Dragon Fruit

I love my newest addition to my edible landscape.  The first time I ate one was a few years ago purchased at a local supermarket.  The sign for Dragon Fruit intrigued me.  It looked like a red hand grenade.  It was $4.99 and was in the specialty fruit section located on a shelf within a wicker basket.

I took it home and researched it a bit on the internet to learn how to eat it.  It was pretty good and reminded me of a cross between a kiwi and other cactus fruits I had previously tried.  I discovered the fruit is native to Mexico, Central America and South America.  It is a tropical fruit that grows on a rambling cactus.  The scientific name is Hylocereus.

Later on a friend and rare fruit hobbyist gave me a few cuttings of his Dragon Fruit plant.  I planted them amongst the roses in a sunny part of the garden near my driveway.  It took awhile for them to mature and start producing flowers and fruit. The first year it produced only one flower and the fruit rotted on the vine before I was able to harvest it.  This was my first dragon fruit video.

This year the plant is much larger and the first fruit was eagerly watched over and I harvested it successfully. I decided to shoot a video to mark this wonderful accomplishment.  It was so delicious I could not stop eating it throught the video! It was much sweeter and juicier than the store bought fruit I had purchased.

After I shot the video, the plant started flowering profusely.  Here are some photos of the beautiful flowers.  The flowers are short lived, bloom at night and are pollinated by insects or bats.  The next morning they wither away and the fruit starts forming.

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Rare and exotic fruit in the garden

Of the many advantages of living in South Florida, growing rare and exotic tropical fruits ranks up in the top ten.  I love being able to go outside in the morning and pick fruit for my morning oatmeal fresh from the trees.  There is usually something ripe all year round.

In the winter we have citrus, and by mid spring the mangoes are ripe.  As soon as I harvest the last mango, the star fruit are bearing.  The figs ripen as well at this time of year. You must harvest them quickly before the birds eat them.    Papayas ripen throughout the year as well.

My newest harvest is from the dragon fruit.  I am looking forward to many more fruits from this cactus.  The first flower was pollinated and the fruit ripened and rotted before I could harvest it.  Now I will have to wait for more flowers and more fruit.  

My garden is all planted out now and there is no more room.  The next step is to decide what I want to remove.  I need to decide what fruits I can replant.  They need full sun.  Time will tell what future plants I will purchase.  

Thank you for visiting my blog.  

Please subscribe to my YouTube channel for free!
Like my Robert's Tropical Paradise Garden
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