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Pecan

Pecan is the Official State Tree of Texas.

Texas selected a distinctive state tree; the pecan, Carya illinoensis. It is happy in the south and middle mid-west, where naturally grows about seventy feet tall. It can get almost as large here, so is best in big spaces. Summers are a bit too mild for reliable nut production in autumn, but single trees can sometimes make plenty. Two different trees (to pollinate each other) can actually be quite productive, although not quite as well flavored as in warmer climates. The pinnately compound leaves have about eleven individual leaflets that are about five or six inches long. Shade is not too dark.

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Almond / Almond

Pote-8-o or pote-aht-o? Tome-8-o or tome-aht-o? Ape-ricot or app-ricot? Pee-can or pi-kahn? What about “almond”? This is different from the distinction of plums and prunes. It is a matter of pronunciation. Is “almond” pronounced like “salmon” or “common”? Those who grow them, and likely know better than the rest of us, commonly pronounce it like “salmon”. Most of the rest of us pronounce it like “common”. The nuts are harvested by machines that shake them from their trees, which supposedly shakes the ‘ell out of them, which sort of makes sense. Although the “l” is silent within both pronunciations, it might be slightly more so within the “common” pronunciation. Everything associated with almonds prior to harvest, such as their orchards, trees, bloom, unharvested nuts and their collective industry, commonly employs the “salmon” pronunciation, in which the “l” may be slightly less silent. Everything associated with harvested and processed nuts and their products, which are what most of us are familiar with, more commonly employs the “common” pronunciation. For the pair of trees in my garden, I use the “salmon” pronunciation. For their nuts, I use the “common” pronunciation.

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Almond

Almonds are stone fruit without fruit.

Is the pronunciation of the “al” of almond comparable to that of “salmon” or “palm”? That is about as controversial as the pronunciation of pecan. While pecan is related to walnut, almond, Prunus dulcis, is a stone fruit. That can be controversial also. Unlike other stone fruit, its mesocarp develops as leathery hulls instead of edible flesh. It is fruitless stones.

Like other stone fruit trees, almond trees need maintenance while dormant during winter. Bare root trees that are now available should be in the ground before their spring growth. Established trees need winter pruning before warming spring weather stimulates bloom. Almonds ripen for late summer though, after plums, apricots, peaches or other stone fruit.

Almonds are not as heavy as other stone fruits, and need no gentle handling. Therefore, winter pruning of almond trees may not need to be very aggressive. Such trees can grow as small shade trees with splendid white spring bloom. It is easier to shake unreachable nuts from tall trees than to pick them anyway. A few old fashioned cultivars need compatible pollinator cultivars.

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Black Walnut

Most black walnuts were not planted intentionally, but grew from the roots of old English walnut trees.

Although native, most local black walnut trees, Juglans hinsdii, are secondary growth from the rootstock of what were once grafted English walnuts, or descendents of such trees. (English walnut trees are grafted onto black walnut understock.) However, the massive old trees that flank the old Monterey Highway south of San Jose were planted as large shade trees nearly a century ago. They are now about sixty feet tall, with lofty broad canopies. Their foot long leaves are pinnately compound, with about eleven to nineteen slightly dentate leaflets that are about three or four inches long. The hard nuts and thick husks are far too messy for refined gardens.

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English Walnut

English walnuts are popular among squirrels.

It has been in cultivation for several thousands of years. Throughout that time, it escaped cultivation to naturalize in many regions between the Balkans and the Himalayas. It most likely originated from a much smaller natural range within Persia. An interesting certainty of its dubious original range is that English walnut, Juglans regia, is not actually English.

English walnut likely arrived at Spanish Missions of California prior to 1800. It became a major agricultural commodity of both the Sacramento Valley and the San Joaquin Valley. A few old trees survive within urban areas that were formerly orchards of the Santa Clara Valley. Newer trees are unfortunately rare within home gardens because they get messy.

English walnut trees rarely grow more than forty feet high and wide here. Their abundant foliar, floral and fruit debris is toxic to young plants though, and stains hardscapes. Each type of debris sheds during a different season. Squirrels might claim most or all nuts, but drop shredded hulls. The deciduous and pinnately compound leaves can be a foot long.

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Chestnut

These chestnuts that may later be ‘roasting on an open fire’ are now falling from the trees that produced them over summer.

Of all the nut trees that are actually quite easy to grow, the chestnut, Castanea (various specie and hybrids), has somehow become the most obscure. It probably lost popularity while native forests in eastern North America were being annihilated by rampant disease (which never became such a threat in the west), but may be unpopular simply because it can get so big. Mature trees are regularly more than seventy feet tall and nearly as broad.

Chestnut trees are productive for those who like the nuts, but simply very messy for those who do not. The smooth meaty nuts are contained within offensively spiny husks known as ‘burrs’. A few varieties of chestnuts fall freely from the burrs. Most need to be separated from their burrs even after they fall to the ground. The evenly serrate leaves will soon be turning amber gold or brown for autumn.

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English Walnut

It may take a few years for a walnut tree to grow into a sculptural specimen with striking white limbs.

