False Start

Some of you might remember how ecstatic I was back in December 2010 when I posted about my fruit trees rewarding me with a spurt of flowering activities. This was after I was away for more than 3 weeks in New Zealand, admiring the spring flowers there. Little did I imagine that my own backyard was having a season of mellow fruitfulness! 


I harvested lots of longans, lemons, limes, guava and even kaffir limes. But my rose apple tree which had lots of flowers at the start, began to shed most of their tiny fruit. It was probably because the strong winds that characterized the North East Monsoon in November and December were a trifle unkind to my rose apple tree. But the initial photographs I took of the flowers had filled me with dreams of a bountiful harvest.

This was the photograph I had posted last year.

       

  
But to my disappointment, all that materialized were these few fruit that could not fill up the plate, not to mention the fruit basket I had visualized would be filled to the brim with these rosy rose apples.




 


This year, in mid February, the tree began flowering in earnest. After that false start last year, I dared not hope for much, but from the look of the quantity of buds, flowers and young fruit on the tree, that basket I had in mind to fill with my rose apples would be filled to the brim more than once over! Just see for yourselves the abundance on the tree!

The view from under the canopy looking up, is inspiring and certainly thrilling:

Some close-ups of the buds, flowers and fruit:

Tootsie, you'll love these...

Let this not be another false start, but a fresh start. Keep your fingers crossed for me !!!

For Tootsie's Fertilizer Friday, click here, and for Blooming Friday,click here.