feijoa bushes that have two blooms between them they may be getting too much water I’m going to cut them off the teat and see what happens. If they don’t do anything this year I’ll stick them in the ground somewhere and try better cultivars.

Pawpaws starting to get frisky





Fig tree shrugged off the late freeze and is cooking with grease. Come on July



I have one sprouted cutting of this tree left if anyone wants it. I’m pretty sure it’s Celeste. That tree is from a cutting of the original tree which I’ve had to cut way down but I do have some pretty big rooted branches still around it that I’m going to dig up this winter and then I’ll have a couple dozen nice trees to offer. Figs are super sweet and the tree is bionic

Planted what should be my last in ground tree of 2026. This is Cherry of the Rio Grande (Eugenia involucrata), a special large fruited cultivar called Ben's Beaut. It produces a sweet fruit with flavor similar to a Bing cherry with an additional note of banana.

I own other Eugenia plants like Suriname cherry and grumichama, but this is the only one I believe I can get away with in the ground. In the recent Florida freezes, this plant was the only thing that was universally untouched besides loquats/figs/etc.

But what really convinced me was this YouTube video. This guy grows all kinds of container fruits like lychee and loquat in southeast Texas zone 9a. He has a cherry of the Rio Grande in a large pot that he has left outside for the last 5 years and has rooted into the ground. It survived snowmageddon in January 2025 with a low of 12F experiencing only a few inches of limb die back. In January 2026, he got below 20F and the tree is fruiting this spring. For those keeping track, that means this tree needs less protection than loquat to bear fruit in 9a. A loquat tree will take colder but its fruits and flowers won't.

I'll be excited to monitor this one and see how it performs in south Louisiana. I do not get as cold as the guy in the video and I planted in a southern facing protected location with half day sun and over canopy. I will probably protect it for the first 2 winters to let it get established. As always, blasted off the garbage bark sludge soil from the nursery and planted on a mound of sandy soil with mulch.

Green Dreams Nursery FL
Great outfit with a great and educational YouTube channel.

Thanks I ordered one myself. There are two left. 50 bucks plus shipping, they ship on mondays

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Well my puppies got my Pickering that was just starting to flush out!

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Would be an Old Yeller moment for me.

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I should not have clicked on that link. Now I want a cherry tree.

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Uhhh... don't look at the jaboticabas. That's where you will really get sucked in. Elite container trees. The best, really.

Yeah I’m not happy. But I guess that’s what I get for not putting it somewhere 2 3 month old puppies couldn’t get

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There is NO ONE trying cherry of the Rio Grande here

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I actually got to play with these a few years ago in Brazil. I certainly wouldn’t describe them as tasting like a typical black cherry. The ones I had were more tart and had some other flavors. Good; but, definitely not the same. They were often used to make juice. The vendor I worked with said their issue is shelf life. Indicating that you had 24 hours or less once harvested to eat them.

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Got in my Qinmi #9 passionfruit today. This is a Chinese commercial variety developed in 2021 in Guangdong. It's a yellow passionfruit with an average brix of 18-22. That is insanely sweet for a passionfruit. This one is going to stay in a 20g pot with trellis. I paid a retarded amount for this twig and have very high hopes for it. If it succeeds, I'll give all of you cuttings.

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What is the catch? Is it less cold tolerant? Looking forward to seeing this grow.