Our Lychee Tree: Beauty More Than Skin Deep

In early fall, our lychee fruits begin to ripen. The tree is very special to us for two reasons: it was an air layering from a lychee tree planted by the late Kate Sessions, the pioneer horticulturist who designed San Diego's Balboa Park and was responsible for introducing many plants to San Diego from all over the world; and the layering was a gift from another renowned horticulturist and dear friend, Bill Nelson. By September, the pale green and pink fruits magically transform into ruby-red jewels hanging like decorative, clustered baubles against the backdrop of glistening green foliage. Because their pebbly, outer skins are so tough, birds leave them alone and so far, thankfully other varmints have ignored them as well. When you peel the shell, inside is a translucent white fruit that is sweet and juicy - like tasting a tropical ambrosia. Hardy in USDA zones 9b-11, lychee fruits are not only gorgeous to look at, but oh so delicious!

The Early Bird Catches the Worm

I have been tenderly looking after my cool season tomato plantings making sure they have been properly pampered. To my horror, when I checked this morning, one of the plants was totally defoliated! Upon close inspection, what I mistook for a stem, was actually a baby tomato hornworm stretching out in a greedy attempt to reach more succulent tomato leaves. Left to his own devices, this tiny larva would have defoliated all my tomato plants, but fortunately this" early bird" spotted and caught him before he destroyed my entire crop! The pick and squish method is the best control, but when these master camouflage artists are too difficult to find, spray with an organic remedy such as Bt or Spinosad.

Fungus Among Us

Practically overnight, 2 colonies of enormous-sized white mushrooms appeared under the shaded canopy of squash leaves in my raised vegetable bed. "Shrooms" are the fruiting bodies of fungus and establish wherever there is organic matter. Wind, water or organic mulches can carry and spread the spores and is normally indicative of a healthy soil. But these were so gigantic, they were squashing my squash plants, so I removed and put them in a compost pile. Since I am not a mycologist, it was best to compost rather than cook them!

Cruise Control

Bruce and I just returned from a week-long cruise along the coast of the Baja California peninsula, the 775-mile long land mass in northwestern Mexico that separates the Pacific Ocean on the west from the Sea of Cortez on the east with port visits to Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta. The trip was to celebrate our son and daughter-in-law's 10th wedding anniversary, but cruising was also a wonderful way to exhale all the sources of stress and inhale total relaxation.