I’ve noticed that Fate or the Universe or the Powers That Be like to play games with me. They wait for me to say things here on the Net, and then they change them – like my complaints about the weather. So, I’m going to grumble now about some plants that just don’t want to cooperate with me, using warped logic – or reverse psychology – that the Universe will hear and get them to do what I’ve said they’re not doing.

Yes, that’s twisted, I know, but a Gardener can hope…

No lack of flower buds on the Red Lady papaya tree

First, let’s talk about the Red Lady Papaya trees. They’re now about 8 months old and have been budding for about 3 months. However, none of the buds have matured into a flower yet. They’ve been tantalising me by developing right to the stage where I can see the petals almost about to unfurl, and then somehow, the flowers end up on the ground below the tree.

I almost suspect some mischievous garden creature of climbing up the about 1.6 metre trunk to knock down the flowers just to taunt me…

The chap at the plant nursery I frequent says that it’s normal for papaya trees to have abortive flowers until they mature, but of course I’m impatient for the trees to start literally bearing fruits! It is, after all, 8 months old – generally, 6 months is what they need to mature. So here I am complaining about them in the hopes that the Powers That Be decide to make me look the fool and let the trees finally flower successfully.

The winged bean vines growing prolifically but not budding yet

And speaking of flowers, the winged bean plants also don’t seem to want to put any out. This is my first time growing them and my expectations of their performance have so far been based on what I’ve observed of long bean plants. If they do follow their prolific cousins, the long beans, they should have been budding already – but, they’re not. Every day I check, hoping to see flower buds forming, but they just keep on branching out and growing more and more stems and leaves.

The main vines have reached about 4 metres and have branched out at many leaf nodes. If they were like long bean plants, flower buds should have started forming at several of those leaf nodes. However, that’s not happening yet. I’m disappointed, to say the least – I get my gardening kicks from seeing new plants mature and thrive, and I’m not getting them yet.

Gardening gods, if you’re listening, quit toying with me!

More on the Red Lady papaya saga…

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