Get ready for spring, as we received some new trees.

 

The great thing about different seasons is that you can truly see and feel the change that is about to happen. A few months ago, we saw the sun coming up later, leaves started losing colour and then fell from the trees. Even the sound of birds became less. With August at our doorstep, we are just so much closer to spring. You can even see this in the times the sun rises and sets. Certain flowers are getting ready to bloom as we already have some blossoms on the fruit trees. So, keep your eye on your garden and look out for those long awaited blossoms. It is such a treat to be the first to see blossoms on a tree.

You can certainly start gardening now, so don’t just wait for spring before you start. Visit us today and select one of our new additions to add to your garden. This is just the beginning.

 

Kakamas Cling Peach

Peaches truly are one of the easiest trees to grow. The Kakamas peach is a velvety fruit with firm flesh that clings to the stone, hence cling peach. The outer is a sunny yellow fleshy fruit with yellow flesh on the inside. If you already have one of these trees you should be looking out for the rewarding pink blossoms that will soon be added to your garden. This is an absolute great peach for eating and canning.

 

Clementine

Clementines have been called the crown fruit of the citrus world. A clementine is a tangor, a fruit hybrid between a mandarin and a sweet orange. The outside of the fruit is a deep orange colour with a smooth glossy appearance. They are juicy, sweet, and easy to peel, similar to that of tangerines with less acid than oranges. They are one of the few varieties of citrus that a seedless. Because they are seedless and easy to peel it is considered as the ideal fruit for children who are learning how to eat on their own.

 

Cara Cara

Cara Cara oranges are pink fleshed fruit that originated as a mutation which occurred on a Washington Navel orange tree in 1976. This mutated fruit was first found in Hacienda Cara Cara in Venezuela, hence the name Cara Cara. The differences between cara caras and navel orange varieties are more than just skin deep as it differs in flavour too. These oranges are very sweet and have a slightly lower acidity than that of navels, with a hint of cranberry and blackberry flavour. Aside from their supreme taste and beautiful coloring they contain 20% more vitamin C and 30% more vitamin A when compared to regular navels.

 

DID YOU KNOW?

• If you have some naughty puppies like ours, clementine peels can be used as a chemical free solution to keep your pets from chewing your houseplants.
• Sprinkle orange peels around your plants and in your garden to stop cats from “doing their business” in unwanted areas.
• Lemon is a natural ant deterrent and can also keep roaches and fleas away. Just place lemon peels by door frames windows and cracks where ants and other pests can enter.
•  One serving of grapes contain more than 27% of your daily vitamin C, as they are also high in vitamin K and contain no fat or cholesterol.
• According to the Guinness book of world records, the record for eating the most grapes in a period of three minutes, belongs to Dinesh Shivnath Upadhyaya from Mumbai, India. He consumed 205 grapes in three minutes in 2015 which he had to pick up individually.
• Avocados are in the same family as cinnamon, really.
• The word guacamole is derived from the Aztec word ‘ahuacamolli’  which translates loosely to avocado soup or avocado sauce.
• Persimmon is part of the berry family.

 

Crimson seedless grapes

Crimson grapes are slightly elongated, light red seedless grapes. They are quite sweet with an attractive appearance. The skin colour varies from pink to dark-red often with a pale green stem-end. The flesh has a greenish white tint as the skin gives way with a satisfying crack when biting into it. This is a late season grape with excellent storage capabilities.

 

Red Hanepoot

Hanepoot is the cultivar name in South Africa for an ancient grape ‘Muscat of Alexandria’. The red hanepoot has a striking appearance as it is very similar to the flame tokay, a bright light red table grape. These are medium sized round berried seeded grapes with a little irregular shape. The smooth skin which is almost waxy offers a slight resistance to the bite. The flesh is soft and very sweet as it offers a delicious muscat flavour when at its best. This variety is generally for winemaking but is famous for its sweetness as a table grape.

 

Sultana

This is a ‘white’, pale green oval seedless grape variety, which is one of the worlds most planted grape varieties. Sultana grapes are one of the most popular eating grape varieties in South Africa. They’re delicious when eaten fresh as a snack, and are also excellent dried or when used in baking and cooking. They are seedless, oblong in shape with a sweet, juicy flesh and a light-green skin that has a golden sheen. It’s origin is believed to be from Asia Minor (Ottoman Empire) and is also known as the Thompson seedless in the United States, Lade de Coverly in the United Kingdom, and oval-fruited Kishmish in various parts of the United Arab Emirates and Asia.

 

Fuerte Avo

If you like a flavourful avocado you will truly love the Fuerte Avo. The fuerto avo is a hybrid between Mexican and Guatamalan types. It is one of the most cold hardy type of avocados. The fruit look like elongated pears, whereas the skin is a beautiful grass green with some darker speckles mixed in on the surface. The fruit itself is pale yellow with a smooth creamy texture. The flesh bruises easily and the fruit ripens within 7 days from harvest. These avocados are less oily than other, but the flavour is very rich and nutty.

 

Hass Avo

What is now the most popular avocado in the world, was actually created by mistake. Rudolph Hass bought some seeds in the 1920s thinking it was fuerte avo which did not turn out that way. So by listening to his kids to keep the tree it turned out to be a different avocado and hence the new Hass avo. This is a round smallish egg-shaped avocado with a knobly hard green skin that changes to black-purple when ready to eat. The Hass avocado has a rich and nutty taste with a very good shelf life.

 

Pecan Nut

The Pecan Nut tree is a deciduous tree which can grow to 20-40 metres in height. A 10-year-old sapling grown in optimal conditions will stand 5 metres tall. The pecan is not a true nut tree, just like the fruit of all other members of the hickory genus, but rather a drupe. This is a fruit with a single stone or pit surrounded by a husk. The outer husk is thick, starts out green and turns brown at maturity at which time it splits off in four sections to release the thin-shelled seed.

 

Walnut

The botanical name for the walnut tree is Juglans, which translates to “jupiters nut”. Similar to the pecan nut it is also a drupe, a stone fruit surrounded by a hardened shell that protects the seed inside and covered by an outer fleshy skin. The walnut kernel is two halves joined by a thin neck, which easily breaks when the nut is extracted from its shell. Walnut trees are monoecious. This means that they have both male and female flowers which allows the tree to self-pollinate. Walnuts produce leaves very late which are often more than halfway through the spring. They release a chemical called juglone into the soil which preventscompeting vegetation from growing. Because of this, flowers and vegetables should not be planted close to them.

 

Izu Persimmon

The persimmon is a dwarf tree that is very productive. The fruits are round with a slightly flattened shape resembling a miniature pumpkin. Izu Persimons ripen to a burnt orange colour as they are non-astringent with a crunchy pale orange flesh and smooth texture. The fruits can be eaten when firm or when the fruit just begins to soften. They are very sweet and have little to no seeds.

These additions will truly be a welcome treat to any garden. Visit our website and order your fruit trees today. Come visit us and spend some time at the nursery. We surely have something available for everyone here.