This is the time of the year to spray deciduous fruit trees with dormant spray. It kills the over wintering diseases, like peach leaf curl, rust, powdery mildew, and more. You spray it right on the bare branches of the tree. Spray thoroughly, to the point of runoff. I use sulfur spray with horticultural oil mixed together in the spray tank. 
The oil kills overwintering bugs that hide in the cracks and crevices during winter. Organic gardeners should be sure to do a dormant spray, as it will mean using less sprays later in the season.
If you have apricots use copper instead of sulfur. It does the same thing as sulfur, but wont damage the apricot plant like sulfur will.
I’ll be holding a winter care of fruit tree workshop in January. Follow the linkhttp://www.thegoldengecko.com/workshops.htm to our web page where we have posted the dates and times.
The hills are dotted with the beautiful fruit of the Toyon. You’ll see them on dry slopes, usually about six to ten feet tall, shiny green leaves, and bright red berries. The scientific name of this common shrub is Heteromeles arbutifolia. Toyon adapts to a broad habitat in California and into Baja California. It grows as an evergreen shrub or small tree on semi-arid foothills and in dry canyons in the Coastal Range and along the western slopes of the Sierra.
Toyon is also known as “California Holly” and “Christmas Berry.” Seen covered with shiny scarlet berries among its thick, holly-like green leaves in midwinter these nicknames are well deserved. As it grew upon the foothills above a then new Southern California subdivision, Toyon’s nickname gave its name to “Hollywood Hills.” Toyon is cultivated by gardeners. It is drought resistant, provides blooms of creamy white in spring, presents scarlet berries in fall, and tolerates shaping by pruning.
Now you know where the name “Hollywood” came from.
On the way back from Southern California we stopped at the Mission San Juan Batista. I like this mission since it has a section of the historical El Camino Real, the kings highway. This is the road the mission founders used when setting up and supplying the missions.
We also came across an old Cork Oak Tree. 
Quercus suber is the tree which cork for wine bottles comes from. The bark is peeled off every so often to manufacture the cork. Monica stands beside the tree. 
If you love early California history, and a town that seems right out of the past, make sure you stop at The Mission San Juan Batista. http://sjbca.com/
The Gardens at Disneyland are really quite spectacular. Most people don’t notice all the work that goes into caring for a garden that is visited by millions. 
The gardeners at Disneyland have created displays that are really a treat. While climbing trough the Tarzan tree house, formally The Swiss Family Robinson tree house, I came across these plants with the interesting botanical signs made out of pieces of bamboo. I think I might be the only person taking pictures of these all day, but I just found them charming.
