We’re close. I’m 45 min south of Staunton in Brownsburg.
Halcyon Days cider orchard is just across the street. They have a walkthrough labyrinth that’s pretty cool.
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An update on my Edible Landscaping plants I received a week and a half ago. The single Issai Kiwi died within 5 days of receiving it. It looked really bad when it arrived.
The Ichi Ki Kei Jiro persimmon looks exactly as when it arrived. There was no active growth on it when I planted it. I’d imagine it will wait until next year to get going.
The Gerardi mulberry actually sent out a new bud growth and when I looked just now it has two flowers. Surprised me.
I’ll try to let the fruit make it to maturity. I’ll bag it at some point for those two flowers.
So I’d say the Girardi is doing well. I don’t think I’d get new shoot growth if the roots weren’t doing well.
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Wow that’s fast, do you get your money back? All of mine plants are still alive.
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Hey I got $7 back.
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Went by there today in advance of their fall festival September 2nd. Limited parking and one lane dirt driveway should make for fun.
I was looking for figs. The LSU Purple in various sizes had leaf rust. I didnt need to bring trouble home so didn’t buy anything. Lots of root bound figs with limited new growth. Apple and grapes looked good. Hardy kiwis as well. Time was short and didn’t look around much.
Container rings on Carlos muscadines looked handy. Wish I had some.
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Never thought this might be anything but just the end of summer behavior. It’s quite common here in South Louisiana for fig trees to look horrible and even drop their leaves before October. They are fine come spring.
This is my LSU Gold. Horrible location sun wise so it’s not a well shaped tree nor it is very productive.
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I was thinking of visiting this Saturday. Thanks for the heads up.
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Their schedule for the day is online. Tours start early.
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Not sure if you shared an update on this.
It would be great if you could post some photos of your Gerardi, and maybe describe how much it has grown to date.
Shibumi
How is your Gerardi doing and how much growth did it put on since you got it?
I bought two from Lucile @ Whitman’s Farms and I am a bit anxious. Not sure what to expect in terms of growth, taste, and how long before they produce good quality fruits.
It would be nice if you also can post a recently taken photo.
Cheers-
I only bought one tree from them and it was a fig. Tiny but well lignified roots the tree grew fast and produced right with the older more established trees in no time. It was huge next season. And It was only $7. Btw the Texas Ba1 they sell is identical to a Smith. That’s what I got.
I actually did post an update here. The consensus is that the Whitman Farms Gerardis are the real deal.
As chance would have it, I happened to make an effort to track the progress of one of my Gerardis over time. Below is a photo timeline of one of my Gerardis, planted in the late fall of 2023.
Planting in October 2023:
April 2024 (note the developing fruit despite just being a whip):
Deer got to it a few weeks later and ate all the leaves that weren’t protected, so it had to start over:
By midsummer 2024, it had more than recovered:
August 2024:
Late November, 2024:
January 2025:
Swelling buds in late March, 2025:
Almost fully leafed out a month later (April 2025):
First week of May, 2025 (note developing fruit):
Most recent pic:
It has grown out from its scruddy little cage, but the deer check on it every week and prune what they can reach. Mulberry trees are a great way to summon deer, in case you want some.
I haven’t been able to try any of the fruit yet because I have a young nephew who is at least as diligent as the deer, and has opposable thumbs. He likes them, though. Based on what @TNHunter has reported, it sounds like the fruit may get better and better as the tree gets more established.
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Not grown much, though I’ve been enjoying eating a mulberry or two every few days.
I need to clean the area and remove the grass from around the tree soon. It’s been rather dry here. There is no new apical growth at the moment from either branch.
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Thanks for taking the time to share this very nice & detailed update. I read that Gerardi can be a slower grower Mulberry compared to others, and that kinda suits me well. We don’t have much grounds for a full size mulberry tree so we ended up getting two Gerardi from Lucile and a female weeping mulberry from OGW. They all showed up nicely packaged and with fruits forming already.
Your tree looks very happy, I imagine it would’ve been much larger if it wasn’t being frequently visited by the deer.
That is a beautiful dog you have. I miss my German Shepherd… It’s been 18 years since he left us.
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I got a few things from them and also drove there for one of their sales events. Was a nice scenic drive but pretty long from where I’m at. It does very much have the hippe feel that someone else mentioned.
You can get pretty good deals going in person and getting stuff, some of the stuff was even on clearance, but in person only.
My only complaint about them is that when I did an online order from them, they sent me a gooseberry that I’ve dubbed “not black velvet” as it’s thornless, and when I contacted them about it they said black velvet has very few throns so it was the right thing …
But I got 2 of the white nanking, Carmine jewel, and a methyle plum from them and they are doing well.
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I’ve ordered once or twice from them and really pleased with all ive gotten. But I’m mostly happy with all the online nurseries I’ve ordered from. I prefer smaller plants, saving money up front also not worrying about something being too rootbound etc
But the jujube I got from them were rather large, growing like weeds and full of blooms currently. I got two fruits last year and this year looks to be a huge step up in production.
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When I went in person all their jujube were about 6 ft tall and a lot of them had fruit. I couldn’t fit one in my car otherwise I would have gotten one.
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