Susi, darling,

I didn't see a fig tree on your list! Surely you want one of these quintessentially Mediterranean trees at your new hacienda? Maybe even espaliered against the south-facing wall of your inner courtyard... how cool would that be?

Happy shopping! (I hear Blenheim is the only apricot worth bothering with, by the way.)

What about citrus? I have a 5-in-1 and it does great.

Thanks for your comments. We don't care for figs, and right now I'm only planting bare-root deciduous trees in one small area. We'll definitely do LOTS of citrus, but not just yet.

What - no Satsuma or Santa Rosa plum? They do well here -

I am assuming they come in dwarf - almost all others are now that way. They have produced in my back yard for over 35 years.

Only one - the Santa Rosa is showing signs of old age - and will probably need replacing soon, even tho it gave a goodly amount of plums last year.

Bejay

Bejay - I did plant a Green Gage plum, plus one Plumcot - cross between a plum and an apricot. The trees I planted on Tuesday are aleady flowering!

Looking for good online source for dwarf fruit 20/21 so cal
have citrus, peach, nectarine, avacado maybe add plum pear etc.

Mike,
Why go online when you can go to a local reputabale nursery and pick out your own dwarf tree? Especially if you live in So Cal, they are all over the place! I just got a dwarf Eureka Lemon (for my wife's cooking) this week from Green Thumb Nursey. I got to choose the largest of the bunch with the best form.

Before you buy, put some real thought into the chill requirements. Since I'm close to the coast and on top of a hill, I rarely get frost or freeze (this year non-withstanding), and Mid-pride peach (250 hours) has been a reliable fruiter with excellent taste. My apricot (300 hours) set fruit for the very first time this year. It must have seen me sharpening my axe!

Pink Lemonade is an excellent dwarf, producing truly tart lemons for my kitchen.

If it's not too late I would ditch the Anna and 4-in-one apple. Friends don't let friends grow Anna (even store-bought apples taste better) and multi-graft apple trees do not do well in low-chill climates: one or two varieties will dominate the others.

For mild coastal regions I would recommend Williams Pride and Gold Rush, probably still available mail-order through Raintree nursery. The quality is much, much better and they've shown themselves to be low-chill producers and immune to heat.

Applenut

Applenut, you must be in a different micro climate than I am. My Anna Apple has done really well in a very low chill area in the yard. The fruit has been great for making applesauce, very crisp, strong apple taste, numerous compliments on the flavor. I've also had good luck with Pink Lady, although the three trees don't seem to fruit as heavily as the Anna.

Anna put out a good crop of tart sauce apples last year. It has just now started to show signs of life. Although Dorsett has already set fruit that are about golf ball size.

Do you suppose Anna will be an alternate year bearer - needing more chill hours - I wonder. This is only the 3rd year, so hard to establish any kind of pattern that I can see.

Bejay

Susan:

OK, I'll give Anna a little break. It fruits reliably regardless of the chilling hours. Last year it was decent, which is odd because we had a terribly hot spring with April temps over 100 degrees EVERY STINKING DAY. It incinerated the usually reliable Dorsett Golden into mush, but Anna was the best it's ever tasted (which still isn't saying much) but had almost no color. Anna ripened late June in the ongoing heat wave, and we ate them all.

The three years before had cooler springs and Anna set big crops, but the taste went from hard and sour to sweet and mealy in a microsecond. They also had a peculiar astringency that made your mouth pucker. I don't know if the lack of heat had anything to do with it. But those years Dorsett Golden was so excellent it made you want to tear out the Anna and Ein Shemer trees and plant more Dorsett.

I guess growing Anna is like fishing for bluegill- the quality may not be that great, but you're sure of getting something almost every time.

Applenut

Applenut =

One thing for certain, it is a strange acting tree. As it is just now coming out of dormancy, it would appear to be needing more chill hours. The only other fruit setters still not responding are the Bartlet pear (dumb choice anyway) and the male and female kiwis (although male is) that were recently transplanted. I would expect them to be late, as they may not get the chill they require here anyway.

We will just have to "play it by ear" as far as Anna goes. At least it isn't dead - great news!

Bejay