Category: Nursery

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Holy Guacamole! Did we have a great time in Long Beach!

Eighteen or so of us braved the 405 yesterday morning to visit Rancho Los Cerritos and then Ricardo’s Nursery.   Many of us were so impressed by both that return trips are already being planned.

At the Rancho, docents who had generously boned up on  the parks “rare fruit” ahead of our arrival were able to display the gardens and orchards originally laid out by the groundbreaking SoCal landscape architect Ralph D. Cornell in 1931,  as well as some amazing trees —  including a rambling pomegranate — dating back to the mid 1800s.    Over the past 32 years, the staff horticulturist Marie Barnidge-McIntyre  has been  researching and restoring and maintaining the trees Cornell originally chose.  We got to see such unusual specimens as the Kashlen, Lyon and Puebla avocado trees, a thornless jujube, a huge black locust that was a local landmark for 150 years and California’s original Sweet Orange.  Not to mention the macadamia, loquat, persimmon, dwarf thornless pomegranate and many  many other trees.

Ricardo Ortiz, generously waiting as we straggled in from the Rancho, served us his sorbet made from his amazing Persian mulberries and lectured on both his nursery’s fairly recent swivel to tropical fruit,  lessons he learned in the process and his newfound love of grafting.  We were able to pick fresh Persian mulberries from one of his enormous trees and admire the vanilla orchid in  his greenhouse along with many many other plants in various stages of growth.    Needless to say, a great time was had by all.

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Persimmons! with Marc Robbi of Fruitwood Nursery Saturday October 14th @ 10 am

Those of us who order scion wood from the wonderful Fruitwood Nursery up in Orleans, California can’t help being struck by the amazing number of persimmon varieties on offer (69 by  today’s count!) and the grafting knowledge – not to  mention kindness & helpfulness – of Fruitwood’s owners Corrina Cohen and Marc Robbi.  So when chapter members started clamoring for a speaker on persimmons, thoughts immediately turned to Fruitwood.  And now, despite the terror of the over-9000-acre Pearch Creek fire that has threatened Corrina and Marc for more than a month, Marc has agreed (the fire gods willing) to speak to us via Zoom on October 14th.

A little background from the Fruitwood website: “We have been propagating and growing perennial plants for over 40 years and are the former owners of Rolling River Nursery.com, which is now under the new ownership of Planting Justice in Oakland, CA. We are now offering nursery wood and divisions of all the same great plants we sold previously, taken from our mother plantings here at Rolling River Farm in Orleans, CA. Our huge selection of cuttings wood, scionwood, liners, seeds, rootstocks and divisions are available and shipped throughout the lower 48 states, and by special request beyond.  We supply everything the do-it- your- selfer needs to grow your own true to type quality starts of many popular fruiting plants. Growing your own is both fun and also an economical way to create your own edible landscape, orchards and other plantings large or small.

We are also offering custom propagation services such as bench grafting varieties of your choice for growing on by you, and contracting for the production of larger lots of certain varieties that we grow to size for commercial and other plantings. Let us know your needs and we will see how we may help. We can grow starts of most fruiting plants and also contract out to produce many native plants for restoration projects.

As always our growing practices are organic and sustainability oriented, motivated by the desire to contribute to a healthy, diverse and beautiful world for the future generations. We maintain our diverse collection of varieties as an effort to keep the rich genetic heritage inherited from humanity’s past fruit explorers and breeders available to the public and safe from extinction. All sales help to keep these plantings maintained, enlarged and going strong.”

Obviously we could have as easily asked Marc to speak on Apples (of which he sells 251 varieties of scion wood!) or figs (63 varieties!) or pomegranates (59!).  Persimmons however are among the fussiest fruit trees to graft not to mention the most beautiful and most reliable fruiters for us in Southern California, so we are just thrilled to have an expert guide us through the selection of varieties, rootstock, and grafting technique.

So tune in on October 14th at 10 am.  Zoom links will be sent out with member’s newsletters. If you are not a member but wish to participate, please Contact Us.

