Grapefruit

This time of year we have an abundance of grapefruit picked from our large tree in our backyard.  We have fewer this year, though, due to the big windstorm in January.  We have so much fruit every year that we ship several boxes to family in Idaho.

The last four years we've made a grapefruit cake from a recipe we got out of the LA Times a few years ago.  It's adapted from the Brown Derby Restaurant, a popular hollywood hangout.  We always bake our grapefruit cake Oscar weekend in tribute to Hollywood.

Grapefruit Cake. Recipe adapted from the Brown Derby Restaurant.

One adaptation that we've made is replacing fresh pieces of grapefruit (located on the top of the cake) with candied grapefruit rind.  It's a real treat that we also only make this time of year. Recipe is from Maida Heatter's Book of Great Desserts.

Enjoy your grapefruit trees.  If you're just getting around to looking for your own piece of land in Palm Springs, be sure and plant a grapefruit tree once you have it.  They love the desert heat....and there's not much better than going outside your door and picking a fresh grapefruit off the tree!

  

Texas Mountain Laurel (Sophora secundiflora)

The Texas Mountain Laurel is one of my favorite plants.  I first remember seeing them in Bend Bend National Park in west Texas during a camping trip when I was 14 yrs old or so.  They've become quite popular in the Austin area (where I grew up); you see them in yards, along boulevard medians, and in shopping center parking lots.  They're not terribly common in Palm Springs.  There is a planting of them in Palm Desert at one of the shopping centers.  This one pictured is in my front yard.  It's done quite well, and this year, for the first time, had multiple blooms. The blooms come early in the desert (February this year) and have an intoxicating "grape" smell.  They remind me a bit of wisteria blooms.  My plant has grown about a foot a year with all the growth in the spring just after blooming.  It holds up well with the summer heat and easily handles any frosts we occasionally experience.  I think they look best trained as a small tree with a "natural" branching structure.  Do not trim as a bush!

Trained as a small tree with a mature height of 15-20'.

Evergreen with bright green leaves and stunning late winter blossoms.

Blossoms smell like grape. Bees love them!

Russell Hill, deasy/penner&partners, 760.902.3121