winter – Florida Fruit Geek

Winter 2020-2021 report – The temperature finally dipped below freezing this season, but not by much

March 31, 2021

We finally had some freezes this year. After two consecutive winters that were so extraordinarily warm they didn’t cause any freeze damage to vegetation in my location (north Marion county, Florida, USA), temperatures this season finally dipped below the freezing point. Cold enough to cause something like what used to be typical winter die-back in … More Winter 2020-2021 report – The temperature finally dipped below freezing this season, but not by much

Two extraordinarily mild winters in Florida: 2018-2019 and 2019-2020

March 31, 2020

We’ve just had the second consecutive winter with no sub-freezing temperatures in my part of Florida, a weather occurrence I rate as freakishly unusual. I’ve been living in Florida since the mid 1990s, and in my area (between Ocala and Gainesville), winter usually features a number of cold fronts that drop overnight temps down to … More Two extraordinarily mild winters in Florida: 2018-2019 and 2019-2020

Evaluating mulberry varieties for early bud break, Jan 2020

January 26, 2020

Mulberries are a great fruit tree for Florida (and just about everywhere else). But a major challenge in growing them in North and Central Florida is that some varieties get fooled by warm spells during winter into thinking that spring as arrived, and they break dormancy too early. As long as a mulberry tree is … More Evaluating mulberry varieties for early bud break, Jan 2020

Sparkleberry: The wild blueberry cousin that supplies me with antioxidants all winter

January 28, 2018

In winter, one of the fruits I find in abundance here in North Florida is sparkleberry (Vaccinium arboreum), a native cousin of blueberry which contains many of the same health-promoting purple anthocyanin pigments as blueberry. They grow wild here, and I can harvest all I want for free. Sparkleberries are native all over Southeastern North … More Sparkleberry: The wild blueberry cousin that supplies me with antioxidants all winter

Florida Got Frosted! (January 2018)

January 11, 2018

Every winter we get our our annual reminder that North Florida is not actually tropical. Usually a number of cold fronts interrupt our mostly warm warm weather with a dose of north-temperate zone reality, bringing us a series of chilly days, and nights dipping below freezing. The latest such cold wave was January 3rd through … More Florida Got Frosted! (January 2018)

Limequat: A Delicious Type of Citrus, And The Fruit Geek Who Created It

December 7, 2017

What do you get when you cross the heavenly-tasting, juicy, sour, key lime with the frost-tolerant, sweet-peel kumquat fruit? You get limequat, a delicious, juicy, aromatic, sour, lime-like fruit which has the bonus of having an edible peel. Not only that, but this is a tree which can fruit in areas too cold for pure … More Limequat: A Delicious Type of Citrus, And The Fruit Geek Who Created It