Tag Archives: edible fruit

Purple Bonfire

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One of our favorite small trees for summer interest in the garden is the purple-leaf peach, Prunus persica ‘Bonfire’. Although the fruit is edible, it wasn’t selected for fruit quality, so don’t expect grocery store quality. We’re far more interested in the amazing foliage, which remains looking great during the summer. The other highlight is the superb show of double pink flowers in late winter/early spring.

Our specimen below has been in the ground for 8 years. This amazing plant was selected in 1988 from a breeding program at the University of Arkansas, and subsequently patented in 1993. The patent has long since expired. Mature height is 7′ tall x 8′ wide. Hardiness Zone 5a-8b.

Prunus persica ‘Bonfire’

Texas Goji

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A few years ago, Goji berries were the hot plant for gardeners due to their almost mythically healthy fruit. That was before gardeners realized what a weedy, suckering mess goji (Lycium barbarum) made in the garden. The Lycium species few people knew about was the US native goji berry, Lycium texanum…an endemic to a small region of West Texas.

Here is a new photo of our almost 3 year old clump of Lycium texanum, from a Hudspeth County, TX seed collection by our new Horticulture Manager, Patrick McMillan. This is a non-suckering species with foliage that resembles an asparagus fern…all laden with small red fruit in the fall, which is edible by birds, wildlife, and humans. We’re thinking this may wind up in a future PDN catalog. Hardiness is unknown, but in the wild, it occurs from 3,500′ to 4,600′ elevation, so it should have good cold tolerance. Our photo was taken after our winter lows of 16 degrees F.

Raisin’ Cain

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I had a great visit recently with David Cain and Denny Werner. Most of you know Dr. Werner from his work at NC State, first as a peach breeder and later as the creator of a parade of amazing redbud hybrids.

David and Denny were both grad students together back at Michigan State. Dr. Cain went on to become a fruit breeder, and is the papa of the incredibly famous Cotton Candy grape. On the off chance you haven’t tried it, be sure to search for it at your local grocery store. David worked in academia and later the USDA, before embarking on his own venture, where he made several incredible fruit breeding breakthroughs.

I didn’t realize David is a long-time plant nerd and Plant Delights customer, and has recently moved from California to the East Coast for his next plant breeding adventure. We had a blast talking plant breeding and looking at a few of our crazy breeding projects at JLBG.

Grapefruit time in the garden

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We love December, since that’s when the grapefruits start to rain down from our xCitroncitrus ‘Dustan’ tree at JLBG. Few people who come to the garden actually look up enough to notice this fascinating plant. xCitroncitrus ‘Dunstan’ is a bigeneric hybrid between the hardy trifoliate orange, Poncirus trifoliata and a grapefruit. The result is a winter hardy fruit that’s pretty darn close in size, taste, and appearance to a grapefruit. To be technically correct, the fruit is known as a Citrumelo. Whatever you want to call it, it’s pretty darn cool to be harvesting hardy citrus here in Zone 7b. Last year, we harvested over 3 dozen fruit off our single tree.

Fresh Olive Oil…anyone?

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For the first time in years, our olive (Olea europea ‘Arbeqina’) here at JLBG is loaded with fruit. It’s been a while since we’ve had a crop, not because of cold, but because a f..xy!!!zz? beaver cut our tree completely to the ground several years ago. We offered this through Plant Delights for many years, so we hope others have been equally successful at producing an olive crop.

Ripe pears…prickly pears

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Tis the season for prickly pear harvest. Many of our early ripening prickly pears are beginning to change from green to red, providing a lovely feature in the fall garden. Here is our clump of Opuntia pyrocarpa this week. We hope everyone’s prickly pear is growing well from our giant prickly pear pad giveaway at our annual Summer Open Nursery and Garden.

Beetles Reunion

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We were harvesting our abundant fig crop last week, and were astounded by the number of green June Beetles also enjoying the ripe figs. This indulging makes the beetles into a sweet and tasty snack for the likes of crows, grackles, blue jays, and mockingbirds.

After gorging themselves through the summer, the beetles burrow 6-8″ down into the soil where they lay their eggs, which hatch in a couple of weeks and then overwinter as grubs, which feed on compost during the winter months. While living as larvae, the grubs are food for many underground mammals as well as above ground foragers like possums, racoons, and skunks.

Although green June Beetles are voracious feeders of over ripe fruit, that probably isn’t fruit you were going to eat any way, so they really aren’t damaging to the garden. Green June Beetles are much larger and less impactful than the dreaded Japanese beetles.

We actually enjoy these fascinating insects and don’t find any need to try and eradicate them. Since they don’t bite or sting, they are great for kids and adults looking for unusual sensory experiences to handle. Holding a green June Beetle in your hand is the best way to get a real buzz, and still be able to drive safely afterwards. The only downside is that they may poop on your hand, but that also is a new experience for most folks.