This is one in a series of occasional reports about South Florida gardens.

The view from Sy Baskin’s balcony is a 270-degree panorama sweeping north to west. From here you can see buildings on Key Biscayne and Virginia Key with the ocean beyond. Move your eyes and there’s the graceful bridge on Rickenbacker Causeway and the orange roof of Vizcaya on Biscayne Bay.

“Some days I can even see the blue line of the Gulf Stream moving along the coast,” says Baskin who for the past 18 years has been tending a garden on this balcony

Set on the 26th floor of the Bristol Tower Condominium in Miami, his 900-square-foot balcony garden features about 100 plants, of which 55 are fruit trees.

Loquats, three to four varieties of guavas, Meyer lemons, avocados, ruby red grapefruits, pomelos, Key limes, Dancy tangerines and mangoes are just some of his crops.

“When you garden out here, you have to be ready to fight the elements and deal with disappointment. The elements can wreak havoc,” says Baskin who will turn 91 in April. He constantly has to battle wind, heavy rains and the searing sunlight.

This garden is Baskin’s retreat when he’s not out saltwater fly fishing or playing golf. He visibly relaxes when he walks through the sliding glass door from the kitchen into the fresh air.

Today he finds a ripe red pomegranate dangling like a Christmas ornament from a branch, a splash of color among the dark green leaves. Elsewhere, tiny green citrus fruits are tinged with orange signaling that these kumquats will soon be ripe.

Baskin spends his time checking for new growth and overseeing the health of his balcony crops. “He’s in and out all day,” says Beverly Baskin, his wife of 62 years. In fact, the first thing he does when he gets up in the morning is to head for the balcony.

“Before he even says ‘Hi, how are you?’ or checks to see that I’m still breathing, he goes out there,” she says with an indulgent smile.

Baskin’s garden includes a pitaya or a dragon fruit plant that grows large red fruit with green spikes. Then there’s an abiu from the Amazon region of South America that develops a yellow fruit. He also grows an Arabica coffee tree, a Barbados cherry and an acai or miracle fruit.

If there are any bright red berries on the acai tree, he’ll let you chew one as he tells you to “swish it around in your mouth.” Then he’ll give you a wedge of tart lime to bite into. The miracle fruit makes the lime or just about any food taste sweeter.

He moves among the pots as he picks leaves off the bay rum and allspice trees. Then he crumples the leaves in his hand and lifts them to his nose so he can inhale their exotic aromas. He also shows off his Michelia tree from Central America. When it’s dressed in star-shaped ivory flowers, you can enjoy their aroma. The essence of these blooms is used to make Joy perfume, he says.

He also has a dwarf Cavendish banana, a cinnamon tree and a vanilla orchid, which he says will never produce beans because Florida isn’t home to the specific bees necessary to pollinate it.

His favorite crop is the fruit of the Murcott tangerine. “The flavor is a nice balance of acid and Brix. It’s tart and juicy; not insipid,” he says.