BTW, do not be deterred by the fact that almost all scion wood is currently listed as Out of Stock on the Fruitwood site.  They have not  yet begun cutting which – per the website – will begin in November.

 

 

 

 

Photo by Yoonbae Cho on Unsplash

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Persimmons! with Marc Robbi of Fruitwood Nursery Saturday October 14th @ 10 am

Those of us who order scion wood from the wonderful Fruitwood Nursery up in Orleans, California can’t help being struck by the amazing number of persimmon varieties on offer (69 by  today’s count!) and the grafting knowledge – not to  mention kindness & helpfulness – of Fruitwood’s owners Corrina Cohen and Marc Robbi.  So when chapter members started clamoring for a speaker on persimmons, thoughts immediately turned to Fruitwood.  And now, despite the terror of the over-9000-acre Pearch Creek fire that has threatened Corrina and Marc for more than a month, Marc has agreed (the fire gods willing) to speak to us via Zoom on October 14th.

A little background from the Fruitwood website: “We have been propagating and growing perennial plants for over 40 years and are the former owners of Rolling River Nursery.com, which is now under the new ownership of Planting Justice in Oakland, CA. We are now offering nursery wood and divisions of all the same great plants we sold previously, taken from our mother plantings here at Rolling River Farm in Orleans, CA. Our huge selection of cuttings wood, scionwood, liners, seeds, rootstocks and divisions are available and shipped throughout the lower 48 states, and by special request beyond.  We supply everything the do-it- your- selfer needs to grow your own true to type quality starts of many popular fruiting plants. Growing your own is both fun and also an economical way to create your own edible landscape, orchards and other plantings large or small.

We are also offering custom propagation services such as bench grafting varieties of your choice for growing on by you, and contracting for the production of larger lots of certain varieties that we grow to size for commercial and other plantings. Let us know your needs and we will see how we may help. We can grow starts of most fruiting plants and also contract out to produce many native plants for restoration projects.

As always our growing practices are organic and sustainability oriented, motivated by the desire to contribute to a healthy, diverse and beautiful world for the future generations. We maintain our diverse collection of varieties as an effort to keep the rich genetic heritage inherited from humanity’s past fruit explorers and breeders available to the public and safe from extinction. All sales help to keep these plantings maintained, enlarged and going strong.”

Obviously we could have as easily asked Marc to speak on Apples (of which he sells 251 varieties of scion wood!) or figs (63 varieties!) or pomegranates (59!).  Persimmons however are among the fussiest fruit trees to graft not to mention the most beautiful and most reliable fruiters for us in Southern California, so we are just thrilled to have an expert guide us through the selection of varieties, rootstock, and grafting technique.

So tune in on October 14th at 10 am.  Zoom links will be sent out with member’s newsletters. If you are not a member but wish to participate, please Contact Us.

BTW, do not be deterred by the fact that almost all scion wood is currently listed as Out of Stock on the Fruitwood site.  They have not  yet begun cutting which – per the website – will begin in November.

 

 

 

 

Photo by Yoonbae Cho on Unsplash

Posted on

Persimmons! with Marc Robbi of Fruitwood Nursery Saturday October 14th @ 10 am

Those of us who order scion wood from the wonderful Fruitwood Nursery up in Orleans, California can’t help being struck by the amazing number of persimmon varieties on offer (69 by  today’s count!) and the grafting knowledge – not to  mention kindness & helpfulness – of Fruitwood’s owners Corrina Cohen and Marc Robbi.  So when chapter members started clamoring for a speaker on persimmons, thoughts immediately turned to Fruitwood.  And now, despite the terror of the over-9000-acre Pearch Creek fire that has threatened Corrina and Marc for more than a month, Marc has agreed (the fire gods willing) to speak to us via Zoom on October 14th.

