Planting Fruit Trees, March 2012

When I was a child, I could disappear into the privacy of the fig tree below my house. Its supple branches spread along the ground making an ideal temporary second home with plenty of space for my dog and me. Just up the hill from the fig tree were two orange trees and farther up were two large lemon trees with yellow oxalis flower blooming under them in February, and just beyond the lemon trees was my home. The whole east-facing hill was a sampling of all of the types of fruit that grow in central California. These trees were interspersed among my family’s apple orchard that my grandfather had started.

It was my grandfather who had the vision to plant this variety of fruit trees long before I was born.
He knew that the top of the hill was a good site to build a house which my dad later built. I didn’t get to know my grandfather very well. He died when I was young, but he influenced my life and the lives of my grandchildren by planting those fruit trees. We don't yet know how these trees will inspire the next generation - For you, Ellie and Ben.

I grew up knowing the smell of fig leaves, the softness of a young peach, the silver leaves of olive trees, the smell of orange blossoms, the taste of ripe apples, the juiciness of fresh plums, and the way my dad smiled when he offered me an unripe olive to taste. Fruit was there for me to pick in the summer. In the spring the trees blossomed each kind with different flowers - the peach with pink flowers and the plum with white ones. The apples blossoms are still my favorite with white in the inside of the petal and pink on the outside. Their fragrance is like no other. In the winter the trees revealed the pattern of their branches and the brilliant mustard flowers grew in between the trees.

This month I planted two new fruit trees, a peach and an apricot, while I thought of my grandchildren. One child will turn a year old and one is expected to be born next month. Last year I planted two cherry trees for my first grandchild. This year I also grafted a delicious late apple variety on to some volunteer apple trees in my yard. These trees will bear fruit years in the future.

When I purchased the two trees this year, a lady in line at the nursery asked me how I could plant trees that take so long to grow that I might not eat their fruit. I didn’t tell her about what my grandfather planted for me but I did explain to her that I couldn’t imagine not planting fruit trees. I am glad that the trees live a long time and will provide fruit far into the future.