Meyer Lemon season ends, and begins

In this time of great transition in New England, when every tree and garden plant is either blooming or starting into new growth, I thought that I might take a break and focus on some tropical activity. At least, with what is happening in the greenhouse.  I’ve grown lemons since I was a young child, when I ordered my first citrus to grow as a house plant, from a Park’s Seed catalog. In those days, in the early 1970’s, the idea that one could grow citrus fruit indoors seemed very exotic, yet today, it is less fanciful. Still, if one was interested in growing citrus in a house, or greenhouse, there is perhaps no better plant than the Meyer Lemon. A fact which I just recently discovered.

My one, small Meyer Lemon has produced well over two dozen fruits this winter, and it has provided us with fresh tasty and juicy Meyer Lemons ( a taste which is sweeter than typical lemons, said to taste more like an orange) for use in tea and cooking. I have to admit that I am addicted to their sweet flavor, which I would describe as tasting more like an orange blossom, they are incredible to pick and smell during the winter, when I run out to the greenhouse after a snow storm, to pick some for tea. This tiny crop has lasted us all winter, and there are still a few left on the tree, even though it has started to bloom already. This past weekend I moved the plant outdoors so that the bees could do their thing, ensuring a new crop for next winter. Now, I can use the rest of the lemons with our newly harvested honey, and make believe that we are the luckiest folk on earth!

Busy week this week, few posts due to us hosting the American Primrose Society National Show social events, which start tomorrow with a cocktail party and dinner at the house, and then the national show at the Tower Hill Botanic Garden on Saturday and Sunday. If you live in the Boston area, drop by at see the show, it lasts from Saturday at 12:00 noon until Sunday evening.