A little background from the Fruitwood website: “We have been propagating and growing perennial plants for over 40 years and are the former owners of Rolling River Nursery.com, which is now under the new ownership of Planting Justice in Oakland, CA. We are now offering nursery wood and divisions of all the same great plants we sold previously, taken from our mother plantings here at Rolling River Farm in Orleans, CA. Our huge selection of cuttings wood, scionwood, liners, seeds, rootstocks and divisions are available and shipped throughout the lower 48 states, and by special request beyond.  We supply everything the do-it- your- selfer needs to grow your own true to type quality starts of many popular fruiting plants. Growing your own is both fun and also an economical way to create your own edible landscape, orchards and other plantings large or small.

We are also offering custom propagation services such as bench grafting varieties of your choice for growing on by you, and contracting for the production of larger lots of certain varieties that we grow to size for commercial and other plantings. Let us know your needs and we will see how we may help. We can grow starts of most fruiting plants and also contract out to produce many native plants for restoration projects.

As always our growing practices are organic and sustainability oriented, motivated by the desire to contribute to a healthy, diverse and beautiful world for the future generations. We maintain our diverse collection of varieties as an effort to keep the rich genetic heritage inherited from humanity’s past fruit explorers and breeders available to the public and safe from extinction. All sales help to keep these plantings maintained, enlarged and going strong.”

Obviously we could have as easily asked Marc to speak on Apples (of which he sells 251 varieties of scion wood!) or figs (63 varieties!) or pomegranates (59!).  Persimmons however are among the fussiest fruit trees to graft not to mention the most beautiful and most reliable fruiters for us in Southern California, so we are just thrilled to have an expert guide us through the selection of varieties, rootstock, and grafting technique.

So tune in on October 14th at 10 am.  Zoom links will be sent out with member’s newsletters. If you are not a member but wish to participate, please Contact Us.

BTW, do not be deterred by the fact that almost all scion wood is currently listed as Out of Stock on the Fruitwood site.  They have not  yet begun cutting which – per the website – will begin in November.

 

 

 

 

Photo by Yoonbae Cho on Unsplash

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LaVerne/Everde Nursery trip rescheduled! 10-22-22 @ 9 am

Obviously not our traditional Second Saturday meeting day (or meeting time for that matter), but we are just so grateful to Dan Nelson for finding another slot for us — after draconian weather forecasts led him and us to cancel the trip in early September.

Temperatures should be much more comfortable for all concerned so make sure to get this onto your calendar pronto.  Unfortunately, we don’t have a plant availability/price list yet but will get it to chapter members as soon as we do.

Posted on

LaVerne/Everde Nursery trip rescheduled! 10-22-22 @ 9 am

Obviously not our traditional Second Saturday meeting day (or meeting time for that matter), but we are just so grateful to Dan Nelson for finding another slot for us — after draconian weather forecasts led him and us to cancel the trip in early September.

Temperatures should be much more comfortable for all concerned so make sure to get this onto your calendar pronto.  Unfortunately, we don’t have a plant availability/price list yet but will get it to chapter members as soon as we do.

Posted on

LaVerne/Everde Nursery trip rescheduled! 10-22-22 @ 9 am

Obviously not our traditional Second Saturday meeting day (or meeting time for that matter), but we are just so grateful to Dan Nelson for finding another slot for us — after draconian weather forecasts led him and us to cancel the trip in early September.

Temperatures should be much more comfortable for all concerned so make sure to get this onto your calendar pronto.  Unfortunately, we don’t have a plant availability/price list yet but will get it to chapter members as soon as we do.

Posted on

LaVerne/Everde field trip Saturday 9/10@ 9 am Last Minute Details

By now all chapter members should have received the address and plant price list for our field trip on the 10th.  If you haven’t, please let us know!  Because we are going to be allowed to park on the grounds this year, there will also be an updated address in your meeting reminder later this week.

Please, please, please email the list of your wants to us by Wednesday so we can get them to Laverne in time for them to pull the plants.  They will be waiting for us at the end of the tour.   They have to be paid for in CASH.

