Thousands of varieties of trees, vines and shrubs bear edible fruit. Most people are familiar with the more common varieties of fruits available in grocery stores, those that are durable for shipping, handling and storage rather than necessarily for best flavor. Though the most delicious fruits are often too fragile for commercial distribution, the home-gardener need not be intimidated. Especially in these parts.
If you have a six foot by six foot patch of open sunlight there's no reason why you can't successfully grow a fruit tree and a rare one at that, even if only in a box of soil on pavement. Hobbyist groups such as California Rare Fruit Growers work hard in the region to promote interest in all aspects of fruit growing, with special encouragement in the rare and unusual fruit growing backyard arena.
Fruit-bearing vines such as strawberries, may even be grown from hanging baskets without using any ground at all. Properly selected fruit-bearing plants are used often for edible landscaping, proving a pleasing visual display in addition to gourmet treats. Multiple fruit varieties may be grown on the same plant by means of simple grafting techniques, resulting in a "fruit salad" tree!
Many of the best tasting fruits are only available from specialty catalogs and growers, or through hobbyist organizations like California Rare Fruit Growers (CRFG). North Bay CRFG members in "Luther Burbank country" get together regularly to taste fruits, trade plants, and to swap tips on local growing techniques and what grows best in local conditions and micro-climate pockets. One recent meeting featured over 100 different locally-grown fruits to taste.
Interested in growing your own? Fruit tree cuttings/scions, and expert custom-grafted apple, pear, peach, fig, citrus, plum trees and more will be for available sale to the public at low cost by the California Rare Fruit Growers (CRFG) garden club annual Scion Exchange on January 24th from 10 am until 1 pm, at the Santa Rosa Veterans Memorial Building at 1351 Maple Ave, Santa Rosa, across from the county fair grounds.
What's a Scion? Not the car. In this instance it's a detached shoot or twig containing buds from a woody plant.
The annual CRFG-Redwood.com Scion and Plant Exchange is where over 500 varieties of common, rare and experimental scions (cuttings) and fruiting plants from all over Northern California are available.
$5 at the door gets you a selection of scions, and includes all pruning and grafting classes. Custom grafting by expert grafters of your scion selections to rootstocks is available for just a few dollars more. There are grafting and planting demonstration classes for beginners, plus experts and hobbyists to answer questions for more advanced gardeners.
Proceeds fund agricultural scholarships and donations to worthy fruit-oriented non-profit organizations. Bring a gallon baggie, tape and Sharpie to mark your scion acquisitions.
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