More Fruit Tree Orders

Uh Oh....

Last weekend I looked online at Raintree Nursery again. Decided to order two additional trees to grow, using the backyard orchard culture method:

Surefire Cherry. I was thinking about my parent's cherry tree, and realized that I haven't had a pie made from sour cherries for about 30 years. Being into "slow food" - you can't get much slower than starting out with the a small, bare-root tree. OK, you could plant a seed to grow the tree, but I'll be dead before I get cherries from a seed-grown tree. Tree should be here in 1-2 weeks. The 'ideal location' in the backyard was occupied by a rose (Carl Brunner), so yesterday I dug it up and moved it a few feet to the former location of "Angel face", which did not survive the winter and has now joined other Angels in heaven. Well, actually, in compost, but it sounded nice. The location is ready, I added some chicken compost, and will add some eggshells when planting the tree. Some thought actually went into this selection: It blooms later than other cherries. Late frost has been a fruit-tree nemesis, so the later flowering is a bonus. Most sour cherries, including this one, are also self-fertile, so no pollinator variety is needed. They stay fairly compact, especially compared to sweet cherries, so the pruning might be easier as well. IT's on Gisela5 rootstock.

I DID say two trees. I've been developing a taste for asian pears - they are crispy like apples, but have more flavor, like pears. Not enough room for more than one, and most asian pears need a pollinator, so I ordered a multigraft Asian Pear. I won't know the 3 varieties until it arrives. It will be all but one of:

Shinseiki (medium to large, sweet, yellow fruit, late August).
Yoinashi (medium to large, russeted, butterscotch flavor).
Hamese (mid sized, sweet, yellow fruit, mid August).
Mishirasu (large, russetted fruit, late September).

They can't say which if the 4 is missing. If I could pick, I would go for the two sweet yellows and either of the russetted, but any combination is OK with me. Planning for this to go into a front-yard border, possibly in the location of the opuntia (winter did a job on that one too) or eucalyptus (also a winter victim - there is a trend here). I'll have to look at the site from multiple angles to scope out the optimal location.

We already have a multigraft European pear and a multigraft sweet cherry. Some authors are not crazy about multigraft trees, since some varieties may be more vigorous than others, but my feeling is that for trees that need pollinizers, it's a way to achieve that need in one tree. Plus, judicious pruning can keep the most vigorous in check and allow the other varieties some space as well. I've added a couple of unknown variety grafts to the dwarf apple trees, last year. If we are very lucky, they'll bear this year.

Cactus therapy.

Some green therapy here. Each year I seem to find something different to over-do. One year it was roses, then tomatoes, then peppers, then figs. The roses are mostly still there, but out of favor due to high maintenance (except a few). I can only grow so many tomatoes or figs, and I think i have them more-or-less figured out for this area. The peppers are not so rewarding although I'll keep trying a few.

Without intending to, it looks like this time it's cacti. Looking around the yard and in the windows, there are quite a few. These are not well identified, but I'm thinking (left to right) Echinopsis sp, Gymnocalycium sp., and Selenocereus sp. These identifications may change if they have identifiable blossoms. Based on web photos, Gymnocalycium flowers are amazingly colorful.




I've been growing this cactus through about 4 'cutting generations' over a period of 15 years. It sits neglected in the yard in the summer, and occasionally I start a new pad. I've given away some of the larger plants due to moving, and one was killed in a frost. Now I want to try again. based on photos in a book and on the web, this is Opuntia neoargentina but could also go by Brasioliopuntia braziliensis and multiple other names. It has a yellow flower. It can grow as a tree on a thick trunk, and tiers of branches with pads that fall off when dry. The original was a gift from a friend in Lafayette indiana; his cactus was over 6 feet tall when I first saw it. Googling on this species, it appears to be threatened in its original habitat in much of its habitat, much of which has been destroyed in Brazil, but it also grows widely in some tropical areas.



Today 2 more were added from Lowes. The result of an overly stressful week (if only I drank, I wouldnt have to keep adding vegetation around the house!). Given the winter season, a colorful Schlumbergera hybrid (labeled as Zygocactus) and a small Parodia (labeled as Notocactus herteri). The Notocactus comes in many colorful varieties.

Outside are 2 Opuntias that have survived two winters so far. Neither has blooded.

It's amazing to look at the photos of cactus flowers and read about their climates, and the history of their horticulture.