Plant delivery today. The last one of 2010. We installed fruit trees in these rectangular redwood planter boxes I designed. It was pretty cold out there early this morning.

Trees were Fugi Apple, Granny Smith, Bing Cherry, Black Tart Cherry, Washington Navel Orange and Nagumi Kumquat.

We installed electrical outlets in each box so we can add Christmas lights to the trees, especially the citrus, because the heat of the lights helps protect against frost damage. LED lights don’t work – not hot enough.

Below – the Ag Inspector checked the plants for pests. Nursery shipments to Napa County are inspected for wine grape pests – the Glassy Winged Sharpshooter and Light Brown Apple Moth.

I love this Orange kniphofia. – Kniphofia rooperi. It’s already flowering in winter in Napa. I got it from San Marcos Growers. Its super drought tolerant but it won’t die if you over water it, like some other kniphofias – I don’t want to name names, but its yellow. I planted the Kniphofia rooperi by oak trees.

Check out the frost on the ground. My black mulch looks gray. I know there was a blizzard on the east coast this week but this is cold for us.