Carica papaya 'Red Caribbean'

Unusual Papaya shape Do they turn red?
Is the one to the right flowering?

They are actually not usual papaya-shaped. They are long and relatively thin (I think because of the lack of water) due to the drought.

The skin turns yellow and the inside turns reddish, when ripe. This is a variety which is sold at Trader Joe's. That's where I purchased the fruit and took out the seeds.

This 'Red Caribbean' has flowers and the male 'Maradol' papaya in the background is almost always in flower. It's surprising they're flowering with the cold weather. It's been in the low 40's for the last 4 mornings. Tonight there's another frost advisory for the inland valleys and desert here in San Diego County.

The male 'Maradol' plant has produced fruit twice.

I've never seen a Papaya tree before! I thought they were more like bushes than trees!

Its all relative Andy. Your about 65f and sunny in the day. That was our last year winter..and it felt good to be out on a sunny 65+ day.I would take for the 55f and sunny here we are having now...
You have nights about 40f
I'm fighting off the lower 30's ( so far only one below 34f).

It could be worse Andy-- Weather Channel kept predicting 29f for La Mesa. I knew that was way off. I think you might have gotten to 39 or 40f.

Stan:

The last two years, especially have been usually warm to hot in winter. We've gotten spoiled.

I live on a south-facing mesa which has excellent cold-air drainage. I very, very rarely get temps below 40 degrees. In fact, I usually only get 3 or maybe 4 nights of 41 degrees each winter. Typically, the temps stay between 45 - 58 degrees overall for morning lows. The coldest temps I ever recorded here in 13 years was 34 degrees for one morning during San Diego's coldest weather in 60 years...which was back in early January of 2007.

Actually, La Mesa has had some temps close to freezing the last couple of mornings. They take the temps at a low spot in the city. The hills around La Mesa are some of the best tropical plant-growing areas in the U.S. Big mango trees, plumerias and even big-bearing Jack fruit trees.

Balcony:

Papaya is a large herb. It grows upright and sometimes it branches. It's typically a short-lived plant 5 - 12 years. Plants more than 6 years don't usually produce fruit so well. I usually grow many seedlings so they can be replaced yearly. Papaya plants can produce fruit within a year or so in San Diego's subtropical climate. In hot tropical climates you can get fruit within 6 or 9 months.

Thanks very much for that info, Delonix. :-)) I had no idea before.

Happy New Gardening Year 2016 to you. :-))

You're welcome.

Not doing too much gardening now. It's been much cooler than normal all week here. Us San Diegans have been complaining about the cold mornings (averaging 44 degrees (7 C). Daytime highs have been around 66 degrees F. (19 C).