Our yard already has a number of fruit trees — a couple of lemon trees, an apricot tree, a plum, an apple, and a few mystery trees that have no tags and haven't produced anything yet. (Except for the lemons — which I'm convinced will still go on endlessly producing even if they were uprooted and shoved through a mulcher — and a few apricots, we didn't have a bumper-crop year; next season the trees will need more water and more attention.)
But the fruit tree that I really want is a cherry tree.
Unfortunately, living in Sunny Southern California, I'm out of luck when it comes to conventional cherry trees, as they all require a "cold snap" to fruit — they have to spend a certain number of wintertime hours below 45° F.
Looking into alternatives, I read about the Capulin cherry, Prunus salicifolia, native to Mexico and Central America. Because of their warm-weather background, Capulins don't need a cold snap to fruit! The fruit is supposed to look and taste like a normal cherry, although since this variety doesn't have an extensive history of cultivation for its fruit, the taste may be a little off-model compared to your average supermarket cherry. I purchased some Capulin seeds from Trade Winds Fruit; they arrived a few days ago. I'll plant them this weekend and see what I get. While I don't think this means that I'll be passing up the occasional bag of Rainer cherries once the season comes back around, at least I'll be able to live the dream, man!
Posted by Kevin at August 11, 2005 09:54 AM