Sacramento Digs Gardening logo
Sacramento Digs Gardening Article
Your resource for Sacramento-area gardening news, tips and events

Articles Recipe Index Keyword Index Calendar Twitter Facebook Instagram About Us Contact Us

Mild winter brings spring gold rush



Loquats grow in clusters. The fruit is a blend of peach, citrus and mango. (Photos:
Debbie Arrington)


Loquats in abundance thanks to warm December




These odd fruit trees give Sacramento gardens a tropical look – and bountiful early fruit.

That’s if the birds don’t eat it all first.

Loquats rank among the most unusual fruit in our gardens. Native to China, these (usually) small trees produce large clusters of yellow and orange fruit with large shiny brown seeds. In fact, the seeds make up about one-third of each loquat.

Their taste is equally exotic, a blend of peach, citrus and mango. They’re sweetest when allowed to ripen on the tree and picked when slightly soft.

In Sacramento, loquat trees don’t bear fruit every year. But this season is a loquat landslide with fat clusters ripening all over town. The reason? Mild December and January weather.

Valued for their tropical look, loquat trees can be kept small.
Loquats need a relatively warm winter – never falling below 30 degrees – to produce ripe fruit. A very unusual stone fruit, loquats flower in late fall. Taking months to mature, the fruit ripens in late spring or early summer. (In semitropical areas, loquats ripen much faster and are harvest-ready in March.) If the weather turns too cold in winter, the tree drops its immature fruit.

Despite the name, loquats are no relation to kumquats, a member of the citrus family.

A member of the rose family, the loquat has been domesticated for more than 1,000 years, primarily in Japan. Hence, its botanical name, Eriobotrya japonica, and its nickname, Japanese plum. About 800 cultivars are available.

More than four centuries ago, scholars and travelers brought these tasty little gems to Europe, where loquats became a Mediterranean sensation. This fruit remains popular in Spain, Portugal, Armenia and many Middle Eastern countries.

Chinese immigrants introduced loquats to Sacramento during the Gold Rush. In California, the trees became more popular for their ornamental look than for their fruit.

Evergreen and compact, the trees boast large, leathery, dark green leaves. Borne in big clusters in late October and November, the white blooms are intensely fragrant and tropical. That adds to this plant’s ornamental appeal.

The fruit is dominated by one or more large pits.
For most Sacramento gardeners, the fruit (when it appears) is a bonus. Enjoy loquats fresh (they’re a great addition to fruit salad), poached in light syrup or added to sauces as a substitute for peaches or mangoes. Loquats also can be used in jam, jelly, chutney or other preserves.

And feel fortunate for this golden opportunity. In China and Japan, loquats represent wealth and wishes for a prosperous year. All those loquats hanging around town could be a sign of good times ahead.

Comments

0 comments have been posted.

Newsletter Subscription

Sacramento Digs Gardening to your inbox.

Flowers in My Back Yard Series

Aug. 25: Crape myrtles, Sacramento's unofficial tree of summer

Aug. 18: Pollinators adore scabiosa, aka pincushion flower

Aug. 11: Hardy hibiscus adds big tropical impact

Aug. 4: Dianthus a deceptively hardy flower

July 28: Naked Ladies put on summer show

July 21: Thank Luther Burbank for these long-lasting beauties (Shasta daisies)

July 14: How to keep hydrangeas happy

July 7: Grow these bright cosmos for bees and butterflies

June 30: Agapanthus adds blue fireworks to the garden

June 23: Easy-care gazanias fill those hot corners

June 16: Daylilies are perfect for water-wise gardens (and a lot more)

June 9: Grow coneflowers for pollinators -- and yourself

June 2: Sunflowers capture Sacramento's summer attitude

May 29: Are your roses going 'blind'?

May 26: Zinnias are the summer flowers every garden needs

May 19: Plant dahlias now for late-summer flower power

May 12: Know your coreopsis from your bidens

May 5: Mums the word on Mother's Day weekend

April 28: Majestic Matilija poppy is worth a look

April 21: Celebrate roses, America's favorite flower

April 14: Small flowers with outsized impact

April 7: Calendulas do double duty

April 3: Make Easter lilies last for years to come

March 31: In praise of a pollinator magnet (small-leaf salvias)

March 24: Azaleas brighten shady spots

March 17: The perfect flower for beginners? Try zonal geraniums

March 10: Keep camellias happy for years to come

March 3: Fruit tree blossoms are a fleeting joy

Feb. 27: Are your roses looking rusty?

