binging on plants (S. CA nursery update)

14 years ago

This week has been a little crazy as far as plants go, all in all I will have gotten 22 new plants this week. I was supposed to be in Florida but instead went to San Diego.

First stop was the Green Scene at the Fullerton arboretum. The Orange County chapter of the California Rare Fruit Growers holds an annual plant sale and it is a big one. Lots of vendors, all kinds of plants.

I picked up 2 kinds of pepino dulce, 2 grafted cherimoyas, lychee, lucuma, toothache plant and garcinia acuminata.

Next stop was Ong's nursery, a very impressive place run out of Quang's mother's home. Every step you take you are surrounded by all sorts of beautiful trees of all different varieties. Some come from PIN some are produced at his farm. I picked up a lychee, longan and jack, almost got a mango too.

Last stop was Exotica nursery, a very unique place with lots of mature fruiting trees and an interesting selection of plants to purchase. They carry seedlings, grafted and airlayered plants so they have a wide price range. I picked up a fig, 2 loquats, another grafted cherimoya, grafted atemoya, and cuttings of yellow muntingia.

Since I've been home I've received 2 lychee plants and a pitaya cutting in the mail and should receive 3 more plants and some cherimoya fruit tomorrow.

here is a pic of most of the new babies, I know Jay wont believe a thing without pics. Please excuse the mess, we are still under construction.

that should almost be enough plants for now (at least this week).

-Ethan

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Comments (19)

ch3rri
14 years ago
OMG...i'm speechless. All these trees within a week and more coming? You'll be so busy!!! At the same time you must be overly excited. ;)
Andrew Scott
14 years ago
Ethan,
WOW! And I thought I had a problem. Then again you wont be growing all of these in pots either like me! I have to draw the line here soon or I will be in BIG trouble this coming winter. Well your trees look beautifull. Maybe I should go and visit you in CA in a few years. Sure would love to do some taste testing! LOL!
Andrew
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pikorazi
14 years ago
very nice acquisitions :-)

felipe
mango_kush
14 years ago
i knew my lychee tree would go to a good home
red_sea_me
Original Author
14 years ago
thank you all,
normally I wouldn't get this bad but I dont get down to San Diego too often, plus spring has arrived so it is time to trade. Quite a few will go in the ground, some will stay potted, some will probably die in my care, more plants = better odds, right? Eventually, lots of stuff will be traded with you guys too.

MK, the wonderful lychee you sent me is not in the picture, it is in the propagation chamber until it fully recovers from shipping. Hopefully it will enjoy it's new home. Thx again.

-Ethan
ohiojay
14 years ago
I don't know Ethan...how do we really know those are your plants and at your home?? Skepticism building.

Seriously...nice collection. All going into the ground or some in containers?
simon_grow
14 years ago
Nice pick ups! Can you list the cultivars of the plants you picked up? I'm especially interested in the Lychees and Cherimoyas. I've never been to a CRFG sale and always wondered if they would have the rare varieties of Lychees like Hanging Green, Fei Tsze Sieu, Wai chee?

Do you have a pretty large yard or are you planning on planting your plants really densely? My yard is really small and I want to fit a lot of different varieties in both my front and back yards but I also don't want it to look messy and overgrown when the plants get larger.
red_sea_me
Original Author
14 years ago
J-you can be sure it is my home, nobody I know is dumb enough to rewire their house. Some in the ground some in containers, with the cherimoyas, I'll probably have two multigrafted trees in the ground and eventually trade/sell the mother plants.

Simon-there weren't any lychee at the CRFG booth, Ben Poirer had a airlayered Kaimana that I grabbed. I did buy Sabor and Lucida grafted cherimoyas from the CRFG plus Morado and Golden pepino plants and the toothache plant.
I forgot to mention Ben, he was one of the vendors, always has unique stuff, that is where I got the lucuma, Kaimana and g. acuminata.
At Ong's I picked up a Biew kiew longan, another Kaimana and a cochin Jack. He did have some other interesting varieties of lychee and longan (and jak etc.) but not any REALLY difficult to find ones.
At Exotica I grabbed Italian big/juicy and Angelino loquats, Ischia black fig, grafted Fino de Jete cherimoya, grafted Geffner atemoya and cuttings from their yellow muntingia tree.

When I got home Master Kush was kind enough to send me a Sweetheart lychee and Nipa Hut sent me a Hak Ip. I alraedy have a Hak Ip but it was one of my first tropicals and hasn't recovered very well from my initial care.

I have a perfect spot on my side yard for some of these trees but it is the primo spot at my house so I really need to plan it out before planting. It may end up looking a little messy and overgrown but if it is covered in fruit I'll take it. At Ong's he has a flowering Kaimana that is about 4' and a 6' Sweetheart so they dont have to be as big and beautiful as Harry's.

-Ethan
mango_kush
14 years ago
ethan, it took me a while to find the right spots for everything too, i even dug up some trees after being in the ground for months to move them a few feet to position them better after fitting more trees, lol.

my best advice is dedicate half your yard to mangos and half to lychees and keep a good prune on them.
yaslan
14 years ago
Wow! That is quite a haul Ethan!! Very nice. I do envy people who can plant their tropicals straight in the ground!
Bo
red_sea_me
Original Author
14 years ago
MK, I've done a lot of plant moving and relocating already and will be doing more for sure. If I dedicate 1/2 the yard to mangoes and 1/2 to lychees where am I going to put the sapotes, bananas and all the other stuff? I will have to keep my pruning shears sharp.

Thanks Bo, when August comes around I'll be envying you, we get HOT here.

-Ethan
stanofh 10a Hayward,Ca S.F. bay area
14 years ago
Its been a few years since I scored many great plants at once. I thought Garcinia was too tropical for California?
puglvr1
14 years ago
Congrats on all your new plants...quite a NICE collection you have there. Enjoy!
red_sea_me
Original Author
14 years ago
Stan, I don't think I've ever gotten this many plants at one time unless you count six packs of flowers or veggies. As for the Garcinias some may actually be grown in containers and brought into the GH overwinter, I'm not talking mangosteen here. Besides, I read somewhere you cant grow mangoes in the bay area, let alone santol. ;)

thank you Pug, many of them are going to get seriously pruned, your trees responded very well.

-Ethan
hmhausman
14 years ago
You said, "This week has been a LITTLE crazy as far as plants go." I'd hate to see what "all out crazy" or "really crazy" looks like! Best of luck with all of your new additions. You have manufactured much work for yourself....enjoy the labors of love.

Harry
red_sea_me
Original Author
14 years ago
saying that is a little crazy shows you the level of craziness that is in my normal life.

thanks Harry,
-Ethan
ashleysf
14 years ago
Looks like I am the only tropical fruit idiot who does not recognize all the names - lucuma, toothache plant and garcinia acuminata ??? Anyway, want to say that you have a lovely collection of rare to find plants. Wish you luck with them (and your remodeling too!).
red_sea_me
Original Author
14 years ago
Ashley,
those 3 were impulse purchases, I had in mind what I needed but that went out the window once I was there.

thanks, good luck w/the little ones,
-Ethan
Eggo
14 years ago
ahahah, this is great!

binging on plants (S. CA nursery update)

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