Vicarious winter gardening - or Show me da blooms!

Beautiful Mrs.J!!

Very nice! Must smell nice too.

They are very sweet, and smell good too - Meyer Lemons - its a very small tree that has been moved out of a huge pot into the ground and is much happier! We had about 10 lemons the first year and hopefully we'll double that this year......

I plan to get one. Of course I'll have to bring mine in the house for winter. I'd like to try a lime too.

Just find one of those "Cocktail trees" and you'll have lemons, limes and "I don't remember what" all on one tree - a friend of mine has one and she loves it!

How do they do that? Have different fruit growing from one tree? It must be grafted on, but does it work? Doesn't the lime branch that's been grafted on to a nectarine tree get uppity and move out on its own, eventually? It seems so unnatural, to me. Like the Queen of Hearts, painting the white roses red, instead. I dunno, whatever floats your boat. And are they small enough to bring inside in the winter? Like lighter and less filling. Or peanut butter and chocolate. Sorry, this kind of thinking belongs on a different thread - all of a sudden I'm in to old TV commercials!

xx, A disorganized thinker.

Lovely shot of your lemon blossom, mrsj. My Meyer Lemon had 4 nice lemons on it when we arrived in Fla. at the end of October, and I've just finished enjoying the last of them in my iced teas. No more blooms yet, but this one usually bears year-around. Victor, I think you'll like this tree. I also have one of the dwarf patio varieties, but no fruit yet this year. It was loaded with fruit when I bought it last year, but I had to pinch off many of the fruits in order to get it established. I hate doing that, but it has to put down deep roots to get through the dry spells. It has lots of new growth and is looking great, but no flowers yet.

Looking forward to it. Love the scent and fruits of citrus!

Carrie - I honestly don't know how they do it, I've always assumed by grafting...and they do not "revert" to one thing, nor do they get pushy with each other......like any grafted fruit tree you just need to make sure you don't let anything grow out from below the graft....my friend has had one for several years and loves it!

they do have "Patio tree" size, so if you put pot on one of those drip trees on wheels you could bring it in during the winter....

hmm Mrsj - I kill ordinary indoor plants, let alone fruit-bearing ones, let alone grafted fruit cocktail trees. It's enough for me to have Amaryllis, Paperwhites and to TRY to keep my ordinary indoor plants alive. Very interesting information, though - thank you!
x, C

the fruit cocktail trees always catch my eye also... never knew anyone who had any

I got out there today to take a few shots of some blooming or fruiting things to share with those of you who are just itching to get out and get your hands in the dirt! The first shot is of a Brilliant Red hibiscus cutting. This is one of the old cultivars that were a staple in this town all my life. It is a very pretty red. They are all over the golf course where my DH plays in a league each week, and he loved the color, so he brought me a cutting, and Voila!:

Here is my pineapple sage that I whacked all the way back and dug up to travel south. It has bloomed constantly, and I thought the Security Sign we put at the entrance to my back yard patio garden needed something to soften the message to those who aren't criminals. LOL

Some of my tomatoes are beginning to ripen.......there's a pretty big one hiding behind the green ones......it won't be long now!

The dill is very full and I've enjoyed cooking with it often. The herb garden area is doing well.......

The sunflowers we planted from seed are much shorter than last year, but they are beginning to form flower heads.......

Nice to see signs of garden life Louise - thanks!

Lovely! That tomato looks yummy!!!!!!

Thanks, Victor and Celeste! I thought I'd give you the "developmental" shots....even though the full color is yet to come! I just replanted my cukes and green beans, so they are just in the beginning stages again for Round Two!

Hope everyone is tucked in, nice and warm up there!!

Thanks - from the gardening developmentally delayed!

Candyce, Candyce!!!! My "original" Thanksgiving cactus is FINALLY blooming! I guess it has gotten over being dumped out of the car onto the parking lot pavement on the trip down. I thought it would just skip this year, but no..........it's got little buds coming all over it. Maybe it will become the Valentine's Day cactus! LOL

Valentine's Day needs its own cactus, instead of all those poor mini roses they sell up, here most of which die by March 1st! Bravo, Louise. I wonder how the genuine criminals feel about the pineapple sage softening their warning sign?
x, Carrie

I hope they don't steal the sage and the sign..........LOL I'm just amazed we haven't set off the alarm by accident yet!

You think bad guys are into pineapple sage??? x, C

Maybe they can smoke it! Who knows how they think!

beautiful shots Louise... those oranges made me hungry

:)

Thanks, Allison! That tree has been giving us great fresh juice for weeks now.

Nothing better than fresh squeezed OJ

Making me wish I were visiting Louise, right about now. x, C

That 28 degree cold snap made the juice very sweet......a glass a day keeps the winter away! LOL

::::::::::::POUTING:::::::::::

Nice pics Louise! Eleanor

Thank you, Eleanor! How are things on the Hudson???

I'm not there, but I'll guess C-O-L-D. x, C

Things are going to the birds along the Hudson (or is it the dogs)!! It's not too bad up here. We had some snow earlier in the week, some last night and colder temperatures coming - in other words it's winter!! Colin is keeping me very busy!! Eleanor

Glad you have the pretty birds to watch! That photo is really pretty with the snow and the red cardinal! I hope Colin gives you a break once in awhile! LOL

New Yellow Wing hibiscus we planted yesterday.....love the pretty golden color....the photograph doesn't pick up the golden tone as it really is.

Very pretty, Louise!

Thanks, Victor! We're really enjoying the hibiscus. I actually stumbled across some cultivars named after 3 of my childhood friends. Their Dad was the hybridizer. I have found one of them, but haven't yet found a source for the other two. We are going to go to a hibiscus grower in the area to see if we can find one. Cool, huh?

Very cool! Have you checked online?