Genus: Carica

The red ones are very good! They are called Strawberry papayas here.

Marguerite,

It sounds delicious! I'll have to try some Indian curry papaya dishes. I've mostly had the Filipino recipe dishes.

I'm sure you would grow very good fruit all year living in the tropics. I've seen trees around here that have fruit in Summer, but of course not in my yard. My plants always have to be different! LOL.

Thanks for that interesting information. I have two species of paw paw here, the red and the yellow ones.

Tes I have in curries Delonix. Very tasty, as are potatoes in curries too. Real Indian curries of course, not the country women's association ones, lol.
Paw paws fruit all year round here. A bit slower in winter as it is slightly cooler.

It looks very good. I like them cold also...with a little lemon or lime...so very good!

I have never had a papaya ripen in Summer...mine always ripen in Winter or early Spring. I leave them on the plant as long as I can without the birds eating them...then they are very sweet -- almost like candy. A home-grown papaya taste so much better than store bought.

Marguerite, have you ever eaten cooked green papaya. For example in a stew or with chicken...it is the best! Very delicious!

Marguerite,

Well, those flowers look familiar. LOL

I will have to add a comment about the flowers not having any fragrance...some varieties of Carica papaya do have a very nice
fragrance. It may depend on the type of flowers also. There's the male, female and bisexual flowers. They all look different...however, only the fertilized female and bisexual flowers can usually produce fruit...although, in very rare cases the male inflorescence will produce fruit. I know of one close to my house. The papayas hang down about 3 to 5 feet from the top of the tree. I'll post a pic I took of this plant a couple of years ago.

When I grew the Thai dwarf variety of Carica papaya...it had very large, fragrant flowers.

Oh, yes. I can almost forget looking at spring growth like this.

That sounds lovely Greenthumb. They sure give you that feeling, you can even see the light through the branches. I am in the shade of the tree taking a picture of the flowers. It was 34C. Perhaps you are warming up there in your log cabin in the dark days before Christmas. Equinox in a few days.....

The one in the picture has been picked and is ready tomorrow. We like them cold from the fridge. In summer they ripen real fast and they don't all get big like that one. I had a smaller one today and it had only one black seed in them. Thank you all for your comments. I will cut you a piece so you can taste it!

These are so exotic to me! How wonderful to getto have shared. Thanks! It's like I a can feel the australian sunshine!

Neat! Do they ripen real fast, or is it just about ready?

Looks lovely. I'll be over tomorrow. LOL

LOL you right Marguerite, I see them alot but I never take too much notice.

Hi Panther, you probably have been amongst them all your life and then they are so common you might not blink twice when you see one. But I have always loved them as a kid and since the last 4 years we live in the tropics again and of course I feel the child again I once was, remembering and looking intensely at all the splendour the tropical flora offers. They don't smell however, but something must pollinate the flowers to make them set. I must look if I can see any bugs on them, as I haven't seen birds on the flowers. The fruit is often attacked by the fruitbat.

Yum!

Wow Marguerite I never used to take much notice of their flowers, nice shot.

Yummy....

Mmm very nice !

Very tasty.

These sure look different from the ones in my garden. Are they orange or yellow inside?

I have one large and 3 smaller 'Solo' papaya plants and one large and many small 'Maradol' variety. I need a ladder to pick the fruit on the large 'Solo'.

I cut down 4 plants this past Spring. They usually have to replanted every three to four years. Also, here the sow bugs love to eat the trunks and make holes in the trunks which kills the plants. And the ants love the hallow trunks. It's a never ending battle.

Yeh, one of my favourites, but how on earth can people pick those? I am already worried when my tree will be too tall.

Yummy in my tummy, I love those!

Not really, mangoes are much nicer and sweeter, but these "red" pawpaws as they call them are a lot sweeter than the yellow variety. When they are ripe they taste good, but I always mix them with banana's and lime juice. Pawpaws can be used in salads too and they are a fantastic meat tenderiser, when slices placed on meat for a while.

Do they taste as nice as the mangos?

Do you know something? I miss my wildlife. I only get lots of birds, various sizes as I have a lot of native trees. But they also go for the heliconia flowers to get nectar. When I lived in Darwin we had lots of wildlife like reptiles, bandicoots, pythons, possums and others. Here, I am sure the cane toad has destroyed most of them. I do however get bandicoots, they are small marsupials, who love digging in the garden beds and even in the lawn. But they say they are good for the garden, as they dig up the soil. We have now all cane toad fences around the bottom of the garden fence, so they cannot come in. The vine on the left on the fence is the passiflora.

what kind of wildlife do you get in your garden?