Citrus City
All that blossoms isn't fruit
The rain has given way to sun, mostly. The days are longer. The Santa Anas are doing their best to mar spring’s arrival, but luckily where we live they’re mostly a mild inconvenience. And the trees are full of citrus, or the blossoms of citrus to come.
It’s one of the miracles of this city that several times a year, fruit fills trees—so much fruit that you can pick it from the street, relieving whoever owns that tree of the burden of harvesting more than they can use and more than the squirrels can eat. Or at least that’s what I tell myself. Street fruit, like a lot of street finds (furniture, food, wear) is hit or miss. Often times I am extremely proud of myself for procuring a morsel off a top branch only to taste something so sour my face collapses on itself.
I don’t just steal fruit. I also grow it. We have four trees in pots in our front yard concrete. Three were inherited from my friend and old roommate Frankie. She’s half Italian and therefore legally required to have fruit trees if possible. When she moved to a new apartment without outdoor space we inherited them. I believe they’re lemon, lime, and grapefruit. I’m not entirely sure because the lime seems to be the only one with a consistent yield, and by that I mean I think we get one to two a year.
The fourth tree was an extremely thoughtful wedding present from my sister—an Improved Meyer Lemon Tree (emphasis mine). This tree blossoms beautifully and then yields…one to two fruits a year. I’m starting to think the issue is not with the garden but the gardener.
To give myself credit, I did do some research about the trees. And my sister gave us detailed instructions and compost pellets with the Improved Meyer Lemon. But I think sometimes just being outside in a pot opens trees up to a bunch of stuff that they didn’t fully prepare for, despite various improvements. Wind, rain, the pollution constantly falling on us all—this is a lot for a tree to take, and a couple of lemons seem pretty damn impressive when you really think about the situation.
But even if every blossom doesn’t turn into something edible it’s still nice to look at. And if you need to make lemonade? You can always steal from your neighbor
I loved this latest Safe n’ Warm. As a suggestion to help with your citrus you might want to check with my sister Carol who has great success with hers. Her email address is cboutard@pacificu.edu. She is great with advise!
Just catching up on the last three posts -- grinning ear-to-ear, loving your topics, and appreciating your side-wise humor, full of unexpected twists and turnabouts. So happy you keep 'em coming, no matter what LA and life itself is dishing up! Covid, a baby, rain, you name it, you write it!