Chapter members, just a reminder: our holiday party is Saturday and the plant raffle is really starting to shape up,. Gros Michel banana pups, rose apple seedlings, and a one-gallon ice cream bean tree are among the offerings. This is a pot luck so bring your best dish (as well as plants to include in the raffle if you have them) See you there!
Holiday Party December 8th @ 11:30 am-1:30 pm!
Start getting those recipes out and those pans buttered. Our annual CRFG-WLA holiday party is almost upon us. Potluck as always so please bring your favorite dish to share with your fellow fruit growers.
Paradise Nursery address
Yup, forgot it in previous post:
10943 De Soto Avenue,
Chatsworth, CA 91311
This is just south of the DeSoto exit on the 118 at Rinaldi. Entrance is easy to miss, so keep eyes peeled.
November 10th @ 10 am: Paradise Nursery
Oh, do you guys have a treat in store! We are going to Paradise Nursery in Chatsworth. This is a family-owned nursery that propagates and grows its own beautiful trees (primarily fruit, including many Persian specialties you won’t find elsewhere). Plus many of their trees are ENORMOUS! Walking around the grounds is sort of like walking through a forest, and it gives you a rare chance to see what your trees will look like full grown. Paradise of course also carries trees small enough to fit in the back of my Toyota Corolla, so don’t think you won’t also be able to bring home trophies from the hunt.
Cribbing shamelessly from their website :
“(Owner) Dr. Majid Jahanbin is an Agricultural Engineer with a doctorate from the University of Bologna, Italy. He fell in love with plants at the age of seven, while visiting his father’s farm in Abadan, Iran. He has over 50 years of professional experience and hosts a popular radio show on 670AM KIRN, giving gardening tips and taking questions on air in Farsi.
His son Ashkan Jahanbin now runs the nursery and is a horticulturalist with degrees in Landscape Architecture and Environmental Horticultural from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. Ashkan consults and designs edible gardens and home orchards that are beautiful, enjoyable, and environmentally sustainable.”
Ash has kindly agreed to meet with us and answer any questions we have about his trees. There is parking; but on a Saturday morning it might be somewhat limited, so car pooling is highly suggested.
Also fellow chapter member Alex Silber’s Papaya Tree Nursery is only a couple of freeway exits away from Paradise and if you have never been there, it would be well worth your time to arrange with Alex to stop in before or after. Since he operates quite literally out of his family’s backyard, he can’t take all of us but said he would welcome individuals who call him first.
Plants available today only (10-15-18!)
A member living in Brentwood has to vacate her apartment suddenly. She has many many rare plants, some in 50 gallon containers and she is making them available to anyone who wants them. Because she is sight-
challenged, she cannot accept texts but call her at 310-936-3150 if you can take them today. For the bigger plants, you will need a dolly and truck.
Black jacket
It was left at our October 13th meeting (Edgar Valdivia on Cherimoyas and Figs). Please let me know if it’s yours.
Badges
Because many of you have asked about the attractive permanent name badges some of our members wear, we are going to have a sign-up for them at the October 13th meeting.
To order a badge give a check or cash for $15 to our treasurer Andreé at the time of the order, i.e., before the order is placed. The West LA CRFG name badge has the distinctive CRFG logo and two lines of engraved black text (see badges worn by Sofia Ames and Jane Beer). The badge is roughly 2″ x 3″ and has a magnetic clasp, although you may request a pin clip if you prefer.
More about our October 13th meeting
Cribbed from the excellent newsletter Margaret Frane writes and sends to our members:
“Edgar is well known in the CRFG throughout California for developing great tasting (and beautiful) dragon fruit (pitahaya) varieties. You can purchase his dragon fruit varieties, such as Tricia and Edgar’s Baby, in many specialty nurseries. Edgar grows well over 100 other fruit such as at least 20 varieties of cherimoya, lucuma, mulberry, and figs. You can see a small smaple of them on the CRFG, Inc., “Let’s Find Out” series #12: https://www.crfg.org/piwigo/picture.php?/4733/category/53.
To hear other examples of Edgar speaking, listen and watch him on: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZtoyxK-Fqs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UR-Zt-c0gu0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqrOkUAxYCE ”
information on the Citrus Clonal Protection Program
October 13th @ 10 am: Edgar Valdivia on Cherimoya and Figs
Edgar Valdivia is one of the great fruit growers and researchers in the Southland with a specific interest in developing new varieties of fruit. Seven years ago he counted 112 different types of fruit in his orchard and he has surely developed even more by now. It is the casual way he imparts a lifetime of fruit growing wisdom, however, that makes him a living legend and a cherished speaker. We are extremely lucky to have snared him for our October 13th meeting. He will be talking to us about cherimoyas and figs. Do not miss him!!