Tags: 2012, Bruce Blavin, Fruit, Meeting, rare fruit, Season 2011-2012

For our April meeting, Bruce Blavin, the current Chairman of the West Los Angeles California Rare fruit Growers Chapter, presented an introduction to the California Rare Fruit Growers (CRFG) organization and then gave a photo presentation of a day in his garden, showing a wide varieties of rare fruit trees that can be grown in the Southern California. He brought some fruit charts fruit currently grown from the garden.

Bruce started growing fruit trees when he was 8 or 9 years old in Woodland Hills, CA. He considers himself very fortunate to have had the opportunity to travel to many countries in the world. Using the CRFG’s website, Bruce gained the knowledge and courage to attempt to grow fruit from around the world.

After attending a few meetings he joined CRFG about 5 years ago, to further expand his knowledge of growing exotic fruits and to share his experiences with others. One of his greatest pleasures is travel and to enjoy local foods and especially exotic fruits. As he explored more nurseries, his interests expanded so that now he has a diverse collection of plants and he grows over 250 varieties of fruit trees from around the world. In addition, to the fruit trees there are about 2,500 different plants on the acre of land surrounding his home.

The West LA Chapter of CRFG conducts grafting demonstrations for the local high schools, teaching students how to graft apples. Each student grafts their own tree, which they keep.

Bruce holds a Biology degree from UCSD and is the owner of a property management company and a typing service. He and his wife have been married for 26 years and have 2 lovely daughters. The one constant in all of his experiences with gardeners has been how generous and friendly this group of people has been to him and his wife over the past 10 years. Bruce considers himself an advanced amateur in gardening and he hopes to bring his life long curiosity and knowledge of gardening to inspire others to do likewise.