Feb. 24: Treasure spring daffodils now and for years to come

Feb. 17: How and why to grow wildflowers

Feb. 10: Let's talk Valentine's Day roses

Feb. 3: Why grow flowers?

Local News

Ad for California Local

Taste Summer! E-cookbook

square-tomatoes-plate.jpg

Find our summer recipes here!

Garden checklist for week of Aug. 16

During this break in the heat, feed your garden. Make sure to water before and after applying fertilizer.

* In the garden, direct seed beets, carrots, leaf lettuce and turnips.

* Plant potatoes.

* Harvest tomatoes, beans, squash, pepper and eggplants to prompt plants to keep producing. Give your plants a deep watering twice a week, more if planted in containers. Also, give them a boost with phosphate-rich fertilizer to help fruiting.

* Watch out for caterpillars and hornworms in the vegetable garden. They can strip a plant bare in one day. Pick them off plants by hand in early morning or late afternoon.

* Feed citrus trees their last round of fertilizer for the year. This will give a boost to the fruit that’s still small.

* Mulch can be your garden’s best friend – it conserves moisture while blocking out weeds. But don't let mulch mound around stalks, stems or trunks. That can promote rot.

* Camellia leaves looking a little yellow? Give them some chelated iron. That goes for azaleas and gardenias, too.

* Pick up after your fruit trees. Clean up debris and dropped fruit; this cuts down on insects and prevents the spread of brown rot. Then feed fruit trees with slow-release fertilizer for better production for next year.

* To prolong bloom into fall, feed begonias, fuchsias and container plants. Always water before fertilizing.

* Fertilize fall-blooming perennials, too. Chrysanthemums can be fed until the buds start to open.

* Prepare for a fall full of flowers by paying a little extra attention to your garden. Cut off spent blooms from roses, annuals and perennials, then give them a boost of fertilizer. Make sure to water plants before feeding. Roses will rebloom about six to eight weeks after deadheading.

* Indoors, start seedlings for fall vegetable planting, including bunching onion, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, radicchio and lettuce.

* Sow seeds of perennials in pots for fall planting including yarrow, coneflower and salvia.

Contact Us

Send us a gardening question, a post suggestion or information about an upcoming event.  sacdigsgardening@gmail.com

Taste Spring! E-cookbook

Strawberries

Find our spring recipes here!

Taste Fall! E-cookbook

Muffins and pumpkin

Find our fall recipes here!

Taste Winter! E-cookbook

Lemon coconut pancakes

Find our winter recipes here!

Food in My Back Yard (FIMBY) Series

Lessons learned during a year of edible gardening

WINTER

Is edible gardening possible indoors?

Hints for choosing tomato seeds

Starting in seed starting

Why winter is the perfect time to plant fruit trees

When to plant? Consider staggering your transplants

How to squeeze more food into less space

Potatoes from the garden

Plant a fruit tree now -- for later

Win the weed war by tackling them in winter

Tips for planting bare-root trees, shrubs and vegetables

Time to give vegetable seedlings some more space

Ways to win the fight against weeds

FALL

Add asparagus to your edible garden

Soggy soil and what to do about it

Plant artichokes now; enjoy for years to come

It's late November, and your peach tree needs spraying

What to do with all those fallen leaves?

Prepare now for colder weather in the edible garden

Plant a pea patch for you and your garden

As citrus season begins, advice for backyard growers

Change is in the autumn air 

We don't talk (enough) about beets

Fava beans do double duty

Seeds or transplants for cool-season veggies?

How to prolong the fall tomato harvest 

SUMMER

Time to shut it down? 

How to get the most out of your pumpkin patch

Summer-to-fall transition time for evaluation, planning

To pick or not to pick those tomatoes?

: Put worms to work for you

Grow food while saving water

Enhance your food with edible flowers

Why won't my tomatoes turn red?

A squash plant has mosaic virus, and it's not pretty

Does this plant need water?

 Tear out that sad plant or baby it? Midsummer decisions

How to grow summer salad greens

 Weird stuff that's perfectly normal

SPRING

Help pollinators help your garden

Battling early-season tomato pests

Make your own compost

Where are the bees when you need them?

How to help tomatoes thrive on hot days

Your plants can tell you more than any calendar can

Maintain soil moisture with mulch for garden success

What's (already) wrong with my tomato plants?

Should you stock up on fertilizer? (Yes!)

Grow culinary herbs in containers

When to plant summer vegetables

Don't be fooled by these garden myths

Fertilizer tips: How to 'feed' your vegetables for healthy growth