In Zambia, our family friends, the David’s, had a large lychee tree in their yard.  It produced big bunches of beautiful red and juicy lychees.  Over the years, we have eaten syrupy lychees in cans from Asian stores and small amounts (due to the exorbitant their cost) from the Indian store.

When I was planning what to plant in my tropical garden in Feb 2019, I exchanged some emails with Sadhu of Govardhan Gardens.  He saw my wish list and gave me some sage advice – test your soil and measure your precipitation to know what will thrive in your garden.  I have not yet done that.  The cost of experimenting has not been high.

He said, “Almost all Lychee cultivars are subtropical and therefore don’t produce well/reliably inPR. There are a few exceptions (of truly tropical cultivars) but they are not easy to find here.

He added, “…what’s growing there is just an indicator of what can possibly grow but doesn’t mean a lot yet re. what can actually produce fruit (and at what quantity). In other words, growing and fruiting are not synonymous.”

More sage advice but I am a believer in miracles and outliers.  If I find a healthy plant in a nursery at a reasonable price, I am going plant it.  And if I find the plant at Home Depot, it must be something I can plant with a reasonable expectation of success, right?

Lychees are not common in Puerto Rico.  In June 2019 I found a small specimen.  I planted it or the narrow side of the house.  I learned the tender leaves of the lychee tree need to be protected from the wind, but I was not sure how to do this.  This tree did not survive.

As an aside, note that cute plant tag. I quickly learn that the hot sun and frequent rain destroys the tags. Weeds are quick to overgrow small plants, and humans with weed-whackers can lop off the top of my prized plants.

In November 2020, we made a quick stop to Home Depot to return products we had ordered online earlier in the year during COVID-19 restrictions.  I usually check the nursery section just in case there is something exciting.  To my delight I found a healthy Brewster Lychee.

I learn that Brewster is the most popular commercial variety planted in Florida. It has a good taste, but a large seed. It will produce a good crop two out of three years.

I planted it on the hillside of the house and my husband built an amazing cabana for it.  This plant will grow.  But as Sadhu said, it might not fruit.  Let us wait and see.