Laguna Hills Nursery
Winter Returns
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Greetings!

The weather this winter is reminding me of the 1980's.  I remember winters with both cold and warm periods.  The banana leaves would freeze and turn brown, new leaves would grow during a warm spell, then freeze again.  We did get adequate chill those years for most of our deciduous trees to produce good crops.  Those were also drought years. 

In my garden a Tropic Snow peach tree is currently is full bloom.  This means that we've had at least 200 hours of chill.  Let's hope for at least 100 more. 

My grafted tomato plants are still producing, but are definitely in trouble.  2 of the 3 are developing dark areas on the main stems which will soon kill the plants.  The Jetsetter still looks decent.  At this rate, however, I doubt that any will make it to spring. 

The Mission Viejo Farmers Market started out with a "bang".  We had a great day and a great time visiting with long time customers.  There were about 20 vendors with room for at least double that. 

A few of you still have onion orders to pick up.  Don't delay.  Onion seedlings are a perishable item.  Also, we are totally sold out of open stock.  I'll have to order more next year!

We are totally out of bare root strawberry plants this week.  If you would like to obtain some (they are available for at least a few more weeks if not all of February) let us know and I'll order another box. 

If you are uncomfortable with handing bare root strawberries we will be selling some in containers in 2-3 weeks. 

Thank you for bringing your old newspapers to us.  We won't need more until next year's bare root season.  Thanks again!

And I'll try to get this e-mail out earlier in the week, but some weeks I need to wait until our Thursday shipments arrive.
Items Available This Weekend

Tropical Potting Soil just a few sacks left.   
Potting Soil ACID MIX plenty in stock. 

Bare Root Plants 
Apples Anna, Dorsett Golden, Gala, Granny Smith, Jonagold, Pink Lady 
Sour Apricot Ume (we hope to get sweet Goldkist apricot before the end of the month) 
Jujube Ga-866, Li, Sherwood 
Mulberry Black Beauty, Pakistan, Teas Weeping 
Nectaplum Spice Zee 
Nectarine Arctic Star, Panamint, Snow Queen 
Peach Long Beach, Red Baron, Tropic Snow 
Pear Hood (Floridahome should arrive later this month) 
Persimmon Imoto Fuyu, Izu Fuyu (Hachiya should arrive later this month) 
Plum Burgundy, Catalina, Weeping Santa Rosa (Satsuma should arrive soon) 
Pluot Flavor King, Splash 
Pomegranate Ambrosia, Angel Red, Wonderful 

Japanese Maple Bloodgood, Tamukeyama 
Redbud Forest Pansy

Potted Fruiting Plants from our Bare Root Suppliers 
Blueberry Misty, Sharpblue, Star
Fig
Black Jack, Black Mission, Italian Everbearing, Panache, Violette de Bordeaux 
Pomegranate Desertnyi, Parfianka  

1-gallon Citrus Trees  
Still have a good assortment but this crop is nearly sold out.  Next crop will be ready sometime in spring   
Spotlight on Bare Root
Apple cultivars for Local Gardens
Just 2 generations ago apple trees were rarely seen in local gardens.  Everyone assumed that they just wouldn't succeed in our mild winter climate.  Besides they are native to Russia.  Between 1970 and 1985 we were selling a couple of local cultivars, Beverly Hills apple and Gordon apple.  Both of these make fruit of decent quality, though I wouldn't pay to eat one.  In the 1980's mild climate apples from other countries were introduced.  It was soon found that many popular commercial varieties normally grown in cooler winter climates of the United States produced fruit locally as well. 

Our winters are apparently too mild to successfully grow Honeycrisp apples.  If you haven't tried them, Honeycrisp is the current taste test winner.  I tried for many years but generally harvested fruit the size of ping pong balls. 

Anna  This cultivar from Israel is a precocious and prolific producer of large, cylindrical reddish green fruit with tender, crispy flesh with excellent flavor.  Anna ripens in July.  Unfortunately it has a poor shelf life and must be placed in a refrigerator enclosed in a ziploc bag to increase storage to about 2 months. 
Dorsett Golden  This cultivar from The Bahamas, like Anna, blooms extremely early (right about now).  It is a seedling of Golden Delicious and is similarly yellow with slight pink blush and flesh with a slightly tart, sweet flavor.  Golden Dorsett ripens in June, better quality when grown inland.  It is often used to pollinate Anna, but both will produce a good crop by themselves. 
Fuji  Fuji is a daughter of Red Delicious and was bred in Japan.  It is a medium size apple, quite variable in color and has crispy sweet flesh.  Harvest in early fall.  It is known for its long shelf life (greater than 2 months).  Although I believe Fuji performs better in cooler winter locations (like our Central Valley) most of our customers have reported good results.  (We are out of stock this week)
Gala Gala is a daughter of Golden Delicious that was bred in New Zealand. The fruit is like a small Golden Delicious with a dark red blush or stripes.  The flavor is excellent if the weather is warm.  Harvest in late August-September.  Although the minimum chill requirement is listed as 500 hours we get good production locally.
Granny Smith  This cultivar was selected in a suburb near Sidney, Australia nearly 150 years ago, a chance seedling from French Crab.  It is well adapted to local gardens producing large crops of large apples.  Granny Smith is green and tart if harvested before Thanksgiving.  By late November it is quite sweet and is yellow-skinned and quite aromatic by the New Year.  It seems little bothered by pests. 
Jonagold  Jonagold's mom was Golden Delicious and its dad was Jonathan.  The large fruit resembles a Golden Delicious with a heavy rose blush or stripes.  The crispy flesh is sweet with just a hint of tartness and has scored very high on taste tests.  Harvest in September.  Although the minimum chill requirement is listed at 700 hours and a pollinator is recommended we have seen isolated specimens produce good crops locally. 
Pink Lady  This cultivar was developed south of Perth, Australia a few miles from the ocean (very similar climate to Orange County).  This cylindrical apple has a rose blushed, yellow green skin and crisp, fine-grained flesh that is both sweet and tart.  It is harvested in November and December.  Few pests.

Apples tend to be relatively easy to grow.  There are 2 main bloom periods.  Anna and Dorsett Golden bloom in mid to late winter.  All the rest bloom in April-May. 
These apples are all self-fertile (some making seedless fruit).  If you want to maximize production and quality it is desirable to plant more than one cultivar with a similar bloom period. 

The harvest periods vary widely.  By choosing and planting the appropriate cultivars you can harvest fruit from June-January.  The trees do require ample moisture. 

I do not usually apply any pesticides to Anna, Dorsett Golden, Granny Smith or Pink Lady.

150 years ago apple trees were far more important than they are today.  In those days apple cider was safer to drink than local sources of water and apples were a very important source of fresh food in winter.  Many of the "antique" cultivars were only edible if allowed to ripen over several months in storage. 
Please visit us at our farmer's market locations. 

EVERY FRIDAY  9am-1pm
Mission Viejo Farmers Market 
Mission Viejo Library
200 Civic Center Drive, Mission Viejo
Exit 5 going east on La Paz, turn right on Marguerite, turn right on Civic Center 

EVERY SATURDAY  9am-1pm
Old Towne Orange Farmers & Artisans Market 
Historic Villa Park Orchards Packinghouse at Chapman College
304 N. Cypress, Orange
3 blocks north and 4 blocks west of the traffic circle at Glassell & Chapman 

EVERY SUNDAY  10am-2pm
The Great Park Farmers Market 
The Great Park, Irvine
Exit 5 at Sand Canyon, turn south on Marine Way (parallels east side of the 5) follow the signs 


26285 Verona Place
Mission Viejo, California 92692