This Christmas, my best ever (ok since I was a child) present are the lemons on my Improved Meyer lemon tree. I have had this tree for 7 years now and it has had zero, nada, zilch anything on it besides leaves and aphids. It started out as a nice sized 3-gallon potted plant which after being repotted in a 5-gallon can, started to get shorter and shorter as it weathered the seasons and frost. Cover it and it froze back a couple inches – don't cover it and the same result! Everyone else's trees were thriving, blooming, and PRODUCING fruit. Finally I potted it in a 36- inch orangery pot and decided to let Nature have her way.

Down went the canopy along with the living wood -- this thing was going down s-l-o-w-l-y! Last year, I didn't cover it and just left it alone, the old sink or swim method; and then lo and behold: blooms, lots and lots of them! I just knew that the mini 1-inch lemons would drop as in the past like big green raindrops. But guess what! At the end of the last bloom flush, 22 lemons were still stuck on! Right now, that little (4-feet high, almost 7 if you count the pot height) tree is proudly carrying all its fruit to ripeness. I guess it just needed a “little” time. This lemon has outlasted a ‘Gold Nugget' mandarin known for its frost and cold hardiness; a ‘Washington Navel' orange and 2 other types of citrus trees known for their cold hardiness. Why do I keep trying with this tree? Meyer lemons which are believed to be a cross between lemon and orange parents are considered to be one of the best lemons for baking. And I do like to bake! On the other hand, my Mother had one for years and, of course, my Mother taught me to garden; I should be able to not only keep it alive but thriving.

Brought from Beijing, China, in 1908 by Frank Mayer who was with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, this tree is a moderately vigorous tree which is cold hardy, rather shrubby and is relatively small. This makes for a garden sized tree that blooms throughout the year and attracts both bees and hummingbirds to the yard. It adapts better to the garden better than the common lemon trees or the lime trees. And, although technically not a lemon, its fruits are a suitable substitute in recipes calling for lemon juice or zest.

This little tree produces fruits that are not normally shipped commercially as they are too tender and juicy; but it is excellent for the home orchard where the “shipping” consists of maybe a few hundred yards by hand.

So now that the lemon tree is “working”, now I have to go and read up on “blood” oranges to see it I can get mine to do something! Sometimes, all a garden puzzle needs is time!

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