Fruit – Page 2 – The Garden Lady

September 10, 2009September 11, 2009

The Pomegranate Tree – Punica Granatum

Pomegranate buds and blossoms by laurielabar

One of the prettiest flowering shrub or small tree is the pomegranate tree Punica granatum. Those fortunate enough to live in a climate warm enough- zones 7 to 10- to be able to grow the pomegranate tree outdoors have seen the flowers, which are attractive scarlet, white or variegated flowers that are over an inch across and have 5 to 8 crumpled petals and a red, fleshy, tubular calyx which you see remaining at the top of the fruit. The flowers may be solitary or grouped in twos and threes at the ends of the branches.

Even Aesop, the famous writer, wrote a delightful fable about the beauty of the Pomegranate tree entitled, The Pomegranate, Apple – Tree and Bramble.

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March 30, 2007March 30, 2007

Lady Apples

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TheGardenLady received this question from John:

I live in the Texas hill country, and have started some lady apples from seed. I am not sure how well they will grow, but how can I give them the best chance, and what are their growing habits.

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The Pink Lady apple is from Western Australia and likes weather in the US that is South of the Mason Dixon Line- zones 6 through 9. It grows 9-11 feet in all types of soil. It doesn’t need another tree to pollinate – it is a self pollinator. It needs full sun and takes 3 to 5 years to bear fruit.

If you read TheGardenLady’s column on raising apples from seeds, you will understand that you probably won’t getÂ good apples from the little trees that are growing for you.

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March 27, 2007March 27, 2007

Apple Trees

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TheGardenLady received this question from LisaÂ –

Â It seems hard to find a staymen apple tree at the local nurseries anymore (DC area) and planting the apple seeds has never worked no matter how many times/ways we’ve tried.Â Do you have to plant the whole apple for the seeds to sprout?Â Any other ideas on how to get a staymen apple tree to sprout/grow for our yard?Â Thanks for any suggestions!

You can start an apple tree from a seed. But to get an excellent fruit tree, nurserymen usually graft the tree to good root stock. GraftingÂ takes a certain expertise that the Garden Lady cannot teach. So you are probably best off buying a tree from one of the numerous fruit tree specialists that are listed on the computer. Local nurseries might night carry all kinds of fruit trees because they have the plants they think will sell to most of the people who are shopping there. And fruit trees are not that popular to plant in small gardens. Deer love the fruit.Â Also, fruit trees often have diseases that are too involved to treat for the average home gardener.

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November 9, 2006

Nutritious edible plants

The following question was sent to me by David:

Are there any plants that are especially healthy to eat?Â The reason I ask is that I am coping with a lifelong manageable disease and have been told that one of the keys to managing the disease is my diet.Â I’m supposed to avoid processed foods and stick with natural foods.Â I eat a lot of garlic and also honey, but I was wondering if there are any other plants that are known to be especially healthy?

Here is my reply.

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September 28, 2006September 28, 2006

Fresh Apples

Today while doing some errands, I serendipitously drove into a shopping mall that was holding a very small farmers market. This market is part of the NJ Council of Farmers and CommunitiesÂ that ensures that farmers’ markets sell produce only grown in NJ (here is their website). The stand where I bought a number of different kinds of heritage apples was from a farm called Tree Licious Orchards in Western NJ (here is their website).Â The elderly farmer who sold me the fruit told me that his over 100 acre orchard is run by the 7th generation of farmers. Tree Licious Orchards specialty are peaches and apples, though they have lots of other fruit trees and produce. Right now they are so busy harvesting the trees they haven’t had the time to dig up their potatoes.

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