Garden Life: Golden Pineapple
Since January we have been longing for the sweet taste of homegrown pineapples. January is when we discovered the flowers, but it takes as long as half a year before the fruit is ripe for eating. From the vibrantly-colored flowers to the golden, aromatic fruit, we’ve been eagerly following the stages of their development.
You can easily grow your own pineapples. Next time you cut a pineapple, leave four inches of fruit to the top. Because we live in a tropical climate, we plant them directly into the ground or in outdoor planters. If you live in a colder climate, you will want to plant your pineapple in a pot. Once the pineapple has succeeded in rooting, it takes an average of 24 months before flowering. (Does it really take that long? Every time we eat a pineapple, we plant the top, so we get pineapples every year and don’t really notice how much time passes before an individual plant bears fruit.)
“Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient, stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.” [James 5:7-8]
The first sign of the coming fruit is a smudge of bright color glimpsed during a morning inspection of the garden beds. Careful investigation (those leaves are sharply serrated!) reveals a compact and beautiful pattern of pink points. Two pineapple plants are getting ready to bloom!
The news is met with joyous anticipation. “Oh, goody! Pineapples this year!”
These points rise from the center of the plant and fill out.
Each of those plump “spikes” is actually a flower bud. You can see one near the bottom beginning to open. There’s just a peek of that beautiful purple.
An interesting question is raised: Why so many flowers for one fruit? Actually, the pineapple is not a single fruit, but a coalescence of individual berries. Isn’t that fascinating? I learn something new every day!
Because of daily rain storms, I missed the open blossoms, but we have this stunning photograph, taken by Next Sister of an earlier pineapple. It is easy to recognize here that the pineapple is in the bromeliad family.
By the time I could venture again into the wet garden, the pineapples had pushed up little crowns of green.
Now it really begins to look like a pineapple.
Homegrown pineapples tend to be smaller than plantation specimens, but the result is really concentrated goodness! The pineapple below has reached its full size. The dark green and blue coloring is very dramatic, I think.
Yellow begins to spread over the pineapple from the center of each eye.
The bright yellow seems to concentrate in the base before advancing to the top. The pineapple stalks proved unable to bear the weight of the fruit—perhaps because of the plentiful rain. Since the pineapple were still semi-attached, we left them there to finish ripening.
A rich golden color from the base to the crown is one indication of readiness, which you can see here. The other is a deliciously sweet odor that spreads over the entire garden. For a long time we begged Next Sister to make the final judgement of “Ready.” But she has several years of pineapple-growing in her experience, and she wouldn’t harvest those tempting fruits until they were just right.
Finally, we had both pineapples for dessert one July evening. I meant to take a picture of the pineapple rings, but we were all too busy eating them to remember.
The pineapples—and a few last morning glories—are the last of the season’s garden, now overrun with grass and flowering weeds. I must get in there and clear it out for next autumn’s garden.
Photographs and text © 2011.
COMMENT ON THIS POST BY SENDING AN EMAIL TO THE HANDMAIDEN.
MAGELA said...
We have five pineapple plants in our backyard, and we were blessed with two small but very sweet pineapples this year. There is nothing like the satisfaction of eating homegrown pineapples. Yes, they take a long time to bear fruit, but I just love the way these plants look, and their taste makes it worth the wait.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011 03:18 PM
HANDMAIDEN said...
And they really look beautiful while you’re waiting, don’t they? Thank you for sharing, Magela!
Tuesday, July 26, 2011 05:44 PM
MAGELA said...
Yes! They look beautiful. You are very welcome.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011 09:52 PM
Tuesday, July 26, 2011