Of Mangos…Mice and Men

I know that the following has absolutely nothing to do with real estate or the like, but I was out in my yard taking pictures today and got an inspiration.

One of the nifty things about living in Southwest Florida is the great variety of fruit trees that are all over the area, and having grown up in a family with property in Jamaica, I’m especially fond of mangos. I fondly remember the Jamaican women walking along with breadfruit and mangos nearly overflowing the baskets so well balanced on their heads.

I vowed that when I first purchased a property here in Naples, I would for sure have a mango tree. As it so happened, I actually had to purchase that mango tree at a local nursery, since the property that has now become our primary home had grapefruit and lemon, but no mango.

That tree was purchased three years ago, the very first year we were here, gently transported home, lovingly planted and fertilized. (I don’t even know what kind of mango tree it is, there are some 30 or 40 varieties, all I know it’s a mango and that is all I wanted.) We re-planted it after that first year to the spot where it resides now, then watched and waited. That second year the flowers and eventual buds that became tiny mangos flourished and it was with great excitement that I followed their progression. Just as they were looking as though they were going to take hold, that spring we had a torrential rain storm and afterward I went on to check on them and they were gone from the downpour.

I was totally dejected, because I was so looking forward to eating my first mangos from my tree. Later that summer, we had the hurricanes come through, causing even more damage to the fruit trees, which would bear no fruit the following spring.

Last year the summer rains nurtured the tree and with no hurricanes, it once again bore a wealth of spring flower buds and eventual tiny mangos. The picture above was taken today and is of one of the early buds that has now ripened, ready in a few weeks to be picked. There were only 6 that survived that original budding, (this being one of them), but the most amazing thing has happened, we have since had a second flowering, which means a second late harvest as well.

Interesting, because it must have something to do with the hurricanes of two years ago and no flowering following them. I guess that the tree is trying to make up for that year of nothing. All I know is that I’m going to have a full tree of mangos and I can’t wait. I guess that as we grow older, sometimes it’s the littlest of things that makes us the happiest!