Ooooh Look at all the pretty flowers & plants

[SoCalDem]

http://toptropicals.com/html/toptropicals/catalog/photo_db/M.htm


I was googling to see if I could find a certain tree, and if it would grow in CA..and found this wonderful site.. Every tropical fruit, plant & tree you could ever want.. Made me homesick:cry:

found my favorite in the whole world fruit.. but it won't grow here, and is too fragile for shipping..




Melicoccus bijugatus, Melicocca bijuga
(Spanish Lime, Genip, Mamoncillo, Quenepa, Limoncillo)

[XemaSab]

1. What is it?

:bounce:

[SoCalDem]

2. A ginnip...from a mamoncillo tree

sort of like lychee, only YUMMIER :)

[XemaSab]

3. Wow.... never heard of it!

Where's it from?

:bounce:

[SoCalDem]

5. Central America, South America, Caribbean

The trees will grow here, but they won;t flower or fruit.. bah! why HAVE 'em if I can;t have the fruit :)

The last time I ate these was when we were in Jamaica.. They actually grow wild and it you find a good stick you can pick em.. (I'm too old to shinny up trees like I used to do as a kid)..

[XemaSab]

6. Cool!

My friend just got back from Ecuador and she said they had all kinds of fruit she'd never heard of. Maybe this was one.

[rug]

13. That's a world map.

Well-traveled animal.

[LaurenG]

4. Do they have seeds?

I never tasted a lychee either (don't know what that is) so what other Fruit(?) would it be like?

[SoCalDem]

7. oops I duped

:)_

[SoCalDem]

8. The flesh of the fruit is surrounding a giant hollow seed

that can be roasted like a chestnut (never bothered to do that)..You crack open the pod with your teeth, and slurp the fruit into your mouth, drink the juice and then pick the fruit off with your teeth.. It's cool and slippery, and as you chew it, it assumes the consistency of chewing gum..You literally scrape the fruit from the seed...and then you spit the seed as far as you can..to grow another tree..

When I was a kid, the monkeys would get very angry when we would climb THEIR trees and take their ginnips :)

[LaurenG]

9. So it's a sweet fruit?

How funny, the monkeys did not want to share.

[Robeson]

10. What a great description!....

...I've never had one, but feel like I have...:thumbsup:

[SoCalDem]

11. I hope someday you get to try one.. BUT

if you do, you will eat the WHOLE bunch (they are addictive).. Most bunches in the tree have about 6 or 7 sections like these
...


I found them at the straw market in Jamaica, bought a few bunches, and as we walked down the street, strangers would stop me and say "Ginnip, Ma'am?", and peel of 2 or 3 stems of them.. By the time we finished shopping, we had to go back and get more to take back to the villa..

If you have ginnips, you are never without friends :)

[radwriter0555]

12. Xotix Tropico. North Fairfax Ave, West Hollywood, at the corner of

Willoughby. See Leon. He can be an ass, and his staff can be far worse, but if you catch him at a good time, he can be astounding in his knowledge and the stock he has on hand is almost revolutionary. There simply is nothing about exotic plants he doesn't know. And, FYI, in handling him, a little sucking up goes a million miles. And it's worth it. Once he's warmed up to you, he's really cool.

He has some of the most amazing rare and tropical trees and plants in all of the USA, at realistic prices.

The shop doesn't look like much. It's a street corner covered in foliage. But, for a true gardener it's a piece of heaven in Los Angeles.

[SoCalDem]

14. Thanks,.. I will definitely look him up

We`are redoing some landscaping, and maybe I'll try to include a few of these trees (if he can get them) They grow wild in the tropics, but I'm sure they take coaxing here.. What I have read so far, tells me that they will not fruit here, but they do grow to 85 ft high..(not in my lifetime,,hah!.)

[radwriter0555]

15. I'm sure Leon can provide something equally wonderful and majestic.

I learned a long, long time ago that what seems wonderful in the books just often won't work in the LA climate.

Remember too that the pollution is a major factor in LA; it just chokes the life of out things. Considering that the climate is indeed as nice as it is, it's surprizing how few plant and tree varieties do really well... It ended up for me that the choice was quite narrow after many years of experimenting and a great deal of hope.

Sad as it sounds, it's sometimes easiest to work within the pallet that will thrive.

So, go with what Leon says. He is brilliant in what will do well and what won't.

[SoCalDem]

16. I am almost ashamed to even plant a tree.. We had to cut one down

The tree-guy said it was a "junk" tree that developers often plant and at 31 yrs of age, it was too sick to save.. Itsapped allover the cars and had fewer and fewwer leaves every year,.but it still made me sad to see them take a chainsaw to it..

My son is upset with me because I am insisting on MOVING 4 hibiscus plants .. He wants me to get NEW ones,,but these are hardy devils (I always forget to water them)...they bloom all the time, and have survived many savage attacks from sons with pruning tools.. They are over 25 yrs old..

So they WILL be moved.. At least survival will be their choice..:)