First, you need to find out if California allows the Ribes genus to be imported (if buying from out of state). The Ribes genus is the obligatory alternate host of White Pine Blister Rust. When white pine was a valuable timber tree (not as true now), many states passed laws against allowing Ribes to be brought into their state. [In truth - many Ribes do not naturally get WPBR, however Black Current tends to be the most susceptible, but varieties resistant to it have been bred]. Two, Will Ribes grow in your area? I noted that you are zone 9. Generally Ribes are rated 4-7/8 (one of the most cold hardy of fruits). The further south - the more shade they need. However I did find one Southerly Currant that is rated 7-9 (Pulsborough Scarlet flowering currant - see link) Three, none of the Ribes/Currants produce 'sweet' fruit. Gooseberries - Generally extremely thorny, sweet/tart fruits. Fruit is like a firm grape in texture. There is one or two thornless varieties. Red/White currants - very seed/extremely tart fruit. Best used for jelly. But makes more of a jelly for cooking (i.e. glaze etc.) rather than something you'd enjoy on toast (unless you don't like sweet jelly/jam on your toast). Black Currant - Some people like them raw, but I always thought they tasted like dirt. Very good/powerful aroma cooked. Supposedly high in anti-oxidants. Bigelow's (I think) used to sell a black currant tea made from the leaves, it had a powerful (good) aroma (you could smell it easily through the box's plastic wrapping, the tea had a good aroma, but the tea had no flavor (would be good mixed with something else). Stay away from the varieties Consort/Crusade - WPBR resistant, but nothing else to recommend them. Some of the newer varieties out of Europe are supposed to be good. Gooseberry/Black currant hybrids - Famous variety is known as "jostaberry". Huge bush, moderately productive, not much Blackcurrent flavor, but not as good as a gooseberry. The newer Orus out of Germany is supposedly much better - it does however have some thorns. Here is a link that might be useful: Raintree Currant Listings

You're welcome, Sammy. I haven't even reviewed the list myself, and it is an old list. I suspect I still grow some of the plants on the list now, but I also know that I have found even more that produce great here since 2008. With thousands of varieties to choose from, we have many options, and most of them will perform here in a typical year. It can be harder to get great production in an extremely dry year or an extremely hot year, especially if the heat arrives early. One factor that seems to matter more than the variety selection is simply getting them planted early enough that they have plenty of time to set fruit before the heat arrives. Brandywine Sudduth's is still my own personal favorite, but it produces erratically---great in cooler, rainier years and not very well at all in hot, dry ones. I tend to grow it anyway most years on the chance that maybe this year will be the year a cool, rainy spring helps it be very productive. Although it wasn't on my Grow List for this year, I saw them in a store yesterday and promptly bought two. I probably jinxed myself by buying them and we'll probably have an insanely hot spring, but I hope that doesn't happen.

Carol, You're welcome. Gary has a wonderful assortment of plants, and if I lived anywhere near Tulsa, I'd visit the Farmer's Market and other places where he sells plants so often he'd probably think I was stalking him. I've been outside mowing up leaves this morning, collecting them in the grass catcher, and then dumping them into black lawn-and-leaf bags. It takes a lot of lawnmower grasscatcher bags full of mown leaves to fill up one big lawn and leaf bag. I hope to fill up 150 of those bags in the coming weeks so I'll have oodles to dump onto the garden beds. The wind is blowing hard and bringing down lots of leaves this week, so I should get a few bags done this week, but it is still warm enough during the day that I have to watch for snakes. My most recent snake sighting was a little skinny non-venomous snake in the garden on Monday. Even after the first few freezes, the ground is still pretty warm and the snakes come out on warm days. I usually don't see any snakes after December 1st though. My plan is to mow leaves all day, taking periodic rest breaks which double as housework breaks---so I can come inside from mowing leaves, sit down and rest a minute while I drink something cold, and then do laundry or vacuum or whatever before going back outside. I can get a lot done when I alternate back and forth because it keeps me from getting too bored. If I tried to mow leaves all day without a break, I'd get bored and just stop. I noticed a few onions in the garden today. Guess I missed a couple when I harvested, so I'll have to dig in the soil around them and see what I've got. With all the wind blowing and the grasses dormant and dry, I've been somewhat concerned about the prospects of grassfires, but so far it's been pretty quiet with only a couple of them lately. In the meantime, I'm a leaf-mowing maniac.

Jandey, I understand the butter and shoe horn technique well, and you certainly sound like a master. Like Laura said, where there's a will there's a way, and this group has a lot of will!! Love the ET Lemon Drop, still trying to get one. Dave, that's the part of my yard I call The West Lawn. It's between themed areas of my yard. On the West Lawn near the house, there are plumerias (Bali Hai, Cerise, California Sunrise, unknown yellow), plus passionfruit, banana and plantain. On the side you're commenting on are most of the fruit trees - lemon, persimmon, guava, peach, apricot, tangerine, a couple of avocados, loquat and almond. Mango, orange, lime and apple trees are all in the Farmhouse Garden section of the yard, with a bunch of herbs and some Japanese Maples. On the north side of the West Lawn, which borders "the High Country" are pine and Norfolk Island Pine. I have a Jacaranda and an Australian Flame tree at the bottoml, side by side, as I saw a pic where these both bloom at the same time - the former with purple flowers and the latter with crimson red. The Jacaranda has been a faithful bloomer. The flame tree focused on growing this, its second year, in which it almost doubled in size. I expect nice blooming from both next year. The High Country has dogwood, redbud, laurel and a berry patch (blackberry, boysenberry, blueberry, lingonberry, huckleberry, raspberry and white currants). The side of the West Lawn bordering the Swimmin' Hole has Cuban Royal, Teddy Bear and King palm trees along a fence covered in purple and yellow Trumpet Vines. Behind the fence in the Swimming Hole are several larger plumerias between the palms - Pop's, Loretta and Jeannie Moragne. Most of the plumeria are around the Swimmin' Hole, but "Na Pali (the Cliffs)" and "The Springs" all have plumeria, too. Na Pali is a terraced hillside overlooking the pool. I'm thinking of removing a huge pine there (there are five others in the High Country), and put plumeria trees all up the terraced hill, between Kentia and Flamethrower and bamboo palms. Now that should be a site! The Spings has beautiful Brazilian Tower trees, bamboo palms, and more plumeria. And let's face it, my big Shed in the back would be much for useful as a greenhouse than a shed, so that conversion will happen next year! So I really do still have room for more plumies, especially large ones, in case anyone is clearing some space and need to get rid on some.:) This yard was practically barren (except for the tall pines and some fruit trees) when I moved here a couple of years ago. Not anymore. It's not as dramatic or as nice as it sounds, though, the plants are still not that large, there's a ton to do and I'm in the early stages of a multi-year plan, it's all a work in progress. Sorry I got carried away! I love all these trees, and I left out a lot!