Bananas by the Sidewalk

I was texting my sister while out on a walk. 

As is my habit, I tend to pepper conversations on text with pictures here and there.  The thing is that I forget that for many people, I live where they vacation.

The climate in my native Philadelphia is quite different than here.  Things here just don't grow that much further north.  I'm not "true" tropics, we probably can't grow Durian here or Cacao.  I do know that neighbors have managed to grow coffee in their yards, and that surprises me because it can get blistering hot in August.

Just ask my Jeep.  I had repairs to make on it over the summer and I practically melted under the car.

"Oh look at the palm trees!  I would love looking at them all day long!"
I said "Oh yes, I forgot they don't grow up there." 

My sister is in USDA Zone 7b, and there are about six kinds of palms that will grow there, very slowly, and only if the conditions there are just right.  If I ever can find the seeds for a Saw Palmetto or a Chinese Fan Palm, she's getting them.

We're walking along and I'm attempting to hold a text conversation with her.  Attempting - I'm terrible at texting as my hands are large, and I need a full keyboard to do that right.

I'm being asked if that was my neighborhood, and yes, it was only a block from my house. 

Mind you we have a palm that started in a pot as a weed, and it's now about 20 feet tall.  Personally I have not been able to shake the nickname that was told to me - bottle brush.  They do sort of look like a bottle brush or a feather duster, but that does not detract from their beauty.

I did remember a neighbor another block away has a small stand of Bananas growing in the front yard.  I took a picture of them and she was quite surprised.

"you mean you have bananas growing near you?  WOW!"
"Yes we do.  Just like the ones you have on the table.  And yes, I have had one or two before.  Quite tasty too"

I just would not grow them in the front yard.  If I did, I would probably never get any as fruit trees grown in exposed areas tend to be picked over by people other than the property owner.

I do have a banana growing in the back yard in a pot that I think will go into the ground back there.  Since I will eat every banana I can get, I may as well.  Plus it will look quite nice growing next to the Mango Tree that I crop every year for Mango Jelly.

Everywhere has it's own kind of beauty.  Maple Trees in the North with Peaches and Pears and Apples where my sister is.  Our Tropical fruit.  You may as well enjoy what you have at your fingertips.  After all, the yard doesn't have to be filled with shade trees, that would just be bananas!