Miniature Pomegranate

Got this plant in a tiny 4" pot from Trader Joe's when all the leaves were falling off and it looked moribund. I repotted it into a nursery gallon pot (which is less than a gallon). Carefully loosened the roots which were wround tightly around and around. Put in a cool south-facing spot for a few weeks and voila! Blooming. I wonder if it forms miniature fruits?

The tag that came with it said it can withstand dry conditions -- no kidding seeing as the plant originated from Central Asia: Iran through to India and is grown commercially in the drier parts of California and Arizona, presumeably not in Death Valley or the basin around Phoenix. I read that it is also grown in the South where it's pretty humid and hot. In Europe, it seems to prosper around the Med, including North Africa.

The Allied Arts Guild in Menlo Park (which used to be a historic Spanish ranch) has several mature, fecund pomegranate trees. Oh how wonderfully tasty those fruits must be! The ones for grocery stores were probably picked before they were ripe so they have time to be shipped. Tree-ripened fruit are the best.

I wonder what Allied Arts does with its pomegranates, extra large olives and citrus fruits? I would love to buy them. Once, I saw canvas spread under the olive trees with ripe olives all over them so they are collecting them but maybe not for sale? I hope it isn't gardeners cleaning up, throwing them away. They can't be composted.

My doctor friend tells me that pomegranates are excellent anti-oxidants but the commercial juice has too much sugar in it. The fresh fruit tastes so much better! Next season, I'll make pomegranate sorbet!

Eveything is Already Blooming!

I was forced by a power failure to go into the yard to re-set the automatic sprinklers, so checked a few plants. The Helleborus which was entirely green, including the flowers, when I got it last year, is blooming with pink flowers! Pretty good performance for complete neglect! Do the flowers change color due to soil acidity levels, like hydrangrias? See the many, nice big buds on it? Nice, huh?

The stephanotis isn't doing as well, one of the growing tips looks like got cold damaged, however, the other tips look fine. No buds, though, probably not warm enough. Here's a picture of its flowers from last summer. Such wonderful fragrance and tough flowers.

Unfortunately, the daphne has needed repotting for a long time. It's blooming, and smelling just fabulous, but the blossoms are small, with small leaves on long leafless stalks. I need help to move all my plants around. The lime tree out-grew its half barrel despite root pruning only last year. Ditto for the Nagami kumquat, rosemary, night blooming jasmine, several English roses...

The weather is getting warm and bright enough to move the miniature pomegranite that is wintering indoors, out. It's blooming too. The orchids did well over the winter so they should be sent for spring/summer vacations! That's a rack just outside my front door. So much to do!

Maybe some gardening friends would trade their labor for lunch and refrushments?

LOVE Persimmons, especially when they're ripe

Speaking of persimmons (see next post, below), I LOVE LOVE LOVE them! Both kinds: Fuyu and Hachiya. I love them so much so that I look for them in November and eat as many as possible before the season runs out.

Last November, I saw several persimmon trees around the neighborhood. One of them is obviously not prized by its owner because I slipped on the ripe fruits that were splattered on the ground. So I left a note in the mailbox saying, "May I have some of your persimmons?" with my phone number. I left a similar note in two other mailboxes.

Only got one call-back but one was enough! She said 'sure' and 'thanks for asking.'

I put the 7' ladder into the car and was off! I brought a friend and several empty grocery bags. I picked about 25 fruit in various stages of ripeness. That didn't even begin to denude one corner of the tree -- plenty left for everyone else. They were huge -- beautiful, heart shaped ones, some with those lovely black markings on the orange skin. Yummmmm.

I aligned them carefully on the kitchen table: 15 lovely persimmons. They brighten my spirits every time I went into the kitchen, and I controled myself to savor them for weeks!