Hi,

I am looking to buy my husband a plant for Valentines Day - I wanted something like a lemon or orange tree, can someome tell me firstly if they actually can be grown here and if anyone knows where I might be able to buy one - I haven't seen them in my local garden centre.

Many thanks
Sarah

S WHITE wrote:
I am looking to buy my husband a plant for Valentines Day - I wanted
something like a lemon or orange tree, can someome tell me firstly if
they actually can be grown here and if anyone knows where I might be
able to buy one - I haven't seen them in my local garden centre.

We have lime, kumquat and calamodium (sp?) orange trees, all have fruited,
but they need to be kept indoors most of the year. We killed the kumquat
off last year. :-( They're quite difficult to get to fruiting, ime, but
it's quite a nice feeling when they work! I think we've found Tahiti lime
the easiest.

You can get them in garden centres, but they may be seasonal. We've
definitely bought them from various garden centres though. Alternately,
there's a website called citruscentre, iirc that have a huge selection.
Throw it into google and see what you find.

"S WHITE" wrote
I am looking to buy my husband a plant for Valentines Day - I wanted
something like a lemon or orange tree, can someome tell me firstly if
they actually can be grown here and if anyone knows where I might be
able to buy one - I haven't seen them in my local garden centre.

We have two Lemons, a Tahiti Lime, a Padua Lime, a Grapefruit and an Orange.
All fruit well**.
They spend the winter in our unheated but frost free garage which has a twin
walled clear plastic roof and the rest of the year outside against a S.
facing wall. They are taken in when the frost is forecast, October/November
usually and brought out again once most of the frost has gone, usually
March. Occasionally I have to put them back under cover for a few days if
frost is forecast again.
**The best ones for fruit are the Lemon and the Tahiti Lime, the latter
being a bit smaller growing and produce the Limes sold in shops.
Most GCs usually stock some citrus although they can look a bit sick IME,
the RHS Wisley shop has some most of the time and there are also specialists
like The Citrus Centre ...

http://www.citruscentre.co.uk/

Don't get carried away though, learn on a cheaper one first, a decent sized
one can be expensive.

--
Regards
Bob Hobden
W.of London. UK

"S WHITE" wrote in message
...

Hi,

I am looking to buy my husband a plant for Valentines Day - I wanted
something like a lemon or orange tree, can someome tell me firstly if
they actually can be grown here and if anyone knows where I might be
able to buy one - I haven't seen them in my local garden centre.

They may not be around at this time of the year - I would expect to see them
in garden centres etc. in spring or summer when they can be put outside.
I don't suppose there is much of a market for frost tender
plants/shrubs/trees at this time of year.

We bought our lemon tree in The Range and it has lived a harsh life outside
for the last few years but I relented this winter and brought it inside when
the really arctic weather started.

It lost all the new growth (turned black and dropped off) but it has now
settled into the dining room by the patio door and is growing like mad.

When you say 'here', where is that?

Abredeen (for example) may not be a good place for citrus growing outside
all year, but some places with generally favourable micro-climates may be
O.K. in all but the worst winters (like this one).

Best of luck.

Dave R

S WHITE wrote:
Hi,

I am looking to buy my husband a plant for Valentines Day - I wanted
something like a lemon or orange tree, can someome tell me firstly if
they actually can be grown here and if anyone knows where I might be
able to buy one - I haven't seen them in my local garden centre.

You can grow them here, but unless you're somewhere really mild, like
Poolewe or suntraps in the far south-west, they really need to be taken
into a light, frost-free area over winter.

Lemons and satsumas may be bought from Spalding Bulbs, but unless you
can collect them, delivery will be in a month or so.

Better, and a vastly better choice is Read's Nursery
http://www.readsnursery.co.uk/ where there are oranges, limes, lemons,
limequats, grapefruit, oh, and lots more.

--
Rusty

Sacha wrote:
On 2010-02-04 10:36:51 +0000, S WHITE
said:


Hi,

I am looking to buy my husband a plant for Valentines Day - I wanted
something like a lemon or orange tree, can someome tell me firstly if
they actually can be grown here and if anyone knows where I might be
able to buy one - I haven't seen them in my local garden centre.

Many thanks
Sarah

Just a thought with this, if you're not fixed on a citrus tree, think
about Ensete ventricosum maurellii, if you have a conservatory. It's a
cousin - for want of a better description - of the banana and has much
more interesting foliage, IMO. Ours go out for the summer and come back
in for the winter but as they get quite bulky you can't move them about
forever!

But being a grass you can mow them with a machete...

--
Rusty

Sacha wrote:
On 2010-02-11 19:29:29 +0000, Rusty Hinge
said:

Sacha wrote:
On 2010-02-04 10:36:51 +0000, S WHITE
said:


Hi,

I am looking to buy my husband a plant for Valentines Day - I wanted
something like a lemon or orange tree, can someome tell me firstly if
they actually can be grown here and if anyone knows where I might be
able to buy one - I haven't seen them in my local garden centre.

Many thanks
Sarah

Just a thought with this, if you're not fixed on a citrus tree, think
about Ensete ventricosum maurellii, if you have a conservatory.
It's a cousin - for want of a better description - of the banana and
has much more interesting foliage, IMO. Ours go out for the summer
and come back in for the winter but as they get quite bulky you can't
move them about forever!

But being a grass you can mow them with a machete...

Absolutely. I think they're remarkable and very handsome, too!

You have to work on them. Scrub the handle with scouring powder and
steel wool, wash, and dry. Button polish is a good finish, bt generally,
treat the wood with chromic acid (if a hardwood) and afterwards use a
good quality wax polish.

Carefully fettle the edge with a first-cut file, using the drawfile
method, then polish the cheeks (oo-er!) with a buffing mop and buffing soap.

For a dazzling finish, use a fresh mop and jeweller's rouge.

HTH

--
Rusty