Field Trip to Master Gardener’s Orchard! November 13, 2021 @ 10 am

Master Gardener Aaron Ostrom has kindly invited us to visit his  rather large urban, hillside garden of ornamentals and edibles, including Almond, Aprium, Apple, Atemoya, Avocado, Banana, Barbados Cherry, Blackberry, Cape Gooseberry, Capulin Cherry, Carob, Chaya, Che, Cherimoya, Chocolate Pudding Fruit, Citrus of every sort, Coffee, Elderberry, Fig, Goji, Guamuchil, Guava, Ice Cream Bean, Jaboticaba, Java Plum, Jujube, Lemonade Berry, Lingaro, Longan, Loquat, Lychee, Macadamia, Mango, Natal Plum, Nectaplum, Papaya, Passion Fruit, Peach, Peanut Butter Fruit, Pear, Pepino Dulce, Persimmon, Phalsa Berry, Pindo Palm, Pineapple, Pomegranate, Raisin Tree, Raspberry, Sichuan Pepper, Sugar Cane, Surinam Cherry, Walnut, Wampee, White Sapote, etc.  What a Rare Fruit wonderland!  Aaron has lived all over the world and his plantings truly reflect that.

He does note that the garden is not accessible for those who have difficulty climbing stairs and slopes but our Program Chair Deborah Hartnett will be Zooming the trip to those of us stuck at home.

Aaron’s address and Zoom links will arrive in your newsletter ASAP.

 

Photo by Food Photographer | Jennifer Pallian on Unsplash

Oct. 12th @ 10 am: Cherimoyas Here, There, and Not Everywhere

Reflections on the Spanish and California Industries by Dr. Ben Faber.

The village of Jete is in the far back of this valley near Almunecar.  It’s all cherimoyas with olives on the hillsides. And nearly all of the cherimoyas are Fino de Jete with lots of seeds, smooth skin, and they all come ripe at the same time with no hand pollination!

Pruning and pollination practices vary considerably both here and in Spain. This is partly due to differences in the “Mediterranean Climates” that are found in the two areas.  We’ll look at those factors, as well as how pruning and pollination are affected by differences in the two “cultural climates”.

Our speaker will be Dr. Ben Faber.  Ben is an advisor with the University of California Cooperative Extension in Ventura, where he specializes in soils, water, and subtropical horticulture.  He has a Ph.D. in Soil Fertility, and he maintains a blog and a newsletter that the bulk of our commercial citrus and avocado growers learn from.  Dr. Faber was going to give his presentation on “Cherimoyas in Spain” at the recent Festival of Fruit   However, unfortunately, he was so sick he couldn’t make it.  Please join us for this very special presentation!  We will be in the MultiPurpose  Room at the Culver City Veteran’s Memorial Complex.

(Description courtesy of Alan Caramatti, our brand-new Program Chair)

 

Field Trip to Champa Nursery May 11th @ 10 a.m.

This month we will visit Champa Nursery in El Monte. Jimmy Nguyen, the proprietor, has extended a kind welcome to us. Jimmy has over a hundred different varieties of tropical fruit trees in stock (on less than an acre!). Were you looking for that hard-to-find acerola cherry (Barbados cherry)? Jimmy has them! Want a new variety of black sapote? Jimmy has four varieties currently available! Were you anxious to try a sapodilla? Jimmy sells three varieties! He even has three varieties of mamey sapote! At Champa Nursery you will also find six different varieties of carambola, three varieties of canistel, an amazing eight varieties of jackfruit, a dozen varieties of mangoes, three varieties of longan, four varieties of lychee, five varieties of wax jambu, and many many more intriguing fruit trees. Go to their website and start your want list: https://www.champanursery.com. Carpooling is recommended.

Address: 4254 Tyler Ave, El Monte, CA 91311

Directions: Champa Nursery is on the corner of Santa Anita and Tyler Ave., next to the El Monte Airport. Take the I-10 Freeway east to El Monte. Take the Santa Anita Ave. exit (Exit 28) and turn left onto Santa Anita Ave. In just under 1 1/2 miles turn right onto Tyler Ave. Champa Nursery will be on your left.

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!!

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