I finally managed to pollinate my cherimoya!
For the uninitiated: Pollinating cherimoyas is a bit tricky, because their flowers only bloom for a single day. During this time, they are initially female and can absorb pollen, but only turn male in the evening to harvest pollen from.
To pollinate them successfully, you have to sacrifice at least one flower, take its pollen and hope that the next flower opens before the pollen is no longer viable.
They also develop large velvety leaves:
I have some plants that have gone through similar phases of love too. Most of the ones I had been really excited to buy have turned out to be very particular and short lived, but then I have some plain janes that have been so drama free they’ve become my favorites since I got plants to have fun enjoying them, not to continuously nurse a bunch of sickly patients!