Get ready for bare-root fruit trees

Following on the heels of the small fruits, bare-root fruit trees will soon be arriving in garden centers. They are usually ready for sale the second week of January, after nursery employees first sort, tag and heel in thousands of plants so that sense can be made of the enormous inventory. It is always an exciting time for employees and fruit tree enthusiasts alike. If you too have fruit tree fever, here are some words of wisdom from Ed Laivo of Dave Wilson Nursery, one of California's premier fruit tree growers.

Ed believes firmly that home gardeners should keep fruit trees pruned so that the top branches are reachable by the gardener. He says that you will get just as much fruit as with a tree allowed to reach full size, and that it will be better quality since the smaller size is much easier to care for properly. He cautions against relying on dwarfing root stock to maintain size, noting that though some root stocks will somewhat limit mature heights, it is really up to the gardener to maintain size at an optimal height and girth, by using proper pruning techniques.

Many local garden centers, garden clubs and The Farm at UC Santa Cruz will be offering pruning workshops in the next two months. Watch this column and the Thursday Sentinel's Garden Calendar for dates and times. And if you'd like to graft your own trees, attend the California Rare Fruit Growers Dormant Wood Scion Exchange: Sunday, Jan. 13, noon to 3 p.m. at the Live Oak Grange 1900 17th Ave. Santa Cruz. Call 831-662-2216 for information.

Along with keeping homegrown fruit trees small, Ed also recommends the trees that he calls "edible ornamentals" which do double duty in our limited garden spaces. This includes such trees as Nectarine 'Double Delight' (sensational fruit, consistently the best-flavored yellow nectarine in Dave Wilson's taste trials, plus magnificent double pink flowers) or Peach 'Red Baron' (large juicy richly flavored yellow freestone fruit with showy double red blossoms). He also raved about Nectaplum 'SpiceZee'; an interspecific hybrid from Zaiger Hybrids. According to Ed, this tree "packs a pile of amazing fruit flavors into an attractive tree. Fruit is slightly acidic and loaded with sugar giving it a spicy sweet flavor. One can detect both Plum and Nectarine traits with ease. The tree is also a beautiful ornamental with a tremendous spring bloom followed by dark red leaves in the spring that mature to a rich green-red in late summer."

All three of these trees are self-fruitful and highly productive.

Ed also discussed cherries that can be difficult to grow well in our climate due to lack of prolonged cold. For sweet cherries, all self-fruitful, he recommends 'Lapins' (large firm sweet fruit, similar in flavor to 'Bing'), 'Royal Rainier' (large yellow fruit of excellent flavor), taste test winner and 'Stella' (large, nearly black, richly flavored, late harvest).

Figs in our climate can also be difficult but for the opposite reason: many need consistently hot summers to develop good flavor. In our cool summer climate, Ed recommends 'Osborne Prolific' fig (large fruit with attractive purplish-brown skin, amber pulp and excellent flavor) and 'Peter's Honey Fig' (beautiful shiny greenish yellow skin when ripe, very sweet dark amber flesh). Ed pointed out that figs can be pruned to any size, that in cold climates they regularly die to the ground in winter, so do not react adversely to hard pruning.

Some of these trees will be available only in limited quantities, so if you have your heart set on specific ones, call your favorite nursery now and ask that your selections be held for you when they arrive. Go to www.davewilson.com for a gold mine of information on specific trees, general orchard advice and answers to oft-asked questions.

-Sharon Hull