Lemon Tree Notes /
Lemon trees are a vibrant addition for any NYC home that has a bit of extra room. These small evergreens grow to be about three to five feet tall and will keep their color year-round. A number of popular indoor varieties will bear fruit with some regularity after they have matured (lemon trees take three or more years to mature when grown from a seed!). Starbright Floral likes to recommend the Eureka variety because it regularly produces flowers and fruit year-round. Meyer lemons are another popular variety, though they are actually a cross between a lemon and either an orange or a mandarin. Meyer lemons bear a slightly sweeter lemon-alternative primarily in fall and winter. If fully grown, these fruit factories can produce up to six hundred pounds of lemons a year! To thrive, lemon tree need lots of light and a draft-free life. They’re worth the effort. Some studies show that the smell of lemon helps enhance mood. Read more about plants and feng shui here or how smell can effect a mood here, or even this about how the color green can help revitalize your energy.
Lemon Tree History/
Lemon Trees are thought to have first grown in Assam, Burma, and China and may actually be a cross between a bitter orange and a citron. By 900CE, lemon trees had spread throughout most of the known world. Used for medicine, cleaning, cooking, and decorating, lemon was an important crop for the Mediterranean. For early sailors, including Christopher Columbus, lemon was crucial to preventing scurvy. When the early european ships sailed to the New World, lemon seeds went along for the ride.
Lemon Tree Inside Info /
- Bright yellow lemons are ripe and ready to be eaten, while lemons with a little bit of green may continue to ripen on the tree or be picked and stored until they are a uniform yellow.
- Lemons are toxic to cats and dogs; it will upset their stomachs and moods.
- The heaviest lemon ever grown was recorded in Kefar Zeitim, Israel. It weighed 5.265 kg (11 lb 9.7 oz), had a circumference of 74 cm (29 in) and was 35 cm (13.7 in) high. Guinness World Records 2013.
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Blooming Thoughts 