Life Style & Travel

Fruit Trees Need Specialized Pruning

fruit trees
UNITED STATES—For centuries, fruit trees have been bred to produce unnaturally abundant and unnaturally big fruit. That has worked out well for those who enjoy the resulting fruit. It is not such an advantage for the exploited trees that must produce it. Without specialized pruning, most of such trees are unable to sustain healthy development of all the fruit...

The Ding

UNITED STATES—It was the trough right between Christmas and New Year, between overindulgence and overspending. People were slowly coming back to town and there still remained an adequate supply of parking spaces in Hollywood. As a consequence, Greg Burns found himself behind the car that had haunted him since last summer, when it still had dealer plates. Must be nice...

Bare Root Stock Properly Planted

bare root stock
UNITED STATES—Most of the advantages of bare root stock are obvious. Bare root stock is less expensive and easier to work with in regard to installation and pruning to a desired form. What some of us may find difficult to understand is that it actually gets established into a new garden more efficiently than canned (potted) nursery stock does....

Bare Root Season Has Begun

bare root
UNITED STATES—Before all the Christmas trees were sold and relinquished their space, the smaller types of bare root stock started arriving in local nurseries. Blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, gooseberries, currants, grapes, strawberries, rhubarb and asparagus, may have been available for a while. More substantial bare root stock, such as roses, fruit trees and ornamentals, may already be arriving. Bare root stock...

Fuller Hill

HOLLYWOOD—Fuller Hill is the spot, all right, perched up on a high knoll that owns the passing Hollywood Freeway and the downhill slope of Franklin St. traffic. The sun sets, and the pedestrians cross. The perspective pulses with rhythm and even the cars seem suspended in a pleasurably drowsy trance. Up here on Fuller Hill I can go to...

Winter Is For Dormant Pruning

winter
UNITED STATES—The internet makes it possible to communicate with people who enjoy gardening all over the World. It can be amusing to hear what garden enthusiasts in Australia are doing now in early summer. Is it always summer in Ecuador? A common theme in much of America is that there is not much gardening to do right now in...

The Way It Should Be (3)

UNITED STATES—As they sank into the couch, Mr. Monroy opted for Nescafe and Mrs. Monroy accepted the honey-ginger tea proffered by Mr. Wynn. "Thank you, Don Carlos," she said. With the real estate sharks absent, the 'don' reinserted in their courtly discourse. And she started to speak frankly about why they were forced into selling. "During the summer we got really...

Evergreens From Our Home Gardens

evergreens
UNITED STATES—Evergreens are popular for home décor through winter because there is not much blooming so late in most other American climates. The tradition endures, even though cut flowers of all sorts can easily be purchased from common supermarkets nowadays. Here on the West Coast, where several varieties of flowers can bloom through winter, evergreen foliage is as popular...

The Way It Should Be (2)

UNITED STATES—In this last little corner of Bunker Hill two tenants jumped ship when they learned the Monroy's were going to sell to a couple of East Side real estate sharks. The Monroy's were not your average owners. The charmingly dilapidated bungalow that crept up the steep slope was not just another of Mr. and Mrs. Monroys' many properties;...

Berries Are Showing Color For Winter

berries
UNITED STATES—Nothing lasts forever. Spring flowers fade. Summer fruit gets eaten. Fall color falls from the trees and gets raked away. Berries and other small fruits that ripen to provide a bit of color through late autumn get eaten by birds and squirrels through winter. Every type of berry and every season is unique. It is impossible to predict...