One of the first things we planted when my sister and I moved to this little farm was a starfruit (carambola) tree. We bought it at Echo in Ft. Myers, my favorite nursery for tropical food plants, making sure to get the sweet variety.
It will soon be two years since we planted that little tree. It had put on a lot of nice growth in that first year, and although it bloomed heavily, it never set any fruit. That’s okay. We wanted some size on it and we got that.
Then came the Big Freeze early in 2009. We lost the papaya which had unripe fruit hanging on it and apparently lost the starfruit and the banana. We lost a lot of flowering plants as well and even a blueberry, which should have been able to handle the 28 degree temperature.
The banana soon put out several new shoots. We may have lost the original plant but the root was still okay and we now have a lovely clump of three banana plants.
The papaya was a total loss, as was the blueberry.
After several months, just about the time I was ready to give up hope and dig out the starfruit, I noticed some tiny buds way down on the plant. It was alive!
We don’t have a starfruit “tree” now. It’s more of a bush but a big one. It’s grown to the point where it is a bit taller than I am, all in a single summer.
Best of all… the starfruit is blooming now.
I don’t know if this was a grafted tree or if it’s growing on its own roots. If it’s grafted, we may not have the variety we originally purchased. Time will tell, I guess. For now, I’m just thrilled to see the tiny pink blossoms scattered along the stems and branches.