My encyclopedia of medicinal plants by A. Chevallier lists lemon as a major herb (100 in total listed). also in the major herbs list are celery and garlic (and corn, for the silk, avocado, for leaves, fruit and bark). The minor herbs list includes numerous edibles such as carrot, onion, watermelon, chicory and cabbage. Lemon is indicated for rheumatism, as an antiseptic, and to strengthen blood vessels against various problems. 8 uses for lemon are discussed in the self-help section. Then there are the non-medicinal but utterly delicious concoctions known as “preserved lemons” and “lemon marmalade”.
I am with Richard; I would buy a bigger place. When we were shopping for our house, it was all about the biggest yard we could afford and the house was secondary. Space is at a premium at our place; we are on a 1/12 of acre with about 60% of it taken up by house, long driveway, and garage.
3 Trees are just too few! But if I was forced to pick only 3, I would go with what is more expensive or hard to find in the store. I would go with:
Big JIm Loquat (on Quince if I get to pick rootstock for dwarfing). I love mine. Its about 13 years old, and has been in the ground since 2009. Its easy to keep only about 7 feet tall, but I pick great crops every year. It can handle greywater okay and a lot less water than many of my other trees. I can’t get good Loquats at the store or farmers market so its a must have. The flowers smell so lovely and it has attractive foliage all year. I got mine from a CRFG member that grew it, but I have seen them at Lowes and a nursery by me called H&H, but these are most likely grafted on loquat seedings. I see loquat trees most often available in March and April at independent nurseries.
A Fuyu type Persimmon. My neighbor grows Izu and its only about 10-12 feet and she rarely trims it. So for space, its a pretty good choice. She even grows it in half day sun and gets decent crops. She special ordered it from Armstrong. She wanted a variety that produced around her birthday in late September, so she went with Izu. However, any PCNA Fuyu would be fine (but I do have a favorite unknown cultivar that I got from an older neighbor and grafted it on to Kaki. Its not Jiro.) I like persimmon trees because they are okay with less water, few pest, produce when the summer bounty is over, and have pretty fall leaves. They are just super trees for SoCal. The fruits are available in the stores but at a premium.
A Violette De Bourdeaux Fig It isn’t as rampant of a grower as some of my other figs, tastes awesome, tolerates less than full day sun. I rarely find good figs in the store and they are expensive when I get them at farmers market. Most independant nurseries carry this variety or can special order. Lots of folks grow it and share cuttings.
Now if I could plant just four, I would also plant a Bearss Lime or a Lemon. Its is such a blessing in SoCal to walk out the back door and grab a lime or lemon pretty much anytime I need it.
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Yes, A. Chevallier is know for his many books. But he is generally not a source of information on clinical studies.
It does not matter. clinical studies have been corrupted for a long time. ancestral tradition rarely is wrong.
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I should have mentioned, I do not only have room for 3, in my introduction thread, you can see I have 8 trees so far. The reason for narrowing it down, is to see what are your favorite s that you couldn’t live without (sorta). I plan to add maybe just a few more trees so I want to include ones you guys have mentioned.
PS, Let’s stay on topic no need to argue about the uses of lemons.
You might want to check out these polls I created last spring. It lists many of the members favorites for each type of fruit.
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autumn beauty fruits are defintely not available at the grocery store, since grafted stock is also rarely available-- even as scion wood. But as soon as you get one for yourself, you and your kids/grandkids are ‘vested’ for life(considering you live in sunny so cal), as if it was a pension plan with unlimited liquidity…
you could start with a li juju, which is also very desirable and relatively available, and then just buy bud wood later.
best to try as many cultivars grafted on your tree, and just keep those you really like. Quite sure though you’d already like li when in its prime.
figs are a must-have for me too, same with jujus which i really can’t live without.
pomegranates and 'simmons are also excellent options.
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I really do have to add a fig to this list of three. There are many obscure figs I could name but they’re hard to find and very expensive when you do (cuttings go for $100 plus on ebay), so I’m going to narrow it down to one of the more common but very full flavored purple figs like Negronne, Petite Negri, Emalyn’s Purple or Violette de Bordeaux.
not growing figs is a crime against humanity and the environment/water conservation, especially if your growing conditions permit 
sapote is something i wish i could grow successfully here, btw. I see lowe’s selling it every now and then, which is so tempting…
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Which Sapote; e.g., White, Green, Black, Chico, etc. ?
edulis itself, and almost certain suebelle.
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I believe by “edulis” you mean Casimiroa edulis. If not, then here is a list of of several Sapote-named plants:
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yes, and yes
I can also count 16 references in medicine journals on lemons. Of these (from the abstracts) about 10 show protective effects on a variety of ailments. Plus I note that the use of lemon as medicine was independently discovered in India, East Asia, and various parts of the Mediterranean. It is difficult for me to believe in standard medicine, among other things they will prescribe damaging statins to get you out of your optimal cholesterol levels, and to a level where overall mortality increases. But to each his own.
Now check the book I recommended.
My three would be a fig, a Euro pear, a persimmon, a peach, and an apricot tree. (Hey, I never said I could count!) I’m still working out which specific cultivars do best in my microclimate, though. @amh0001, are you coastal or inland?
The peach might be a good, old-fashioned Babcock, partly because they are sweet, low chill, low acid, and delicious, and partly because they are so perfectly round and beautiful hanging on the tree. An aesthetic experience all around. I grafted a babcock scion onto my big seedling peach tree in 2015, and by 2016 I had a branch with SIXTEEN gorgeous perfect peaches. It seemed unreal compared to the scruffy pickings I got from other grafts. (But note that I do spray with copper sulfate for peach leaf curl, or I couldn’t do the Babcocks.)
The pear I’m still working out which do best here, since we get a lot of black spot/scab and fireblight. My huge old Winter Nelis that was here when we moved in needs way more chill than we get here, so I’ve grafted much of it over to other types. Only about a third of them have fruited yet.
The fig is also a puzzle. My 3 year old Desert King does well here, but I find it bland. Maybe it will get better tasting when it’s older or if I step up the fertilizer. I’d love to grow a richer purple fig, but many other figs don’t ripen here! I’ve had to argue that point on this forum because many people think you can grow any fig in California, but I’m in Northern CA and it’s pretty foggy here. Nothing worse than figs falling off in winter, still unripe, as happened with my Brown Turkey.
Persimmon would probably be Hachiya type, although I’ve never tried an American persimmon, nor even a chocolate type (my Maru grafts haven’t fruited yet), so that could change.
And I’ve had a Katy apricot that is fully mature but will not produce fruit, despite full sun, thus I’ve grafted a million others onto it. I have high hopes for the Nicole grafts this year. I grew up with a Blenheim tree, and there’s nothing like a tree-ripened apricot, but I haven’t had a truly ripe one in decades.
This is coming from a person who has never tasted a jujube, and apparently they are life-changing, so take it all with a grain of salt!
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PawPaws, Persimmons, Mulberries / Jujubes
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Hey lizzy,
I am inland. I agree with you that a tree ripened apricot is amazing. I have had Jujube, and they are not super amazing, but they are good. I dont care for the flavor when its fresh, but dried, it has a cool spongy texture and subtle sweetness. I think they are hardy trees tho.
I have 2 figs, Panache and Violet, but I keep them in pots and they are not very happy. I get only a little bit of fruit.
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Hmm, interesting. I want to try both of those figs. I wonder if they are unhappy because of the pot, or that it doesn’t get hot enough.