RARE FRUIT GARDEN WORK DAY: Sunday, December 9 from 10:00 to 11:30 (precedingthe pot luck and election) in the Rare Fruit Garden at the Arboretum at UCSC.
DORMANT WOOD SCION EXCHANGE: Sunday, January 13 from 12:00 to 3:00 (buildingopens at 11:00 for set-up) at the Santa Cruz Live Oak Grange 1900 17th AveSanta Cruz. Cost is $5 for the general public, free for CRFG members. Pleasebring dormant scion wood, cut a day or two in advance, sealed in a plasticbag, and refrigerated. Please make sure material is well labeled on bag (andpositively identified), and disease-free. If you are interested in helpinggather scion material from some of our very generous member orchards, pleasecall Ellen and Freddy at 831-662-2216 for information.
HYBRID TREES FOR SALE (this from the Santa Clara Valley Chapter):Most of you may know that the Santa Clara Valley Chapter has a subgroup calledthey Hybridization Group. We are a small but zealous group of members thathave been hybridizing for new stone fruit varieties that will be interestingfor the Home Gardener. Most new varieties are hybridized with the commercialgrower in mind, e.g. fruit that colors up when still "green", fruit that staysfirm for packing and not juicy and melting and fruit that ripens all at onetime. These characteristics are opposite of what a home grower wants in hisyard. He/she wants fruit that stays on the tree until ripe; juicy, tasty fruitand fruit that can be picked over a longer length of time.Last year we evaluated some of our new crosses and have propagated them forsale at the 2008 Scion Exchange on January 12, 2008. We will have dormantbareroot trees for sale. We are offering these sturdy trees for $15 plus a $5donation to our group for growing expenses. So the total value of each treewill be $20 each. I will take orders for the trees in advance of the sale atPrusch so that you will be ensured to get these rare new trees. All advancesale and regular sale trees will be distributed at the Scion Exchange atPrusch Park. This is according to our agreement with the Santa Clara County Agdept. We can conduct this sale once only during the 2008 season according toour permit. So if you don't reserve and prepay for your trees in advance, onScion Exchange day it will be on a first come first served basis. We willconduct the sale of these trees only once this year.Please inform your Chapter members of these trees and if any of your Membersare interested in purchasing these trees and unable to attend the Saturday,January 12 Santa Clara Valley Chapter Scion Exchange, perhaps one person canbe designated to handle the collection of names, amount of trees, varietiesand money for your Chapter. These trees will be sold at the Scion Exchange only.Below are the description of the trees we will have available. They are all onLovell rootstock. At the 2009 Scion Exchange we will have our wonderful newapricot varieties which we evaluated this summer and will be propagating thiswinter. One is a very floral fragrant white apricot which is delicious and alate apricot which fruits in August. Both are excellent tasting. They will beon the new Torinel rootstock which is virus free.For more information and to preorder: contact Sini at: sinif@sbcglobal.net1: KIT DONNELL peach: A peach of unknown parentage, but it's believed to have'Baby Crawford' as one of its parents. Relatively large yellow freestoneripening in early August. Consistently high quality since it was firstevaluated several years ago. Skin thick, sometimes slightly astringent likeElberta, but flesh is juicy, melting, sweet and luscious. One of the besttasting mid-season yellow peaches named in honor of Kit Donnell, highlyrespected past chair of the Santa Clara Valley chapter of the CRFG.2: SILK ROAD nectarine: A Tashkent-type nectarine that is all gold with noblush on the skin nor red near the stone. Much larger and more productivethan the original Tashkent seedlings. Very juicy with much less bitterness atthe skin than the original. Rich apricot-like flavor.3: MARIA'S GOLD nectarine: Another Tashkent-type, all yellow nectarine.A bit smaller than 'Silk Road' but more productive, and perhaps a littlericher in flavor. It should make an outstanding backyard variety; namedin honor of the late Maria Plekanova, horticulturist and guide to theCRFG-NAFEX members who toured the Soviet Union in 1991. She wasinstrumental in helping the group find and bring the Tashkent nectarinestrain to the US.4: ATHENA peach: Likely a seedling of 'Pallas' peach, an old heirloomand flavor like a honeydew melon. Unlike its parent, however, this is notsusceptible to pre-harvest drop as its parent.5: LONGEVITY peach: 'Longevity' is a honey-type peach--a small, whitepeach long famous in China where the God of Longevity is depicted holdinga small, oval, beaked peach in his hand. The peach is a symbol of longlife in China, and the honey group is known for its juicy texture andsweet, honey-like flavor. 'Longevity' is very similar to the more commonhoney peach variety, the 'Eagle Beak,' but it has less of the almond- likeastringency associated withh 'Eagle Beak.'6: KALEIDOSCOPE nectarine: One of the rare donut-type nectarines withyellow flesh. 'Kaleidoscope' is a rather large and meaty donut-typenectarine with multi-colored, speckled skin with reds, golds and orangespredominating. There is a tendency for the fruit to crack at the blossomend, but the quality is otherwise excellent. It is hoped thatcontrolling the vigor of the tree may help minimize fruit cracking.7: BLIZZARD nectarine: A late-maturing fruit, usually late July or earlyAugust, with white flesh and flavor that has an excellent balance of sugarand acid, similar to 'Snowqueen.' Juicy and highly flavored.8: AUGUST SNOW nectarine: Maturing in early to mid August,'August Snow' is a very tasty white-fleshed nectarine. It is bestdescribed as similar to 'Snowqueen' or 'Heavenly White' in flavor;however, unlike these varieties, which often crack badly and have tough,leathery skin, 'August Snow' has good to excellent skin finish. It isalso very productive.
POMEGRANATE DISCUSSION GROUP (this came over the CRFG email lines):Here is a link to a yahoo group devoted to providing information aboutpomegranates some of you may be interested in joining. http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/PomWorldwide/Description: An international group dedicated to the exchangeof information on varieties of pomegranates grown, cultural practices,local customs, and related topics. Sharing of seeds or propagationmaterial through legal methods is also encouraged.EMAIL DISCUSSION FORUM: We also have a Yahoo Groups discussion forum forMonterey Bay Chapter members of the CRFG. If you'd like to join the list, allyou have to do is send a blank e-mail to
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