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Post by rockpickerforever on Apr 25, 2014 18:18:20 GMT -5
From James' thread last month, Planting a crop of water Iris for next year.
And she has lots of fruit trees. Some have it really good.
A tease of the fruit trees and other things in my yard - Just so y'all know who you're dealin' with, lol.
The most celebrated is the avocado tree. A lot of you have been able to sample its wares. 
Probably have 50 to 100 still on it. 
Bagged up with apples to help ripen them faster. 
Navel orange. 
Tangerine. 
Fragrant blossoms on it right now attract the sphinx moths at night. 
A tasty morsel! 
Ruby red grapefruit. 
Calimyrna figs. 
Lime (forget what kind) Oh wait, they are the good kind - Cerveza limes! 
Ripe lemons on the tree year round. 
The garden so far this year. Have picked a few zucchinis already. Tomatoes coming along, as are the cucumbers. All the pepper plants (about ten kinds!) still have a ways to go. 
Size of squash blossom. No trick photography or photoshopping! 
On to the flowers - Night blooming jasmine. Another very fragrant flower! 
Same 
Good drought resistant plant for color - red flowering sage. 
Lilac, very fragrant. Blooming right now, most of the leave buds have not even opened yet. 
This is called lion's tail plant. No fragrance I can tell, but the hummingbirds really like it. 
Pinkish/mauvish iris. 
Beavertail cactus flower. 
Pink double hibiscus. 
Very old white rose. 
Same 
Don't know what this vine is called. Blooms very heavily around Easter. 
Passion flower. This is the non-fruiting one. 
Same 
James you had asked about the cactus producing seed. As you can see, they produce very well. 
Sometimes they will fall to the ground and germinate. Mostly, I just let the birds eat them. 
A couple of critters. Alligator lizard on fence. 
Alligator lizard looking for something to eat in squash plants. I welcome their help, but don't like it when they startle me! 
Another little lizard, Scott can say what kind. They like to rustle around in the dead leaves from the avo tree. 
Lastly, the mean old watch dog, Lucy - just kidding! 
Hope you liked the show. Jean
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gemfeller
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Post by gemfeller on Apr 25, 2014 18:30:52 GMT -5
Jean, will you share the variety name of the lilac? I've never found one that will grow in S. Cal. but they're among my favorites. They're an important memory from my early life in Idaho where they grow in profusion.
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snuffy
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Post by snuffy on Apr 25, 2014 18:31:38 GMT -5
Love it Jean!! What citrus and flowers,and of course the avocado tree! Glad to see the pics,you know I love gardens.Lots of what you have wont grow in my area!
snuffy
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Apr 25, 2014 20:13:55 GMT -5
You got a show stopper garden Jean. what a variety of exotic flowers and fruits. Looks like you could just retire and eat right there in the yard.
And have a bar in the midst of the citrus trees.
Goes beyond green thumb. That iris looks like a Louisiana.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 25, 2014 20:54:31 GMT -5
Gorgeous garden, and truly some yummy looking produce! The only thing in your pictures I've succeeded with are the roses, the cacti and lizards. For some reason, I don't have any success with "easy" zucchini. Have you ever tried stuffing those big squash blossoms?
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gemfeller
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Post by gemfeller on Apr 25, 2014 21:52:54 GMT -5
Jean, I was so anxious to post my lilac request I forgot to tell you how great your garden is. I'd call it the Garden of Eat'n. It reminds me so much of my former garden up the coast near San Luis Obispo. I had a world-class avocado tree, figs, an eruptive asparagus bed (in the spring we were overwhelmed and the neighbors loved us). I grew mostly hybrid sweet corn, artichokes, bush and pole beans, 7 or 8 varieties of tomatoes including heirlooms, lettuce and other salad veg -- and even a few melons ripened in the fog (my garden plot was located about 300 feet from the Pacific).
Now space and incredibly bad soil prevent me from gardening like that. But I'm preparing a few raised beds for some goodies.
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Post by rockpickerforever on Apr 26, 2014 3:46:57 GMT -5
Thanks for the comments! Lucky to live here, where all this stuff grows so well. You could say I'm a little spoiled.
Rick, I wish I knew the variety of lilac. Like the avocado tree, it was already here when we bought the house 22 years ago. This one does pretty well, although that varies from year to year, depending on the weather. My sister lives about six miles from me, and she bought one for her yard at a local nursery. It seems to be doing good, I'll see if I can find out the variety from her.
Snuffy, glad you liked it! I was thinking of you when I posted. I always enjoy seeing pics of your garden. But I only have boring rocks in my garden. No cool agates, petrified wood, or the like.
Thanks, James. One exotic flower I haven't had any luck with is plumeria, although there are many in the neighborhood. And ChaCha next door has a cherimoya tree in her yard. Don't know what the iris is. I have three of them given to me by a friend as pond plant.s. But they seem to do better with their feet dry.
R2D, I've heard of people eating the squash blossoms, but have never done so myself. A Mexican gal told me they like to fry them in butter, and eat in a tortilla. Fried in butter, really? Take something healthy and do that to it.
Now I just hope my water bill doesn't get too high.
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Fossilman
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Post by Fossilman on Apr 26, 2014 10:05:11 GMT -5
Beautiful,just beautiful!!!!!!!!! While living in ND,I planted over 120 trees on the property..Since living in Oregon,with smaller property,I have planted just three trees,two being lilac......
looks like Jean doesn't have to shop at the "Super Markets" much.....LOL
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Post by iant on Apr 26, 2014 10:18:45 GMT -5
Lovely show, thanks very much!
