NZ, no dishes of water (West Nile virus) but I do occasionally wash down the plants or the cement floor under the arbor. Plus there are grape and passion fruit vines above it and grass in front of it, not to mention lots of plants. I do have plans for drip lines and probably micro misters for early morning or evening (no direct sun). Yes LL, they are from Juan's pulasan tree, I try to pretend I dont care about them, so they wont die. It would be a complete miracle if I can get them to fruit and even more outrageous if they taste as good as Juan's. Some of the PR seedlings are growing pretty well, plants in the photos are in 5gal pots. Even the mangosteen are growing moderately well, the slowest growers.........herrania umbricata and kwai muk. Charleslou, all of the lychees except the Mauritus are in pots.

Peaseblossom, I just want to provide a little information that I thought might be interesting since you're talking about the climate there...and thanks for the reiteration! How long have you lived in Vietnam? Dai, Since Hong Kong is located in the tropic, shouldn't light intensity be the same throughout the year since the sun is always directly overhead in the tropic? Just curious since I never lived that far north in Asia. Thanks Eggo, Thank you so much for asking that question. You truly have a heart of gold! Yes, it was a horrible experience. One that I will remember for a long time. We had our fair share of tropical storms and hurricanes but usually stay home. Not this time though. People in the Galveston/Houston areas were freaking out over what had just happened in New Orlean caused by Hurricane Katrina. This was actually the first time I saw people in this region of Texas got serious and worried about this other hurricane, Rita. All I can say was it was horrible. Not in the sense of the storm, but the traffic!! Yeah, we decided to evacuate the island--first time ever since we moved here. We were fortunate, I take that back, very fortunate for leaving a tad bit earlier than the mass exodus of cars and trucks that followed us shortly afterward toward Houston. We stayed at a close family place up there and decided that we're going to weather out the storm if it decides to hit here head on. On our way to Houston we listened to the radio and the weather forecaster told us that Rita was to become a category 5 hurricane!! It eventually became the third strongest hurricane on record in the Atlantic and it was heading toward Galveston!! My family was ready for the inevitable. What if we no longer have a house? What if our business is gone, what are we to do? Family prayed all night and the next day and the day after. With every day gone by, the hurricane got weaker and weaker. When it almost landed, what was once a 175 mph freak of nature in the middle of the Gulf mellow out, miraculously, into a 125 mph wind of destruction. Yes it was still a killer hurricane but a much less destructive one nontheless. And I be darn, the thing all of a sudden decided to head slightly due east from the projected path!! We felt very relieved for us and our friends back home on the island even though East Texas and Louisiana will feel the brunt of the hurricane. I wished it didn't hit anywhere in the U.S. but a direct hit on Houston, the fourth largest city in the U.S., will most likely have caused catastrophic damage to the city much like New Orlean, possibly more even. Long story short, Rita decided to hit almost dead center at the Texas-Louisiana border and caused extensive damages from Port Arthur, Tx to almost the entire left half of Louisiana. Fallen trees, flooding, mass electrical failure, toppled houses, looting, you name it. Everything that could easily have happened here had Rita wanted to. Fortunately, Rita didn't stay too long to cause more damage once it made landfall. The whole event was chaotic for the millions of Texans as well as Louisianans who had to endure it. Houston, a city that once housed the largest shelter for Katrina refugees, the Astrodome, eventually looked destined to become another New Orlean. One can only imagine what was on the minds of Katrina refugees who was forced to leave their beloved city just weeks ago. Soon they were forced to go on buses heading toward other refugee camps in Arkansas, San Antonio, and Dallas to name a few. And locals, can't forget them. Took us about 6 hours to drive 50 miles and I thought that was insane. Later I heard some people had to spend a whole day just to leave Houston!! At the peak of traffic chaos, going from Hwy 160 east to Hwy 160 west withing the city was a 6 hour journey!! Cars were idling too long, many without gas, many pleading to the government for food and essentials. It was just horrible. The worst traffic jam you can possibly think of in Texas. Back home we felt very relieved that our house and business were intact. Rita was not so forgiving to our garden though. We had many toppled trees such as our large moringa as well as a couple of large indian jujubes. The two year old royal paulownia tree was bent, and still is. I'm trying to fix that somehow. And our papaya grove is left in ruined. Lots of torned leaves and broken papaya trees bent in half. Overall, half of the papaya trees are gone but those left were quickly re-erected as were all the other trees that fell. Fortunately, non hit our house and caused any major damage. Boy what a crazy year it has been. A record hurricane seasons, hurricanes of which the most massive ever recorded. And the freak snow, who can forget that. I'm just amazed at how all these so call tender mango, papaya, avocado, pomegranate, moringa, rose apple, indian jujube are able to withstand these conditions. I guess, like a migrant from the tropic, if I can do it so can they!!

Thanks for the inputs everyone. With regard to the ones mentioned - mainly the Pickering and Cogshall - also Ice Cream and Julie - what sizes do they grow to roughly (height and span). I guess I cannot really figure that out from the pictures posted. mango_kush - the woodapple is a hard shell fruit and the inside is kind of a pulp as shown in the picture you posted. Even when ripe it can be sour and rather than eat it raw people over there sometimes make a kind of concoction out of it by pureeing the flesh and making a kind of liquid (I cannot recall all the ingredients  I think it includes milk). So it is then consumed in a semi-solid state. I also recalled eating woodapple jam and recently ordered it online about a month ago. It is currently sitting in my refrigerator and eating it for the first time in about 25 years. It does taste like what I remember but like most jams it is much sweeter than the original fruit. I donÂt recall eating those other fruits you posted but I do recall eating some stuff that I no longer know the names for. Another thing I do recall eating is the insides of the fruit produced by the palmyrah tree. Three circles when you cut the top off and you scoop the insides out with s spoon. They make all sorts of stuff out of the palmyrah tree including some crunchy sticks and also flour thatÂs used to make some foods. Never seen any of that in the US though.

Hello Friends, swrancher - Yes I have tasted the "Black Pearl" Way Jambu. My tree had like 9 or 10 fruit. Very interested texture. It was kind of like a cross between a regular apple and a radish. Very Juicy and very refreshing. It was sweet, but not as sweet as I would have liked, still very nice though. simongrow - Thanks for the kind words. That Emperor lychee tree in the pictures is not mine. Those were pictures posted by ajaysr5. I have a Brewster, Mauritius and 2 Sweetheart Lychee trees. Pictures of My Sweetheart are posted at the top of this thread and it is flowering and fruiting right now like crazy. As for th Emperor, last time I was at Mimosa Nursery in Los Angeles, they had some of them. I do not remember the price, just that they had them in 7 and 15 gallon. - Jacob