You're doing a fantastic job, Tim! I know the Fresno area. Your place is a breath of fresh air, and a great example of what can be done with much thought and a lot of work. I know you're enjoying it.

Thank you both for the kind words. I had no idea I would become as passionate as I have about plants. It's become a very enjoyable hobby. Thanks for the reminder, Tamara. My wife and I are planning on attending!

Gardening and plants do grow on you! Seeing such great results has to be very satisfying. I wish I could see it in person. I love your pool and tropical landscaping.

I'm posting some updates of my garden. Crazy to look back and see how much these fast growers have grown.

Since my last post I've changed my patio up a bit. I made a cinderblock couch, which is surprisingly comfortable. I added 3 avocado (fuerte, mexicola, and mexicola grande), 1 loquat tree, 1 pineapple guava, and one tropical white guava, along with some papaya, and strawberries to the side yard.

In the front yard I added 2 jacarandas on my parkway strip, a grapefruit tree, a fig tree, and a bearss lime to my front side yard along with some blueberry bushes behind the citrus. I built a cinderblock retaining wall to reduce wash out and has also allowed me to pile up a ton of mulch (I have about 1 foot of mulch now). Very excited ro

Beautiful, Tim!

bloominholes2fill said:Beautiful, Tim!

Thank you for the kind words!

A really great transformation !
Thanks for sharing photos of your project !

Bigfoot312 said:


Thank you for the kind words!

Big mexicola avocado tre from Lowe's

Tim, those are so beautiful!

bloominholes2fill said:Tim, those are so beautiful!

Yes, it is absolutely gorgeous! I couldn't believe the size.

Updating with some awesome summer growth. The bananas have grown so much it's crazy! I put in a keitt mango tree, and in 3 weeks it's put 9" of growth! It's sent out flower panicles twice which I've pruned and had a handful of fruit that I cut as well. It should be established enough to allow to fruit next year which is so exciting!

I put in a retaining wall and a rebar/welded wire trellis to grow a passion vine, and these things take full Fresno sun and has grown rapidly.

The back side yard is finally coming together. I've almost finished the concrete block retaining wall so I'll be able to heavily mulch everything. Everything is growing well, the papaya is a bit young to handle the mid day sun it receives, and it folds temporarily, but has out on a good amount of growth and trunk diameter.

The one plant that's struggle is my golden berry. It receives morning sun and a lot of water, but it is wilted and losing leaves.

It's all looking wonderful, Tim! You have me drooling, as usual. It will be so nice to have all that fruit when they mature. You're doing a fantastic job with your landscaping projects. Bet your family and friends love it!

plantmanager said:It's all looking wonderful, Tim! You have me drooling, as usual. It will be so nice to have all that fruit when they mature. You're doing a fantastic job with your landscaping projects. Bet your family and friends love it!

Thanks for the kind words as always! Yes, the anxious wait to enjoy the fruits of my labor!

I'm not sure what I'm excited about the most. I've never tried passion fruit, dragon fruit, white sapote, so there's a lot of anticipation for those. However, avocado and mango and two of my favorite fruits, and I can't wait to enjoy them in abundance. I've also tried a handful of papaya in store and it's always pretty mild and uninspiring, but I've heard that homegrown are completely different, so I'm hoping my opinion on them change when they produce!

I'm late to the party as usual. I grew up in the San Joaquin Valley. I visited the Fresno Zoo many times as a kid. You have transformed your yards into a private oasis! Your neighbors must be in awe especially across the street where they get to gaze at your landscape every single day. Keep up the good work Take time to enjoy yourself in your self-built paradise.

ShadyGreenThumb said:I'm late to the party as usual. I grew up in the San Joaquin Valley. I visited the Fresno Zoo many times as a kid. You have transformed your yards into a private oasis! Your neighbors must be in awe especially across the street where they get to gaze at your landscape every single day. Keep up the good work Take time to enjoy yourself in your self-built paradise.

Thank you, it really feels like an oasis. My wife had withdrawals leaving Santa Barbara when we moved here, so I'm doing my best to recreate the lush landscape that we remember.

Yeah, they either enjoy the yard or they think I'm the crazy plant guy. Maybe both haha

Cataloging growth. Everything look good in a 2+ week 105+ heatwave

I have friends in Santa Barbara, and remember how nice their landscaping was. Yours is every bit as nice. Great job!
We grew papaya in the Marshall Islands. They will be much better than what you buy in the stores. Those are tasteless compared to home grown.

plantmanager said:I have friends in Santa Barbara, and remember how nice their landscaping was. Yours is every bit as nice. Great job!
We grew papaya in the Marshall Islands. They will be much better than what you buy in the stores. Those are tasteless compared to home grown.

Thank you! I'm very excited to try home grown papaya. Im getting flower buds on them now, so hopefully I'll soon be able to enjoy tasty papaya and rid my memory of the soapy cantaloupe papaya from the stores.

Fall update. Everything is thriving and growing so fast. Keitt mango has new flush. Papaya is fruiting. Avocados with flush growth. Planted a couple moringa on my opposite side yard, and two jamaican cherries from seed in the front yard. Hopefully the get some size before winter.