Re: back to oranges
Janet wrote:
>Our Valencias also ripen orange. Don't know if maybe 'Valencia' is a type,
>having many cultivars within its group?
I've always though of it as being a sort of generic name covering many
varieties - in fact almost anything that isn't a navel , blood or
Seville type. No doubt experienced growers here will put me right.
I've got just one plant - a small bush just over 5 feet tall which, so
I'm assured by the supplier, is a cool tolerant form of the 'Valencia
type' as opposed to one of the 'hardy' hybrids with lemon or Poncirus.
The full hardiness remains to be seen. It overwintered well and
flowered, setting a good amount of fruit in the spring. By June the
oranges were rather larger than golf balls promising to get to a good
size and ripen before the onset of colder weather. An horrendous hail
storm during the second week lashed everything in the garden for over
an hour. Later I saw that all of the fruit had been broken off.
By late July it was in flower again and now there is another crop of
small oranges - most of which are about 1 - 2" in diameter. I'm just
hoping that they will carry on growing slowly and mature as summer
returns. The bush is against a sheltered, sunny wall and I'll cover
it with a layer of horticultural fleece if it gets anywhere close to
freezing. Fingers crossed.
I've just been leafing through the 1945 revised, 'enlarged' edition of
Sander's Encyclopaedia of Gardening. It lists wonderful varieties
such as Citrus aurantium 'bigaradia' (Seville), 'japonica' (Kumquat),
'lusitanica' (Portuguese Orange), 'melitensis' (Blood Orange) and
'variegata'. It also recommends growing them in pots filled with 2
parts turfy loam, 1 part dry cow manure, charcoal, crushed bones and
ballast.
How things have moved on since then!
Dave Poole
TORQUAY UK
It has rained three times this week with a good shower overnight - but
still I have to carry on watering :-(
Night temperatures are holding well though and the Passifloras,
Ipomoea indica, Pandorea and Jasminum polyanthum continue trying to
flower themselves to death :-)
