Grapes growing in senior citizen's garden amaze neighbors in Baras
By Nel Andrade
BARAS, Rizal- Who would think of seeing grapes hanging from vines in a residential area in Baras, of all places?
Folks peeping into the garden of Erlinda Buatis Eugenio, 67, of Barangay Mabini (Wawa) are surprised to see bunches of green and pale violet grapes dangling from vines in her front yard garden.
“Nagtataka sila kasi hindi sila makapaniwala na may nabubuhay palang ubas kahit dito sa kabayanan (They can't believe that grapes can thrive in a town),’’ Rose Anne Lat, Erlinda's daughter, told Manila Bulletin.
Lat said the variety of grapes they grow, which are green when unripe but turn pale violet when mature, have become an attraction in her mother’s 50-square meter fruit garden since the vines bore fruit a few weeks ago.
She said she and her mother bought the grape plants in the public market in Tanay two years ago, out of curiosity if such a plant would grow in their garden.
Lat said her mother was very happy upon seeing the green fruits growing from the vines in her garden a few weeks ago. The vines carry some 50 bunches of grapes, some of which are almost ripe and ready to be picked this week.
She added that her mother, a retired sales agent, and her husband enjoy vegetable and fruit gardening, having calamansi, papaya, and guyabano among their fruit-bearing trees, as well as mango trees and other kinds of vegetables on their farm in Pililla.
