Tangerine reality!

Look at these Page mandarins (or tangerines)!

This is our row of mandarins, all different varieties. Six trees in all, with the Page being up front and the first to ripen, and I just tried my first one. Still a bit tart, but I would not be one to complain about that. And with this current weather (low around 45 this morning, high around 78 and more of the same to come), it is perfect weather for bringing out the bright color and the blend of acid and sugar that makes Page one of the finest mandarins.

Next down the row is the Pixie, which ripens much later, but you can see some of the fruit starting to color. Then there is the very ordinary Owari Satsuma (no fruit this year), followed by another real prize: a rare Russian Satsuma. (Where is it warm enough in Russia to grow citrus? Along their short Black Sea coast, I suppose.) There are three more varieties farther down the row, but they are obscured in this view by the monstrosity of a Eureka lemon. Off in the far distance you can see one of the nearby massive Hass avocado groves that make this area the avocado capital of the world.