Life Style & Travel

UNITED STATES—Adding new fruit trees to a garden is reasonably easy. Maintaining them properly as they mature is more of a challenge. Centuries of extensive breeding to enhance production of such trees has increased their reliance on horticultural intervention. Most deciduous fruit trees consequently need specialized dormant pruning during their winter dormancy. Without adequate dormant pruning, most deciduous fruit trees...

UNITED STATES—On an October afternoon a poignant figure showed up on my doorstep at Manhattan Place, an accountant separating from his wife after 48 years. Can you imagine why a couple that age wants to split? They already must know each other too well; then again, maybe that’s why. The man was from Huntington Beach, but had his office on...

Cacti have thick, fleshy stems outfitted with nasty spines instead of leaves. Agaves and related aloes have stout, fibrous stems that are mostly obscured by thick, fleshy leaves. (Only a few somewhat rare aloes develop bare trunks and stems.) What they have in common is that they all are succulent plants, collectively known as succulents. There are all sorts of...

UNITED STATES—One can be deceptively in awe of other nationalities when one belongs to the ink trade. They seem to have established more reliable means for distinguished writers to be distinguished. In Latin America one can become a diplomat (Octavio Paz and Pablo Neruda). In England, for instance, quite a few have gotten into intelligence, such as Ian Fleming,...

UNITED STATES—While they are dormant through winter, deciduous fruit trees require specialized 'dormant pruning.' Exceptions are rare. Most need major pruning that might seem to be excessive. Without such pruning, fruit trees produce more fruit than they can sustain. Excessive fruit is very likely to be of inferior quality, beyond reach, and heavy enough to disfigure limbs. Dormant pruning limits...