Espalier: Flat Trees Mean More Fruit
If you have a small courtyard or enclosed patio with a narrow planting bed inside along the edges, but still want to grow fruit trees, consider the possibility of espalier. Espalier (ess-pal-yay) is ...
Category Archives: Fruit Trees
Citrus are Best Fruit Trees for Los Angeles
When I first moved to Los Angeles, I thought there must be a neighbor who didn’t like me. Each morning, I would find large orange peels in my back yard. “Someone is eating oranges and thr...
Calamondin is a Special Citrus
Lately, I have noticed a few calamondin trees in container gardens. Noticed is an understatement. I could just as easily have said that I heard horticultural shouts of joy coming from the calamondin ...
Avocado Tree Longevity
Q. I have an avocado tree that has been on the property for almost 70 years. What is its life expectancy? – Grace Hampton, Burbank A. That is very old for an avocado tree. The original ‘H...
Blackberries & Raspberries
Note: the following was written shortly after George W. Bush’s inauguration. The end of President George W. Bush’s first week in office seems as good a time as any to discuss the other bu...
Cold Nights Make Oranges Orange
If you live in Los Angeles and have room for only one fruit tree, you might consider planting an orange, grapefruit or a lemon. If you make the citrus decision, you will have a ready supply of vitami...
Color Schemes in the Garden: Anything Goes
Garden designers are a predictable group. Dogmatic and snobby, they carry on as though possessed of some arcane knowledge. In truth, any two plants with similar growth requirements look well together...
Backyard Orchard Travails
A backyard orchard. What could be nicer? An orchard is the dream of every hemmed-in, hedged-in homeowner with a diminutive, sun-starved back yard. But an orchard may not be the storybook affair that ...
A Simple Guide to Tree Pruning
As winter arrives and plants go dormant, gardeners, too, should take a rest. Winter vegetables – peas, beets, cabbages and lettuce – need harvesting, and there are always a few weeds to p...
Citrus Fruiting Rhythms & Spinosad
Q. I have a Valencia orange tree, I believe it’s a dwarf (9 feet tall) and is about 20 years old. My problem is fruiting. Year before last the tree was full of normal sized oranges, last year I...
