MORE Photos of Luther Burbank's Farm in Bloom!

I didn't include these photos in my last photo-essay on the Farm (you can find that article HERE ) mostly because of the horrendously SLOOOOOWWWW upload speed I have on my stupid dial-up connection (which is all that's available in my area -- unless, of course, you're John D. Rockfeller... Well, maybe not him as he is critically dead, I think, but one of those other millionaire guys perhaps...). As it is, a photo-essay that includes 10 photos (even lo-res ones) takes me about an hour and a half to post. I have the patience to do it but it means there's that much more opportunity for something to mess up and, believe me, something often DOES. >:^\

In looking back over the photos I'd left out of my last photo-essay on the Farm, however, I thought some of them were pretty cool and you all might like to see them. So, I changed my mind and did this second article to include them. :o)

 Here's one of several catalpa trees at the Farm in bloom:

The catalpa is a deciduous tree that is extremely hardy and drought-tolerant. It's large, heart-shaped leaves make it an ideal shade tree and it has the added benefit of these lovely flowers in the spring!

Here's a shot showing several of the blossoms of Burbank's hybrid "Blushing Beauty" rose:

The delectable looking blossoms of the blushing beauty are only half of the story -- the perfume of these flowers is simply divine!

Here is only one small section of a huge stand of hybrid blackberries in bloom at the Farm:

I try to make at least 2 or 3 blackberry cobblers from Mr. Burbank's berries each year and, believe me, they are DEE-LISH!

Here's a shot of the "trifoliate oranges" at the Farm showing the unripe, small, fuzzy, pithy fruit:

At this stage, they look like limes, don't they? You really can't eat the trifoliate's fruit. These trees are used as "root stock" for various varieties of citrus because they are drought-tolerant and frost-resistant down to about minus 40-degrees!

Here are a couple of shots of a very unusual fruit that you hardly ever see -- it's called "Goumi" ("Japanese Cherry") -- a member of the stone-fruit family. The proper name is "Elaeganus multiflora".

The Goumi is another one of those unusual, edible plants that Burbank was working on to try and bring to market in the United States. Few people know that it was Burbank who originally brought kiwis and pineapple quince to consumers in the U.S.

Here's a shot of one of the fruits of the Chinese quince ripening on one of Mr. Burbank's trees:

I don't know why you don't see more Chinese quince trees around... They're hardy and beautiful in several different aspects: Their interesting "giraffe-like" mottled bark, huge gorgeous fruit that makes wonderful jelly and very pretty spring blossoms.

Here's a shot of something you don't often see, either. These are the flowers of a chestnut tree:

Burbank hybridized the trees on the Farm using an American variety and a Chinese variety. All of the chestnut trees on the Farm date from Burbank's time (1800s-1920s).

Here's a shot of neat"mixture of "mock orange" blossoms and a couple of little, red blossoms of a climbing rose that has climbed itself right up into the branches of the mock orange:

Kind of a neat combo, huh? :o)

And here's another combination of "Catalina Cherry" blossoms and a creamy-white rose:

Catalina cherries bear edible fruit that look like normal cherries which ripen very late in the summer; however, they have GIANT "pits" which make them a lot of "work" for very little fruit. They are very drought-tolerant and disease-resistant, though, so Burbank was probably working on trying to produce a hybrid of Catalinas and ordinary cherries. Catalina cherries are native only to Catalina Island off the coast of Southern California.

I hope you enjoyed this other look at Luther Burbank's Gold Ridge Experiment Farm in Sebastopol, Sonoma County, Northern California! For more info on the Farm and the Western Sonoma County Historical Society (the "umbrella" organization for the Farm), you can access their website HERE .

'Til next time... From the ole singlewide here in the wild hinterlands of Northern California --

luv,

jean