pomarosa tolimense - anyone know what this is?

I was at the local nursery yesterday, looking for a replacement for my dear-departed 60-year old royal poinciana tree. Since I was interested in fruit trees, a gardener there recommended what they call a "pomarosa tolimense". I tried a fruit and it was smallish, green, with a semi-loose pit. It tasted a little like an apple - pretty good.

My question is: does anyone know what this plant is? I spent a little while googling today without coming up with anything conclusive.

Another thing: what does everyone think about the "malay apple?" I am looking for a tree that will provide shade for my backyard and also some fruit.

ok, whoops - this IS the malay apple. Sorry to waste the board's time. Now I just have to figure out if I can get one of these things to grow in my alkaline soil.

Pomarosa refers to Syzygium jambos the Rose Apple, and also Syzygium malaccense the Mountain Apple.

Is there another on on Island that's in the ground and has been growing for years?

After reading Fruits of Warm Climates (http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/index.html ) extensively, I am now leaning toward growing a mamey tree. Supposedly decently fast-growing, tasty fruit, and will deal with our alkaline soil ok. Anyone have any experience growing these trees?

The Mamey Apple is easy to grow if it has fertile, organically rich soil, and gets about 100 inches of rain per year.
It will do well near sea level, if given proper conditions.

Mamey grows well here in the northern Yucatan peninsula. The trees are very large, about the same size as a mango. The soil here is limestone, there are definite wet and dry seasons and of course, it is always warm, usually humid and tropical. We are near the coast here in Merida (about 20 miles from the Gulf) but I've also seen them over on the Caribbean coast (a couple hours away). They give excellent shade, in fact they are much like a mango in shade and size. I'm looking at a huge one right now, it's in my neighbor's yard and is covered with fruit. The bats love the fruit so you might not want to plant it too close to your house. We have to deal with bats a lot due to the enormous banyan covering our back yard and the Mamey next door.

Aruba is very dry, isn't it?

Happy Island, drive around in neighborhoods similar to yours, on the same side of the island, about as far from the sea. Carefully observe the trees. Many people before you have tried to plant things in their yards. Learn from their successes. Don't be shy about asking people you see, "Please, do you know what that tree is?"

We lost a poster here recently because he was too enthusiastic about his yard. He'd bought a nice house on Salt Cay, in the Turks and Caicos. He didn't ask advice, he just posted about all the plants he was putting in, many not suitable for a tiny, arid, salty, soilless island. Nearly a whole container load, from his list. Shortly after he said he'd ordered or gotten the plnts, they had a terrible category three hurricane. We aven't heard from him since. But at least I did hear there were no casualties on the island.

If you have a good source of free mulch, you might be able to plant trees that are more water-loving than normal for where you are, and keep that lare area of mulch under the tree five inches thick(do you have termites??) you might be able to get a nice tree, and astound your neighbors.

Good luck!

Melissa-who's-thumbs-are-green-because-she-throws-out-the-plants-she-kills!!

Citrus does well in arid environments.

Aruba is VERY dry, which means in order for anything to grow I will have to do a little/lot of watering. My whole garden is on a drip system, and I'll definitely have to put whatever new trees I end up getting on that system too. I am now planning on replacing the single huge flamboyan tree with a mamey and a malay apple about 25 feet apart. The flamboyan got taken out yesterday, and the hole in the yard is terrible. No privacy, no shade, no beautiful, graceful branches and flowers. Dang! I almost cried yesterday when I saw the first truckload of wood getting driven off to the dump.

Both the Mamey Apple and Malay Apple require a large amount of water to do well. They are both rainforest trees.

Vines. Quick growth to make privacy until the trees grow.

I hear you loud and clear on the vines. I'll have to build a trellis, but I think that's the quickest thing I'll be able to do to get some privacy and shade. Anyone know where I can get some kudzu seeds? It hasn't been introduced to the Island yet, and I think it would be lovely...

Just kidding.

Now I'm thinking about planting a Mespilus germanica -- anyone out there grown one of these guys?

Is there one already growing on Aruba?

Medlar likes to be in moist well drained soil. It would not do well in arid conditions.

Mango, Mangifera indica, is a fruit tree that does well in an arid environment.

Jacaranda, Jacaranda mimosifolia, is a flowering tree that does well in arid conditions.

today we finally got rid of the last remnants of my dear departed flamboyan tree. We installed a Rose Apple and a Malay Apple to try to fill the void. The Rose Apple in particular looks great -- nice and full.

And here's a pic of the sparser-looking Malay Apple tree.