This winter really took the stuffing out of the tropical trees and us. Two episodes of really cold weather had major impact on many of the fruit trees we grow but it looks like we are finally getting to the end of the clean up. Though we were disappointed about the damage we had, we were able to see where our windbreaks were the most—and least effective. As some of you may have heard, we have cancelled the Mango Festival for 2011. When the February freezes hit, most of the mango trees already had fruit on them, so the crop for this year will be very small. On the bright side, this did give us a chance to bring some of the more sprawly trees back within bounds. Now with thicker canopies and thus more terminal ends for fruiting, we are looking forward to next year’s harvest and the Mango Fiestival of 2012. Since most of the sugar apple trees were dormant during our cold weather, they suffered little damage and leaved out early. It looks like we will be having a great harvest of these fruits in late summer. While some of the more cold tender avocado trees were damage, many of our favorites like the Day didn’t miss a beat. The Allspice trees bloomed profusely this spring and now they are loaded with the most wonderful scented berries. And yes these are the very same berries you find in your spice cabinet. But even if you tree doesn’t flower, you can still enjoy the fragrance by crushing a leaf. The Peanut Butter Fruit trees flushed out with lots of new growth and now it is harvest time. Try out the Lo -Cal Smoothie recipe for a tasty treat. We have replanted our DragonFruit. Thank goodness Ed did a lot of cuttings last fall of our favorites varieties so we will have more of them to enjoy next year. That is part of the challenge and fun of growing tropical and subtropical fruit trees, see what works and how we can “push the envelop” with our trees.