Pickin' up pawpaws and puttin' 'em in your pocket...

We have a shrub or small tree in the back yard, right in front of the master bath, that blocks the window nicely (when it has leaves; it's deciduous).

I've always wondered what it was; it didn't look like anything I'd seen before. And this spring, the mystery deepened when small green pods appeared on the branches:

Photo of fruit:

Photo of foliage:

After weeks of procrastination, I finally took some photos and brought them in to work for our master gardeners to look at. Tom, the state master gardener coordinator, works downstairs, and my coworker Kim is a master gardener as well.

The two puzzled over the photos briefly, and Kim pulled out a book titled "Florida's Best Fruiting Plants" (they both have an impressive library of plant geekery).

Mystery solved! It's a Pawpaw tree; Latin name Asimina triloba. According to the very handy web site Floridata.com, it's native to the Eastern U.S. and likes rich, well-drained soil. The strange little pods are the fruit, which mature up to 3-6 inches long and have a creamy interior full of black seeds. The taste has been compared to a banana or pineapple. We'll see if our pods make it to maturity; our squirrels number in the hundreds and dang, are they hungry beasts.

Our particular specimen has been there for some time, although it doesn't look like a tree; it looks like a shrub, meaning it has growing to do. Which is unfortunate, as Kyle will be cutting it down if it gets too big. I wonder if whoever planted it right next to the house knew pawpaw trees can grow up 25 feet!

What the interior of the fruit looks like:

(Photo: Wikimedia Commons. Free for any use.)

A little home-keeping in the midst of wedding madness

I'm going crazy with wedding stuff right now; so busy that I don't even have time to write about myself! (That's pretty busy.)

I did take the time to notice two lovely flowers blooming right now in our front yard, some sort of iris and a sweet orange gerbera daisy:

Pretty, no?

I wish I could take a decent photo that shows the front yard in all its glory. Kyle really keeps it looking fabulous. I'm so lucky. :)

But before I could appreciate the outdoors this morning, I had the displeasure of facing my nemisis:

The hair-clogged tub drain.

One of the down sides of having long hair is that it eventually falls off your head and collects - everywhere. The bathroom is especially plagued with my hair. And the tub drain is no exception.

I've noticed the water taking longer and longer to drain, and this morning I couldn't take it any more. It's my fault, after all.

Thank goodness for my hero Cheryl Mendelson and her book "Home Comforts: The Art & Science of Keeping House." Most of my friends will tell you that I love this book, as I've raved about it in the past. But I can't help it - it's so useful, and written well to boot!

For clearing a slow drain (not a fully stopped-up one), she suggests the following:

1. Start boiling a gallon of water (yes, you'll need a big pot). Get out some baking soda and vinegar.

2.Get as much stuff out of the drain manually as possible. (This is the most disgusting thing ever; I will not go into what hair and soap scum comingle as in a drain.)

3. Pour 1/2 to 1 cup of baking soda down the drain. Then pour 1/2 to 1 cup of household vinegar down after it. This will result in some fizzing, which mechanically breaks up some of the gunk.

4. Cover the drain if possible and let sit for five minutes.

5. Pour the gallon of boiling water down the drain.

Now, like I said, it only works for slow-moving drains - clearing a clogged drain is another post altogether.

Poking around in the yard

We're so lucky. Our yard has some lovely winter-blooming plants, some of which I've never seen before. So of course, I take photos and ask my coworker, Tom Wichman, to identify them for me. Tom is the statewide coordinator of the Florida Master Gardener program, and is a capital-N Plant Nerd. (I kid 'cus I love!)

He said the tree with fringy pink blooms in the back yard was commonly called a Chinese Witch Hazel tree (or shrub).

(PDF with photos and info)

This showy plant, out front with the million other bromeliads, is bellbergia nutans, commonly known as Queen's Tears.

(Web site with photos/info)

I knew this was a camellia, but I had to show it off, because it's so beautiful. Too bad there's only one shrub, and it's hidden way in the back of the backyard! (The previous owners of our house seem to have liked sticking random plants around; we also have a lonely rose bush in the back.)

I was also telling Tom about how we'd like to plant some sort of hedge-like shrub in the front of the house, and since I liked camellias, he suggested a Camellia sasanqua 'Shishigashira'. It grows slow and puts out a ton of flowers.

(Info/photo)

Stretch, the cat who does not belong to us

We have this adorable black and white (mostly black) female cat living next door. I don't know if she's just unappreciated at her own home or what, but this cat loves us.

The minute one of us walks out the door, there she is, running up to us and then lolling around in the grass - which is cat for "Dude, I am giving you the most awesome opportunity right now - do you see how I'm inviting you to touch me? This is an amazing honor for you!"

Kyle was calling her something else for the longest time, Boots or something, and one day, sitting in the grass with her, I saw her collar. It has a tag on it - why had it never occurred to us to look at it? It's been a month or two.


I turn it over, the little heart-shaped metal tag:

"Stretch." Along with her address and owner's phone number.

Stretch? Really? I look at this plump kitty, who was now struggling to pull back from my grasp ("Dude, this is completely invasive. Do you see me clawing your earrings out? What the hell?") and ponder this.

But I suppose it doesn't matter what I think, she's not our cat. Even if she spends every possible minute with us and tries to squeeze into the house when we're bringing in groceries.

Pretty in Pink

We have two Gebera daisy plants in our front yard, and they've been surprising me with consistent blooms since we moved in. It's usually one at a time, so each time a bloom dies, I always think, "Oh - that was that." And damn if there isn't another little bud uncurling beneath all those heavy, lettuce-like leaves.

This one came out . . . well, squashed. I thought as the petals unfurled it would round itself out, but it looks unlikely:

Just to the right of the bloom you might make out the new little bud that coming up next.

Close-up:

More on Gerbera daisies at Gardening in a Minute