- Author: Kay Evans
Now that I have put away the Christmas decorations and have taken down the tree, it's time to evaluate what is going on outside.
We have had some freezing temperatures but looking around my yard, my citrus trees are looking lovely.
My sweet orange tree, Citrus sinensis, Scientific Name: Rutaceae, was loaded with oranges and we started picking and giving them away in late December. This tree was planted right before we bought this house in 1995. It was on the side yard sitting in the middle of rocks and tan-colored bark. We wanted to utilize that side of the house, so my husband moved the tree to the backyard. It didn't produce for five years. I thought we had killed it by moving it.
This was not the case. The tree was being pruned at the wrong time and the wrong way. The tree had survived the transplanting and it became established. My husband likes to prune and cut back trees, bushes, and plants. This act of pruning has been an ongoing discussion at our house. I heavily relied on my Western Garden Book as a great source of information when I needed to learn about my yard. So, I let my husband read about pruning. He started successfully pruning and lovingly trimming this tree and, in the winter of 2000, we started to get an abundant crop of oranges. They are the sweetest and juiciest and we look forward to December and our tree producing another great “bumper crop” as my Dad would say.
Twenty-five years later, we still get our bumper crop of oranges and realize this tree may live to produce oranges for another twenty-five years.