Six papayas grow in a cluster at the top of an eight-foot-tall tree in Al Pong's open garage, where they are ripened by the sun but shielded from autumn's chilly winds and early frost. Soon, the tropical tree will be moved indoors to a warmer temperature.

Outdoors, growing under the open sky, are pink lemons, kumquats, jujubes, sugar cane, four kinds of limes and Chinese grapefruit -- all thriving where it seems exotic plants should know better than to even try.

This is Pong's Orchard, in Fulton, where the unusual is ordinary and the proprietor loves a challenge.

"Some of these plants I grow for the heck of it -- just to see if I can," said owner Al Pong, 71, a retired electrical engineer. His newest addition is the antioxidant-laden goji berry, long prized in China for its medicinal qualities.

The small orchard is also studded with ten dozen trees bearing oriental persimmons, white peaches, Fuji and Gala apples, and Asian pears. Fragrant landscaping plants, such as the Chinese tree peony with its plate-sized blooms and banana shrub, are available for sale.

Just as unique as the orchard's offerings is its location on a cul-de-sac in a residential neighborhood off Hall Shop Road. Al and May Pong also live on the 26-acre property.

Visitors turn down a 1,000-foot driveway on Carol Drive that is wedged between two homes. There are no signs at the curb, just a mailbox with the house number.

"We have been keeping a low profile," Pong observed wryly.

Attracting attention

Pong, who arrived in Washington, D.C., from China in 1951 at the age of 14, has quietly run this mom-and-pop operation in western Howard County for seven years. Before that, he and his wife operated their business in Montgomery County for 28 years.

Though still not widely known, the unusual orchard is beginning to attract attention.

"Pong's Orchard is a great example of diversified agriculture and the ability to meet the needs of local consumers for unique produce not indigenous to this area," said Kathy Zimmerman, an agricultural marketing specialist with the Howard County Economic Development Authority.

The Pongs' appearance as exhibitors at the annual Highland Day neighborhood fair Oct. 4 also aroused the interest of the local community.

Event organizer Charlotte Williams said new awareness of Al Pong's knack for nurturing rare fruits and aromatic shrubs led her to dub the orchard "a hidden treasure in our midst."

Moreover, she cited the property is a good example of how "farm preservation and density exchange ought to work."

The original owners of the Pongs' property placed all but eight of their 34 acres into preservation, in order to qualify for rural cluster development, explained Joy Levy, administrator of the county's agricultural land preservation program.

That allowed the owners to develop the eight acres as seven residential lots (normally, three-acre residential lots are standard in rural residential districts) in exchange for preserving the remaining 26 acres, Levy said.

"The previous owners did something a little different here," Pong said of the preservation pact on his land, where there is also a forest conservation easement on 7.7 wooded acres. "It was a good way of keeping more area green."

Trials, tribulations

When the Pongs moved to Fulton in 2001, Al Pong had to recreate his orchard from the ground up -- literally. Since then, he said, he's been tested and retested by Mother Nature.

When 17-year cicadas arrived in 2004, he tried wrapping tree branches in aluminum foil to thwart their destruction, but the locusts cut through the pouches. An invasion of tiny insects called pear psylla two years later could only be defeated by spraying host trees with botanical cleanser and then sprinkling ladybugs on branches to devour the insects. And a bacterial disease called fire blight attacked his pear, apple and loquat trees this year.

But the dedicated grower has taken it all in stride -- and with a sense of humor.

"Sometimes, my life seems like that movie 'Groundhog Day,' " said Pong, referring to the film in which actor Bill Murray relives the same 24 hours over and over until he gets it right. "I've tried to get creative in my approach to help ensure the vitality of my orchard."

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