It's orange pickin' time in the Valley

At one point when we were buying our house, someone mentioned that the two orange trees on our side yard are from the original San Fernando Valley groves. It's unclear if that's true, but, these are old trees and, in fact, they're dying as are many older and weakened orange trees across the Valley. Symptoms of the disease appear to be thinning leaf cover and what looks like burnt stems and branches. A citrus expert at Cal State Northridge, told us that many of these 50-year-old orange trees are being killed off by a fungus that clogs the xylem starting from its roots and works its way upward. There appears to be no cure.

However long the trees have, we're enjoying the delicious fruit.