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Post by rockpickerforever on Apr 26, 2014 10:56:30 GMT -5
You're welcome, Ian. Got a little rain last night, probably will get a bit more today. That free water from the sky is always appreciated.
Mike, I hope I have bought the last zucchini from the store for a while, until my plants start to fade. That will probably be September or so. I made some of your Jalapeno jelly the other day. Doubled the recipe for the first part, but split it in half for the last part, adding the pectin. Despite doing things the same both times, the first batch came out perfect, the second is a little runny. Oh well. Still good stuff!
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ash
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Post by ash on Apr 26, 2014 11:52:58 GMT -5
Awesome plants  The purple flower looks like an Allamanda to me, trumpet flower, but I'm lay on most everything cept Chemistry. Have you ever tried growing a Satsuma tree? I don't really like most citrus, oranges included, yeah I know...The Horror!!!! lol But I could eat satsuma's till I pop. You should try one, they grow like gangbusters here in South LA once they get started, but the first year or so they are pretty fragile, that's why I don't have one...I keep forgetting them and the frost busts em up. |
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Sabre52
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Post by Sabre52 on Apr 26, 2014 12:38:18 GMT -5
Ah man great yard garden. You make me miss our old southern California yard. Got one lousy peach tree here as the soil and weather don't let us grow much of anything except native ornamentals. I really used to love browsing my way across our old yard in the early summer. Used to eat that fruit till got me a big ole tummyache. Especially miss fresh apricots. Ones here in the store suck eggs....Mel
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Post by Deleted on Apr 26, 2014 12:43:51 GMT -5
awesome jean! The unkown vine? Clematis?  The alligator lizards in your garden are gorgeous! Mine are fugly. The other is a western fence lizard. |
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Post by rockpickerforever on Apr 26, 2014 14:08:53 GMT -5
Ash, the purple flower is not allamanda, nor is it clematis, Scott. I used to have some of those, but no more. 
I went hunting and found that it is called "purple vine" (no sh!t! how imaginative!), Clytostoma binatum, originally from Brazil. Here's a better pic I found online. 
Here's a close up of mine 
I've never tried Satsuma, Ash (to tell the honest truth, I'm not that big of a citrus fan myself, lol!), but a friend that lives nearby has a couple white sapote trees (Casimiroa edulis) in his yard. One taste of the fruit made me want to grow one of those. I even saw one at Home Depot, might be the place to go get one. I just have to figure out where in my yard I want a big tree. The fruit has some natural chemical that is supposed to help you sleep well.
Scott, thanks for the ID on the fence lizard. That's what I thought it was but wasn't sure. I've got a bunch of them zipping around my yard. Since I don't use any poisons in the yard, I have a lizard's paradise. Those alligator lizards are kinda pretty, huh? They vary in color from a more silvery like the bottom one, to more red like the upper one, and everything in between.
Mel, there were a couple of apricot trees in the yard when we bought the house, but they just didn't do well, so I yanked them up. They weren't in a good place, anyway. But as a kid, my parents had an apricot tree in their yard (10 - 15 miles away - towards the coast) that did really well. But my favorite of all the fruit trees growing up has to be the Goldmine nectarines, and the Santa Rosa plums. I'd get canker sores fro eating so much fresh fruit. And my mom used to make wine with just about everything, too - strawberries, boysenberries, plums, peaches.... yum.
Rick, still trying to get info on the lilac for you. Will update when I know. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 26, 2014 14:21:43 GMT -5
I LOVE sapote. Like a fruity custard. Our grocers stopped carrying it a decade ago, though  Y'all are making me hungry; must be lunchtime. |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 26, 2014 19:15:21 GMT -5
Jean, will you share the variety name of the lilac? I've never found one that will grow in S. Cal. but they're among my favorites. They're an important memory from my early life in Idaho where they grow in profusion. Perhaps you will find this web page useful homeguides.sfgate.com/lilac-trees-can-grown-zone-9-29796.htmlIt seems Descanso Gardens has produced more than a couple Zone 9 tolerant Lilacs. |
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gemfeller
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Post by gemfeller on Apr 26, 2014 20:49:09 GMT -5
Many thanks Scott. I tried a variety suggested in the Sunset Western Garden Book but it didn't thrive. I'll be checking those out.
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aimeesrockworks
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Post by aimeesrockworks on Apr 26, 2014 22:02:17 GMT -5
Holy guacamole!!
(sorry, I had to say it)
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Post by nowyo on Apr 26, 2014 22:54:55 GMT -5
Great pics! I'll vouch for the goodness of Jean's avocado's and limes, since she gave us some of each at Quartzsite. We hadn't been home an hour (hell, I was still unloading the pickup) and Cyndi was in the kitchen making guacamole and margartias. You all are a little ahead of us down there, I'll put up some pictures of our stuff when it starts coming along. The bush cherries are just starting to blossom. Here's a shot I took one morning last summer after a trip to the garden.  Won't be long, fresh eats and fill the freezers. Russ |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 27, 2014 15:19:29 GMT -5
awesome post Russ! Hope to see you in Q again. Looks like green beans, 5 types of peppers, cukes and red raspberries. Nice haul. I am told NoMinn is experiencing spring even tho a snow is predicted soon. You have a lovely bride and she is so thoughtful to make margaritas and guacamole to share!  |
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The purple flower looks like an Allamanda to me, trumpet flower, but I'm lay on most everything cept Chemistry.
