I remember when my mother first retired in the mid-1980’s, she rented a small house in Las Vegas to be near my sister and her young family. The thing she liked best about the house was that there were several fruit trees in the back yard that yielded plums and nectarines for her. I remember wondering why that was such a big deal since there were plenty of those fruits available at the supermarket. But my mother loved the idea of going out in the back and just picking the fruit she wanted off the tree. I assumed that was a remnant of her upbringing on a farm in upstate New York that had various fruit tree orchards.
When I owned a house in Quiogue in the Hamptons for fifteen years, I lent the house to my boss, the President of our bank, for a week during the summer when he got boxed out of the rental market. Since I wouldn’t take a rent payment (there was high value in a one-week house usage in the Hamptons), he told me that bought and had planted a plum tree for me in the backyard as a gift. I thought it was a little strange that someone would be so presumptuous as to decide that I would like a fruit tree on my property and, furthermore, that I would want it where they chose to have it planted. Nevertheless, he was my boss and I decided that I didn’t care one way or the other about the tree or the placement, but it was a strange circumstance nonetheless.
I’ve now owned 17 different homes in my lifetime (including several condos with terraces in Manhattan) and to my recollection, the only fruit tree I ever had was that plum tree in Quiogue, from which I do not recall ever picking any fruit. When we bought and eventually moved out here to this hilltop, I learned that in this part of the world you were decidedly strange if you did NOT have any fruit trees. The big thing out this way is either or both avocado trees and orange or other citrus trees. They are literally everywhere you look and seem always to have fruit all over them. Southern California and Florida are both major citrus producers in the United States, but they differ significantly in their production volumes and industry characteristics. Florida has traditionally been the dominant citrus producer in the United States, particularly for oranges used in juice production. Before citrus greening disease (HLB) began severely impacting Florida’s industry around 2005, the state regularly produced 200-250 million boxes of citrus annually. By 2024, Florida’s production had declined to approximately 20-25 million boxes – roughly 90% less than its peak production. Southern California (primarily including Riverside, San Bernardino, Imperial, San Diego, and Ventura counties) produces somewhat less citrus than Florida overall. However, California’s TOTAL citrus production is around 70-80 million boxes annually, with Southern California representing roughly half of that total. California’s citrus industry focuses more on fresh market varieties rather than juice production.
Florida primarily grows Valencia and Hamlin oranges for juice processing,
where Southern California specializes in navel oranges, lemons, mandarins and specialty citrus for the fresh market. California’s industry has been more resistant to citrus greening disease than Florida’s, and California typically commands higher prices due to its focus on the fresh market. When people come to visit, it is not unusual for them to want to go out and pick fruit off the citrus trees. In fact, given that we have six citrus trees in what we call the Cecil Garden (all of which were here when we bought the place), our southerly neighbors have even asked if their guests can pick fruit off the trees on occasion when they come. Neither Kim nor I tend to even think about picking oranges off the trees, so we don’t mind at all. It is normal practice for neighbors around this hilltop to constantly offer up fruit from their fruit trees since everybody has an abundance of fresh picked fruit at all times of the year. I should also add that we have a large spreading fig tree behind the garage and a plum tree down by the climbing wall. I’ve not seen any plums, but we do get figs and the fig lovers of the area are always up for some hand-picked figs.
Our neighbor Winston has fruit and avocado trees and he is forever offering them up to our visitors, When Natasha comes to dog-sit during our vacations, Winston is always bringing her freshly picked grapefruit, which she loves. Recently, while we were over at Faraj & Yasuko’s house for dinner, they offered Kim some grapefruit from their Oroblanco Grapefruit tree. I’d never heard of the varietal, but Kim was over the moon over it. There are several types of grapefruit varieties that differ in color, sweetness, and seed content. There are the Pink/Red Grapefruit (Ruby Red – known for its sweet, mild flavor and vibrant red flesh, Star Ruby – One of the deepest red varieties with less bitterness, Rio Red – a popular Texas variety with deep red flesh and sweet flavor, Flame – a Florida variety with bright red flesh and good sweetness, and Thompson/Pink Marsh – similar to Marsh but with pink flesh). Then there are the White/Yellow Grapefruits (Duncan – the original seeded grapefruit variety with excellent flavor but numerous seeds, Marsh – a seedless white grapefruit that’s widely grown commercially, and, last but not least, the Oroblanco – a cross between grapefruit and pomelo, which is milder and less bitter than traditional grapefruit). A pomelo (also called pummelo, shaddock, or Chinese grapefruit) is the largest citrus fruit in the Rutaceae family. What makes them distinctive is that they are extremely large size (often 6-10 inches in diameter and weighing 2-4 pounds), have a thick, spongy rind that can be green to yellow when ripe, segmented flesh similar to grapefruit but with thicker membranes, flavor that is sweeter and less bitter than grapefruit, and have a color range from pale yellow to pink or ruby red flesh.
The red grapefruits are mostly from Texas and are quite popular these days, but Kim was so taken with the Oroblanco that today Faraj took me to his favorite citrus nursery and I bought two small Oroblanco grapefruit trees that are well along in their budding cycle (implying, according to expert orchard man Faraj, that they will bear fruit later this year). I am planting the two 5-foot trees on the north back hillside just below the wildflower garden. They will be my first official fruit tree plantings since I bought this property thirteen years ago. While I did this for Kim, I too am now looking forward to having fruit trees I have known and planted myself bear fruit and find their way to our table. I guess that makes me a well-rounded Southern California gardener now.