If you need more information on the size of the plants, this is a more detailed .pdf.  The dates listed are when the plants, mostly described last week  as SS or substandard, are expected to be up to snuff.  Some of the dates will have already passed by the time we get to Piru and therefore those plants should be full size.  Other dates are as soon as 10/1 but some are not until next year.  Please keep that in mind when making your selections.  You can also see the number of plants available for each size. and their actual dimensions.

Many of you have been startled by how much more expensive the plants are this year than in the past.  We are assuming the skyrocketing prices of gas and water have much to do with that.  Out of curiosity, I stopped by my local Armstrong’s Garden Center today where 5 gallon citrus trees are $59.99 and 5 gallon avocados are $69.99.  Obviously the prices we are being offered are much better than that.

Anyhow, plant acquisitions aside, this is always one of my favorite tours.  Our host, Director of Nursery Operations Dan Nelson, is both knowledgeable and charming and it is always fascinating to see how the pros propagate and grow up some of our most loved plants.

Posted on

LaVerne/Everde field trip Saturday 9/10@ 9 am Last Minute Details

By now all chapter members should have received the address and plant price list for our field trip on the 10th.  If you haven’t, please let us know!  Because we are going to be allowed to park on the grounds this year, there will also be an updated address in your meeting reminder later this week.

Please, please, please email the list of your wants to us by Wednesday so we can get them to Laverne in time for them to pull the plants.  They will be waiting for us at the end of the tour.   They have to be paid for in CASH.

If you need more information on the size of the plants, this is a more detailed .pdf.  The dates listed are when the plants, mostly described last week  as SS or substandard, are expected to be up to snuff.  Some of the dates will have already passed by the time we get to Piru and therefore those plants should be full size.  Other dates are as soon as 10/1 but some are not until next year.  Please keep that in mind when making your selections.  You can also see the number of plants available for each size. and their actual dimensions.

Many of you have been startled by how much more expensive the plants are this year than in the past.  We are assuming the skyrocketing prices of gas and water have much to do with that.  Out of curiosity, I stopped by my local Armstrong’s Garden Center today where 5 gallon citrus trees are $59.99 and 5 gallon avocados are $69.99.  Obviously the prices we are being offered are much better than that.

Anyhow, plant acquisitions aside, this is always one of my favorite tours.  Our host, Director of Nursery Operations Dan Nelson, is both knowledgeable and charming and it is always fascinating to see how the pros propagate and grow up some of our most loved plants.

Posted on

LaVerne/Everde field trip Saturday 9/10@ 9 am Last Minute Details

By now all chapter members should have received the address and plant price list for our field trip on the 10th.  If you haven’t, please let us know!  Because we are going to be allowed to park on the grounds this year, there will also be an updated address in your meeting reminder later this week.

Please, please, please email the list of your wants to us by Wednesday so we can get them to Laverne in time for them to pull the plants.  They will be waiting for us at the end of the tour.   They have to be paid for in CASH.

If you need more information on the size of the plants, this is a more detailed .pdf.  The dates listed are when the plants, mostly described last week  as SS or substandard, are expected to be up to snuff.  Some of the dates will have already passed by the time we get to Piru and therefore those plants should be full size.  Other dates are as soon as 10/1 but some are not until next year.  Please keep that in mind when making your selections.  You can also see the number of plants available for each size. and their actual dimensions.

Many of you have been startled by how much more expensive the plants are this year than in the past.  We are assuming the skyrocketing prices of gas and water have much to do with that.  Out of curiosity, I stopped by my local Armstrong’s Garden Center today where 5 gallon citrus trees are $59.99 and 5 gallon avocados are $69.99.  Obviously the prices we are being offered are much better than that.

Anyhow, plant acquisitions aside, this is always one of my favorite tours.  Our host, Director of Nursery Operations Dan Nelson, is both knowledgeable and charming and it is always fascinating to see how the pros propagate and grow up some of our most loved plants.

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