Pineapples.........

............dozens of them....all happily growing at Heligan Gardens. They do a very fine Pineapple cake in their lovely cafe too......

[Susan Wakely]

When I was much younger I imagined pineapples to grow on trees.

[Lesley]

@wakelys Unto this very moment I still believed they did. Thanks Kitty for educating me, and for the cool photo!

[Casablanca]

Amazing that they can be grown in this country

[Kitty Hawke]

@wakelys haha....very large shrubs.......

[Kitty Hawke]

@tinley23 haha....they need very careful cultivation and heat levels......it was a huge craze for the Victorians to be able to grown them in their glass houses and 'pineapple pits'......along with oranges, lemons, kiwi, figs...not to mention all the early 'forced' veggies.......I think a head gardeners life was a little stressed !

[Kitty Hawke]

@casablanca Indeed.....a very intense labour of love I think !

[Diana]

A fabulous find and capture. We once visited a pineapple plantation in Hawaii, it was quite amazing how huge it was.

[Peter Dulis]

nice

[Renee Salamon]

Very cool - like the idea of pineapple cake too

[Kitty Hawke]

@ludwigsdiana They do take up some room !

[Kitty Hawke]

@pdulis Thank you :)

[Kitty Hawke]

@rensala It was delish.....like a fruit cake but with pineapple....very moist.

[Renee Salamon]

@cutekitty sounds wonderful- I’m going to look up some recipes now

[KoalaGardens🐨]

oooh nice

[Pyrrhula]

Growing in a hot house? Most of our vegetables do.

[Carole Sandford]

Bit of a rarity I would think, though probably not for Heligan!

[Rick]

Cool.

[Brian]

Yum

[Kitty Hawke]

@koalagardens I know...love a lump of pineapple me.......

[Kitty Hawke]

@pyrrhula These are in a very large cold frame....with spaces underneath to put masses of manure and compost, to keep the heat up.

[Kitty Hawke]

@carole_sandford No....I guess a lot of country houses had pineapple pits, melon, grape and peach houses. Heligan has those too.

[Kitty Hawke]

@rickster549 Thank you :)

[Kitty Hawke]

@briaan Indeed !

[Boxplayer]

Amazing to see them actually growing