Kalabrian

Greetings to all dear friends, sorry I did not answered until now, but I have been quite busy in the last days.

Harvey, in response to your friendly comments:
As you said, prickly pear is relatively hardy, in fact here it grows WILDLY even up to 600 m of altitude, and I think in Sicily it can grows wildly even higher. These areas at such altitude, however, do not experience frosts as -8, for rarely they see a -4. On the other hand, even here it can grow beyond these altitudes when cultivated with proper care, especially if positioned near a wall. In any case, it still surprises me to know that they can resist that frosts because I know that they do not grow very easily in north Italy in areas where in fact that same kind of frosts are usual. What's the colour of the fruit, purple or orange?

Since we are in the subject of cactus fruits, let me say that here also apple cactus bear fruit succesfully.

I do not think Gavignano is in the south of Italy, but I am not sure. I think it should be in the centre near Rome.

Let me say that I am particularly interested to know about the kind of Musa which do successfully bear fruits in California, and it is one of the reasons why I joined the forum (not the only one though!). This because, even if your specific area seems to be (from what you said) quite colder than mine during winter, I think in general there is a certain climatic affinity, and from what I realized my region should have a climate very similar to southern California around LA, while the San Diego area could maybe be compared to Sicily. For example in the south of Calabria and in Sicily they are now cultivating mangoes and avocadoes as commercial enterprises, and I know the same happens in Calif. between LA and San Diego.

So I would be glad to know as much information as possible about successful and unsuccessful attempts with bananas in California. For example Cali Gold is a species I would like to try here, but I have not been able to find it until now.

The same kind of interest I have it for Israel, even if in a different sense. But this I will try to explain it in a specific post, because there are things on this matter I would like to discuss with you all.

Blessings