Like many ‘English’ plants, the English walnut, Juglans regia, is not actually from England. It is Persian, so is quite comfortable here in California. However, the foliar litter and husks contain a natural herbicide that can make nearby seed grown plants and annuals uncomfortable. Planted trees are typically grafted onto native California black walnut understock (roots) that is more resistant to disease, and improves stability.

Mature trees can be as tall as seventy five feet with trunks as wide as five feet, but are almost always significantly smaller, and even proportionate to urban gardens, although notoriously messy with bloom, leaves and nuts. The pinnately compound leaves are generally less than a foot long, with five to nine leaflets that can be between two to six inches long, and about two inches wide. The bark is notably smooth and gray until trees get quite old and furrowed.

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Pecan

41210One might surmise that a tree that is resilient enough to be the state tree of Texas is not too discriminating. If it can take the heat and humidity of the Lone Star State, it can make it anywhere! However, pecan, Carya illinoinensis, actually prefers heat and humidity, and is bored with the mild local climate. The nuts and the mess that comes with them are actually less abundant than they would be in the Gulf Coast States. The deciduous foliage is not quite so colorful in autumn.

A mature pecan tree may stay a low as fifty feet, or get twice as tall. The height is usually nearly double the width. Generous watering can cause roots to buttress and displace nearby pavement. Most local pecan trees that are intentionally planted are garden varieties that were bred for bigger pecan nuts. Seed grown trees tend to produce nuts that are nearly comparable to the nuts they were grown from. The pinnately compound leaves have nine or more leaflets that are about two or three inches long.

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Fruit From Non Fruit Trees

90828thumbThose of us who grew up with the old fashioned stone fruit orchards or vineyards might remember some of the traditional methods for protecting the ripening fruit from birds. Mulberry trees were grown on the corners of some orchards to keep birds well fed and less hungry for the ripe orchard fruit. Mulberry cultivars were selected to ripen just prior to the fruit within the particular orchards.

The trees were not there to produce fruit to be harvested like the fruit within the orchards was. Most, but not all of what the birds did not consume fell to the ground and rotted. Only small quantities of the overly abundant fruit was taken by a few neighbors who made jam or syrup with with it. Mulberries were a byproduct of the orchards that some put to good use just because it was available.

Decades ago, it was much easier to get a bit of fruit from neglected or naturalized fruit trees in rural regions and on roadsides without offending anyone. Isolated remnants of the old fruit orchards were common. American plum, which had been used as understock for orchard trees, had naturalized in some regions. For those daring enough to harvest them, so had Himalayan blackberry.

Even now, we can find a bit of fruit where do not expect it to be. A few plants that are grown more for their visual appeal can be surprisingly generous with their fruit production. Pineapple guava, which is now popularly grown as a simple evergreen hedge, used to be grown instead for its small tart guavas. Purple leaf plum, as it matures, may not be quite as fruitless as it is purported to be.

The difficulty with the more unfamiliar types of fruit is finding practical uses for it. The native blue elderberry makes excellent jelly or syrup, like black elderberry, but not many of us even know it is edible once cooked. Australian brush cherry, strawberry tree, English hawthorn and ‘Majestic Beauty’ Indian hawthorn, are never overly productive, but might sometimes make enough fruit for jelly.

Of course, no unfamiliar fruit or nut should be eaten prior to confirmation that it is safe for consumption.

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Forage To Find Unexpected Fruit

Felton League, the Facebook group of the homeless and their friends in Felton, California, briefly mentions the source of some interesting, but typically overlooked fruits that can be found in the wild or unrefined landscapes. Blackberries, American plums and elderberries collected from rural roadsides have produced award winning jellies for the Santa Cruz Mountains Harvest Festival.
Unlike the fruit that so many of us put so much effort into growing in our home gardens, these fruits and others are productive without any help. They are commonly overlooked only because they are so easy to ignore. In some ways, they are inferior to ‘garden variety’ fruit; but they also have certain advantages. Free fruit that takes no more effort than harvesting is obviously a good thing.
The most common wild blackberries are actually Himalayan blackberries that have naturalized. Unfortunately, they do not compare well to garden variety blackberries. They are not as abundant, and are difficult to pick from the wickedly thorny and rampant canes. Blue elderberries really are native, and are just as good or maybe better than black elderberries from eastern North America.
Figs, olives, grapes, rhubarb, prickly pears, apples and various citrus can sometimes be found in abandoned or neglected landscapes. Walnut, almond and wild plum trees sometimes grow from self-sown seed. Purple leaf plum is not always as fruitless as it is purported to be. Then there are all the other ornamental plants that happen to produce fruit that is useful to those willing to try it.
For example, Australian brush cherry, English hawthorn, Indian hawthorn (‘Majestic Beauty’), strawberry tree and even common freeway iceplant all produce fruit that can be cooked into luscious jelly. Of course, no fruit, particularly unfamiliar fruit, should be eaten or experimented with until it is confirmed to be safe for consumption. Many fruits really are toxic! Also, fruit should not be harvested from where it might be illegal to do so, such as private property or parks.

NOTE: This is an old article. Felton League is no longer a group on Facebook, but is now a blog here on WordPress.B90803K