Top Five Fruit Trees For SoCal- # 1

We live in changing times: culturally, politically, and even horticulturally. We live in a desert, with essentially no native water source to support millions of people. All of our water in San Diego is imported. Sure, we have built some impoundments to collect the little bit of rain we receive, but the bulk of our water comes from the Colorado river.

 Los Angeles and points north receive their water from elsewhere: the Owens valley and from northern California. Have you ever noticed the difference in the look of plants grown in Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, or the central coast?Not to seem ungrateful, but our plants never look quite as good; we have a lot more yellowed leaves, and burnt edges on our loved plants. Why you ask? The Colorado river is much more salty than water sources that supply our neighbors to the north.

 In light of these aquacultural changes, many of us are changing our views and attitudes about what and where we plant. It used to be, if someone wanted to grow edibles they did so in a hidden area, or a potager. More and more, folks are blurring the line between ornamental and edible, planting food bearing plants "in plain view". This would shock and disturb our gardening forebears. Blending the edible into the ornamental is becoming a new way of life for us, especially in light of limited availability and high cost of water.

 My top choice for stone fruit trees bridges the gap between the ornamental and the edible better than any tree I have ever seen. My top choice for stone fruit trees in our area is:

This winning selection has been guarded by a quartet of gardeners in a hermetically sealed mason jar in an undisclosed local garden until this moment.

The envelope please.....

The winner is:

Spice Zee nectaplum

This is one marvelous tree. In fact, I just don't think it gets much better than this. Spice Zee is the ultimate choice for a fruit bearing tree that is also extremely pleasing to the eye. In fact, just the other day, my esteemed gardening colleague Jason Chen and I were discussing the merits of this most wonderful tree. We both agreed we would grow it for the flowers and the foliage, even if this sweet little tree didn't give one of the best pieces of fruit you will ever taste.

 Spice Zee is yet another choice from the unparalleled breeding genius of Floyd Zaiger. This is also another of his imaginative inter-generic breeding lines. The nectaplum is a cross between a nectarine (which is a cross of a peach and a plum) and a plum, likely 3/4 nectarine and 1/4 plum. Its growth habit, wood, and leaf shape all scream nectarine. This is a tree you will definitely dormant spray as you would a peach or nectarine: it does suffer from peach leaf curl, and will be damaged by peach twig borers. Now that we have finished with the dis-claimers, let's chat about the fabulous attributes of this, my favorite tree.

A first year tree

 In spring, it fairly explodes with a very full display of some of the most beautiful flowers you will find on a fruiting tree. The flowers are a brightly shining, deep pink flower. I would describe it as a semi-double flower. It will rival any fruiting tree in the garden for its floral display. But wait, it gets better.

Spice Zee is one of the only fruit trees I know of that bears beautiful deep purple/bronze leaves for most of the year. As the leaves on the tree mature in late August/September, the leaves begin to take on more of a greenish hue, but are still extremely attractive. The tree is a very vigorous grower, and will need a good hand at pruning during its time of domancy. It can also be kept on a smaller scale by doing summer pruning.

The tree bears a very delicious fruit. It is a dark burgundy on the outside and a near white interior with dark veins around the pit. It has a delicious flavor. It looks more like a nectarine, but tastes...well it tastes...like a nectaplum. It has the sweetness of a plum, and that tang of spiciness from its nectarine parentage. It bears abundantly, and the fruit is very delicious. One downside: a very small down side. It does seem to occasionally suffer from a condition called cat facing on the fruit. It is sometimes caused by weather, sometimes from thrips. MAKE SURE YOU DORMANT SPRAY! That condition might make it less desirable to grow for commercial growers, but it makes no impact at all on the flavor. If the appearance bothers you, peel the fruit.

In my former garden I had a very mature Spice Zee overhanging the Koi pond. When, on rare occasions I missed a ripe fruit, and one would drop into the koi pond, the fish would go absolutely mad fighting for access to the delicious floating flavor bomb. It looked like a "Shark Week" feeding frenzy on Discovery channel. Dang, Even the koi think this is the tastiest fruit around. Remember the tip I gave about grilling fruit and the three B's? This fruit is a perfect candidate for that most scrumptious application.

Every one of my clients that has taken my recommendation on this tree absolutely love it. I am confident you will love it too.