Strawberries on a Tree?

Above you will see fruit forming on our strawberry tree (arbousier).  They grow in the wild here but our neighbour planted this one years ago on his brother’s property, which we bought decades later, and it’s a great tree for shade and also attracts bees.

But the white blossoms that drop off every morn drive papa crazy because he has to sweep them up all the time.

Still, huge black and yellow bees are buzzing away every morn to fertilize the blossoms (whatever that means) and I like their sound.  This part of the world is beginning to lack bees, so it’s nice to have place they’ll come to in one’s garden.

Mama loves the fruit but can find no one else who does! The texture is a little like biting into a plum or cherry that has been mixed with sand, a sort of grainy feeling in the mouth, but mama thinks its exotic.  One can make jelly from arbouses, and the fruit is considered a mood elevator, plus if left to ferment in a bowl, the fruit can really make you gaga if you eat it.  Bears are said to get drunk on the fermented berries and a bear and a strawberry tree are the symbol for Madrid!

In the Italian Risorgimento, the strawberry tree, because of its autumnal colours, the same colours of the Italian flag, at the same time red for fruits and white for flowers, beyond the green colour of leaves, was considered, a symbol of the flag-Wikipedia.

I just like to look at it and listen to it with all that humming and buzzing and flowers dropping–it’s quite a show.

But poor papa.  There he goes to get the broom…

Before he comes back, I’m going to help him by rolling around on those blossoms a bit.

Maybe later…