To me, they taste like kiwi fruit, with a red color, and had to remember to really watch the drippy juice...

It's probably going to depend on what part of San Diego they're growing them in. Where I am is sub-tropical and our property has seldom, if ever seen frost....but just two properties down at the end of the road is a frost pocket. Many, many micro-climate areas and large parts of San Diego County get a lot of frost...and some areas in the mountains, snow...so it depends. Directly on the coast may even grow them in greenhouses for more heat. The ones here in Fallbrook are not greenhoused.

I never tried them in the north but I really love the taste of the ones here. They are not super sweet but very refreshing, kind of the way that good fresh lemonade is not super sweet but really refreshing. I do know that most of the Mexicans I know put sugar on them and cut them into cubes to eat them. I just cut them in half and go at it with a spoon. I guess it does depend on individual taste buds. Since it is really hot here when they are in season, I put them in the refrigerator and they are incredibly good on a hot day.

I"m amazed at that picture with so many fruits on such small vines. I wonder how they do that. I'm going to try and pull the vine back across the wall once I can get the ladder up there. The wall is very high though, the rock part is about 10' and there is a bamboo extension that takes it up to almost 15'. My neighbors are not gardeners, their lot is a wasteland and I don't think they ever go back there.

MMMMM nice wall... that will keep out the casually interestedand provide good cover for naked gardening..my favorite..
if your dragons are over the wall.. you'd think they would surely be flowering and fruiting.. if the can get the to set fruit at 3'.. they can and do mess with the plants... I know here as they are growing things out.. they will hit it with something like the stuff the named bonsai.. it stops growth.. then they hit it with lots of fertilizer and flowering addatives.. the plabnt wants to grow.. but it stopped.. but now real charged up they release the bonsai block and the burst out into flower.. and are on the way to be hipped out.. just beginning to flower.. they arrive in the fullest bollom

We call the bamboo extension to our wall "the great wall of Tita" because our cat Tita learned to climb the rock wall and we were too worried about her to let her run around in the city with all the feral cats. Once the extension was up though, I really started liking it. It doesn't stop the breeze but we do now have total privacy in the yard and pool, naked gardening and skinnydipping if the mood hits you

I'm working up my nerve to get up there with the ladder and pull on the pitahaya and also attach something to get another vine up onto the bamboo part. I'm also wanting to somehow attach a long thin piece of wood so I can put some orchids up there. Plans and dreams, I'll get to them one day.

it would be a lovely place to have a pile of orchards growing.. spreading about over the top of the bamboo.. sounds heavenly...
so I was was walking about through Merida with google earth.. I was starting out downtown and letting to roam off in some direction... I came upon this tree there... it's one I believe I got seeds from when I was down that way.. years ago.. I planted them and I have two growing... so far they are only anout 7' tall and no flowers yet... do you know the name of that tree... I heard once it perhaps was the pride of the caribbean...
well thanks alot..
I love google earth.. it such fun to walk about where ever you'd like to experience...

Naked gardening? I have enough trouble keeping my feet clean.........

Gordon, that is without any doubt a Royal Poinciana. One of the most wonderful tropical flowering trees.
And how COOL to make a trip via Google Earth!!!

Here is mine last year.

yes.. Heddy.. surely it is beautiful.. I love your tree there.. above the thicket of plumeria... is your tree still blooming when the plumeria are in flower.. what's the bloom cycle like for the tree... is it just a spring thing.. / summer.. or do the flowers last through the season there..

Gordon, it is a mid May-June flowering tree but occasionally has a second flush in the fall.

Hetty is of course correct. Here it is called a Flamboyán, it blooms in late April through June and is a very common street tree. I will post some pictures this year when they are all in bloom, it's an amazing sight. The Lluvia de Oro, not sure of the name in English the translation is Rain of Gold, blooms at about the same time and many streets are lined with both of them. Fabulous!

I took some pics of my pitahaya vine this morning, also the great wall of Tita so you could get the whole picture.

Here's most of the wall with the pitahaya hitting the top of the bamboo section just before the living bamboo.



Right at the top of the wall it is developing 2 new runners. Isn't my neighbors royal palm gorgeous? It's the only thing in their yard and I will cry a river if they ever cut it down.



zoom of the 2 new runners, the orignal stalk is still sticking out in the air on the other side of the wall.



Here's where that vine begins, in a rather shallow batch of dirt over a large section of rock that the wall sits on.



These are several more vines that grew where the seeds fell down from the wall. They are next to the pond and get a lot of moisture from the water return. I may move some of them once I decide where would be a good place. They haven't grown much but they are healthy.

Thanks Hetty...Thanks Jonna... quite a show that tree gives... nice wall... I'd make little concrete pockets all over it and plant.. so it would soon be covered... and one that runs along the top.. at the joining of the bammboo... but you likely have space to grow.. if you mounted the orchards on something with a wire hook on the back.. you could loop it over the wall.. till you wished to move it.. your dragon seemed a bit shaded.. but nice and plump up in the sun.. it should really take off now..and growing on the footing for the wall.. couldn't have helped it start off.. soon the roots will grow off it.and deep down in the ground.then.... watch out...

OH.. this is it..biojadi....a new plant food...to me anyway... is it available here...
you'll not believe this clip...
fruiting dragon fruit at 7 months old... ok.. it's in Thai land...granted they have better conditions for growing
if you don't wish to feel humbled.. with your poor effort here... don't watch it... going out to search for biojadi...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

I am as well, Gordon. Keep us posted.

Hetty, what a gorgeous picture of your Royal Poinciana!!

Thanks, all credit goes to my tree!

Interesting pics Gordon, I should try and come up with something that keeps the dragonfruit in my yard and see if I can get them to bloom when they are so small. I was house hunting with a friend a couple of years ago and at one of the house the owner had a palm tree stump, about 5' tall that he had hollowed out and used to plant pitahaya. They were like a fountain of snakes with lots of blooms.

We had a big wind storm here a few weeks ago and my pitahaya broke off at the top of the wall, I guess the other part went flying. It seems to be leaning back in this direction now so perhaps it will stay on my side. If I can figure out how to get up there I will tie it to the bamboo so it doesn't fall. You are right that it is shaded at the base of the wall but I don't have a lot of area with sun on that level. I may put some of them up on the roof where I do have full sun and see how they produce.

I just got a cutting of this plant and can't wait to see how it does.

Do you think it would survive outdoors in N. Florida with some light freezes? I have some sheltered alcoves in my garden that tender plants (including epiphyllums) survive the winters within. How sensitive to cold is it?

If it roots right away, how long do you think it will be until first blooms? Should I try and self pollinate it? I do not know what the named variety is.

They have a car air freshner.. mde by the great folks t Fabreeze... it clips to the AC outlet/ air vent and adjusts to how much you'd like released as it blows through.. the reason i mentioned it is one of the flavors is Thai Dragon Fruit..
















oh...fABREEZE HAS AN AUTO AIR FRESHNER ... One of their scents is Thai Dragon fruit... nice.. not as sweet as the others
http://www.febreze.com/en-US/C...