I love love love lychees. Love them. Put a big bowl in front of me and I will peel and eat them until my fingers are numb. I'd even go so far as to say that they are my all time favourite fruit. And that's a big call.
So when I found a dwarf lychee for sale online, I snapped it up... along with the pomegranate and Barbados cherry. And well, you can see that these plants have a theme.
I was so disappointed with the lychee. Look at the leaves! It arrived with these brown tips on all them, I've got no idea what it means. And the shape! If you look at the photo below, the tree forks right at the base.
And this little mini branch grows off one of the forks, while the bulk of the tree grows on the other branch. Which means the tree has this funny unbalanced shape to it, you can see in the first photo that it has a strange bendy thing going on. I'm afraid it's going to overbalance when it gets bigger :(.
Once again, I should have complained. But of course I didn't. I think I was in shock when I saw the state of the plants when they arrived, I'd been so excited and they were such a let down. I know this is ridiculous, but I almost cried I was so disappointed. Lol, that is ridiculous, I only ever cry over little things, I am tough for the big ones.
Anyway, like everything else that I plant this year, I prepared the hole with tender loving care, and I will love and care for this plant despite its dodgy bend and brown leaf tips. I even gave it a lovely little drink of my fabulous new fertiliser.
Oh and that reminds me, there was one more problem. I read on the tag that lychees require a chill to bear fruit. That's a bit of a worry. Do you think an ice pack will work?
20 comments:
Ice pack? No, I think you need more of an igloo or take the fridge outside and leave the door open. ;-)
Oh Ali, again I so admire you for your exotic fruit and veg choices....have you found a Quondong tree yet?
The moral of this tale seems to be: never buy plants by mail order. I reckon they just fob you off with the second-grade plants which they haven't been able to offload to the professional buyers. Maybe you should ask your local garden centre if they can order plants for you? Then you could check them out before you buy.
I'm off to look up "Quongdong" now - it doesn't sound very polite...
Lol...Mark, hi...it is a plant...an Australian native...I wasn't being rude...but it is a fun word dont you think?
I thought it may be fun for the Q.....
My favourite Q would be a quince where I live. But, I am still hanging out to see what you plant for X.
I like very much that Mark thinks our trees have naughty names, and my goodness what fun I will have with the letter X. Suzanne I have never tasted a Quandong, and hadn't thought about the letter Q either.
I have lots of ideas, but very poor follow through. And I am running out of space for fruit trees, 2-3 more and we'll be chockers. I'll have to start shifting the neighbours' fences at night.
And I'm going to have to google some exotic vegetables.
Mark, I agree with you about the mail order trees, what I am cranky about is that I was trying to support a small family company rather than the enormous franchise down the road. But I've ended up with quince on my face.
Hahahahahahahaha!!!
Hey Ali, better than quongdong!!!!
OH MY GOSH... I cannot describe my jealousy that you can grow lychees. The best I can do is wait for them to come into season in the produce section at the Asian grocery. I thought I was envious of the coffee plant you have but now I am in agony. :)
Thanks for participating in How to Find Great Plants, too! Your coffee post was one of the featured entries today. Here's the link:
http://www.appalachianfeet.com/2011/01/03/how-to-find-great-plants-2/
Aww, thank you so much, what a lovely write up you gave me! I'll have to get you to write my blog posts for me! And don't get excited about any of my plants yet, I can buy and plant them, I might not be able to convince them to grow though!
We in the Old World can also do silly names for trees and suchlike, you know -- when did you last blett a good Medlar??
You do know what "bletting" is, of course...
Hah! We frequently blett ... in fact it is the sole topic of bedtime conversation ;-) Medlar ... a plum? Really olde worlde and they just don't grow up here in the sub-tropics.
Ali Daleys do a good mail order, their packing is superb and the plants are first rate.
Best of British with your Lychee - I love them too but they do not love me.
Thanks Elaine, there is a huge big one that fruits well just up the road from here, so I am hopeful that it is at least possible... thanks for the tip about Daleys, I was actually hoping to go on a little weekend trip down to that area, I just never seem to get around to doing it.
Mark, I'm not sure if I blett... give me a hint, is bletting any fun? Elaine seems to be bletting in bed. That makes it fun, doesn't it?
well, Lychee only fruits in south of China, mainly in GuangDong. OK, you see Lychee from Thai or other Countries in East South Asia, but the original Lychee and the best tasty one is from China. So i wouldn't even bother to try here.
I'm really impressed with your writing skills and also with the layout on your weblog. Is this a paid theme or did you modify it yourself? Anyway keep up the excellent quality writing, it is rare to see a great blog like this one today.
my website More Support
I got this web site from my friend who informed me on the topic of this web page and now this time I am browsing this web page and reading
very informative posts at this place.
Here is my web site; http://pornharvest.com/index.php?q=Porn+Ebony+Woman&f=a &p=a
You could certainly see your enthusiasm within the
article you write. The sector hopes for even more passionate writers such as you who are not afraid to mention how they believe.
All the time follow your heart.
Here is my web-site; see more
I got this website from my pal who informed me regarding this site and at the
moment this time I am browsing this web page and reading very informative content at
this place.
My web-site :: experienced
Thank you a bunch for sharing this with all of us you really know what you are speaking about!
Bookmarked. Kindly also visit my website =).
We will have a link exchange agreement among us
Very nice post. I just stumbled upon your weblog and wished to say that I've really enjoyed browsing your blog posts. After all I will be subscribing to your rss feed and I hope you write again soon!
Here is my site ... Adult videos
It's awesome in support of me to have a web page, which is good for my knowledge. thanks admin
My web blog: http://pornharvest.com/index.php?q=nubiles+nataly_von&f=a&p=s
Post a Comment
comment here!