Beyond Bananas! Subtropical Fruits for So. Cal. w/Richard Reid

Richard Reid has been an avid gardener for as long as he can remember. Growing up in San Diego, with its 365-day growing season, never a day went by when he was not getting his hands dirty. 

After finishing his PhD in Chemistry at the University of California Santa Barbara, Richard returned to San Diego and moved out to the East County to start a life and backyard garden. Soon, after settling in, a chance encounter with a forlorn potted jaboticaba, Myrciaria cauliflora Berg., at the old Simpson’s Nursery would change his life forever. He had been bitten by the exotic fruit bug and started collecting and growing every exotic fruit he could find. Time passed, and he left that collection, but not his interest in exotics. He currently lives in Carmel Valley with his wife, daughter and far too many potted plants on a too small suburban lot.

His main plant interests are finding new species of fruit to grow in Southern California as well as “zone pushing,” trying to figure out just what tropical fruits might be able to adapt to our climate zones.

• Social hour begins at 6 PM. We invite guests to bring cuttings and flowers from their garden to display before the meeting
• Presentations begin at 6:45 PM and will also be via zoom.
• Free for SDHS Members; $15 Non-members, $10 Non-members via zoom
• Free, easy parking at the Congregation Beth Israel.  The parking entrance is off of Golden Haven Drive.  If free parking places are full, park in the lower level of paid lot at the far end of the free parking lot and validate your parking ticket at the guard station or outside of the chapel.