Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Bounty of the tundra

The soil in the planters on this, the windiest terrace, was already frozen solid today - even though at street level the weather was relatively mild - and had heaved some heather and little junipers inches out of place.

But the maraschino cherry trees were in abundant fruit and ripe for the plucking.

It will be Manhattans for weeks to come.


15 comments:

  1. Wait a minute...i thought maraschino cherries were manufactured, like from white cherries with the addition of sugar and red dye #2?? I never heard of them growing on trees! Those fruits are gorgeous. But...aren't you teasing us? aren't they really crabapples??

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  2. LOL, I'm embarrassed to admit exactly the same! And they're even as red on the tree as in the can! ;-)

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  3. Oh bugger! ;-) I shoulda' Googled it first...

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  4. Heheheh, I can be a very cruel woman.

    Well, they look JUST like them, don't they, red stems and all.

    Sorry :-)

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  5. *lol* Yep, they sure do look just like them! I bet they'd pickle nicely. Do you know which crabapple cultivar this is? I think the birds might love it if i planted one...and if they left any fruit, i could try to make things with it...and it would look really nice in the otherwise grey winter landscape.

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  6. QC - it's Malus Sugar Tyme, one of my favourites. Super-hardy, loose, white flowers with a lovely scent and these crimson fruit. And nice and small for rooftops or smaller gardens.

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  7. PS Birds do like them - a mockingbird was eating them while I was up there.

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  8. That was so good Marie! Don't worry about Vince, he can be slow and obtuse once in a while...(blessed be the distance...)

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  9. "Super-hardy..." hardy enough for 30+ deg.C in coastal tropics? Sigh...
    Great pictures!

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  10. Amazing that things are blooming so beautifully so late in the season.

    I'm a maraschino cherry afficionado and I can tell you that there is no such thing as the M.C. tree....but golly, looking at these pics I wish there was....

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  11. Thanks so much for the eye candy, Marie! Brilliant red crabapples and magical green cad eyes ...

    Keli'i

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  12. My eyes nearly popped out of my head; like quiltcat and Beence I too was fooled for a nannosecond. Wonderful photos. Are you off now to the Cape? Enjoy the sunshine and the warmth - think of us poor souls in the northern hemisphere once in a while.x

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  13. Sigrid - poor Beence. Thank god he's good looking :-)

    MIT - oops, I think cold when I think hardy. My mom has good crabapples in Cape Town and the temps go into the 30's C there, but the humidity is not tropical - Mediterranean. But! You can have avocadoes, no? - and grenadillas, and tomato fruit...and...but I know. You want blossoms :-)

    Lavinia - yes, I thought you liked them.

    Keli'i - you're welcome...Estorbo has a story to tell, I believe, but it must wait.

    Flora - Still in NYawk for a bit. Like you, if I had a tail, I would chase it.

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  14. How I would love this tree, it is just so attractive and cherries are one of my favourite fruits. I have only ever seen a maraschino cherry in a jar! x

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  15. One of my favorite activities as a young gardener working for a rooftop designer was pulling frozen (yet soon soggy) annuals out of the frozen pot mix of upper terrace boxes in November. Ahh, the good ol' days. Thanks for bringing me back.

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