Some of my fruit trees and vines are growing surprisingly well inside. I think my Maya might even be getting some more buds. It's so far in the back that it's hard to get close enough to see. I'll have to do some rearranging to get a better look.
Karyn
Glad to see these as I had my first light freeze last night, and that always makes me sad. It is so refreshing to be able to go throught the gallery and know that Spring will emerge before long.
Is that the variegated lemon with the striped fruit?
I hate to admit it, but I think I like that one.
We have 3 citrus trees. Lemon, Lime, and something called a Tangelo. No matter what we do, can't get rid of the mites, aphids, scales, whiteflies, etc. ... They're worse than the Brugs for attracting the nasties. On rare occasions they have flowered, but it's even rarer for them to set fruit for us... perhaps we need some expert advice.
Anyhow, yours look good, and the clerodendron is really cute.
Lynne
USDA Zone 9b
Heat Zone 10
Bradenton, Florida
This message has been edited by lynnehardi on Nov 20, 2006 9:13 AM
The striped fruit is the variegated lemon. It turns yellow when fully ripe and has bright orange/red flesh, very sweet for a lemon. I'm surprised that you have trouble with citrus in your zone. I think inground citrus do best with benign neglect. I fight scale while they are indoors but never have a problem outside. I won't use systemic insecticides so I spend an inordinate amount of time wiping the trees with alcohol soaked cotton balls and hand picking the scale, yuck! My biggest citrus are only about 5' tall so it's easy for me to reach them. I don't know what I'd do with infested big trees.
Karyn, was wondering about your treating the citrus trees by hand until I came to the last sentence that said they are only about 5' tall. Down here, citrus trees are mammoth, would never be able to treat them by hand...LOL
Sorry you finally had a freeze, Carrie but I guess it's inevitable in your area. Some of us more fortunate will have to keep the rest of you pacified with photos this winter. Right now none of my brugs are blooming, although, EP is about to do so. She's finally coming along fine after such a devastating hot summer. My daturas are blooming, both the triple purple and triple white. For some reason, Lynne, the double yellow just will not germinate for me. Have tried twice. Any idea why not?
Ah, Jarie, but when I walk into my garage and smell the fragrance of CG, Betty Marshall and Jamaica Yellow, it doesn't seem as cold outside. Of course, we warmed right back up and expecting to be in the 80's for Thanksgiving day. My October Rose is history, but the dats are still blooming strong.
Karyn, not just my zone... my state! Can't drive a mile without running across yet another orange grove. Oh, and how can I forget the Tropicana... ew. Impossible to understand until you've lived near the place, but I'm not a big fan of orange juice anymore.
The trees are in the ground... I should just take pictures... the tallest is about 6 feet, the shortest, about 2 and a half. I think we've had them for 3 or 4 years and they just aren't growing much. I think the company/nursery that put them in placed them poorly, almost no sun.
Cotton balls and alcohol... I'll try it, thanks! Is picking scale worse than squishing aphids? We do the aphid patrol without chemicals, lol!
Jarie... no clue about the triple yellows. I treat all three of them as if they are the same. Soak 'em, plant 'em, wait. LOL This is the first tray I've planted for next year... Here. I labeled the picture to show which row is what color, and also how many seedlings are in each pot. Started with three seeds to a pot. I expect more will pop up, they come up so sporadically. If you want to try seedlings rather than seeds, just let me know, these should be big enough for shipping by spring.
Lynne
USDA Zone 9b
Heat Zone 10
Bradenton, Florida
Thanks, Lynne, just wondered if the yellows were harder to germinate but can see from your seedlings that they're not. Not sure what the problem is here but I won't fret about it. Will probably try them again soon. Hey, might as well til the seed runs out...lol.
The purples and whites are sure beautiful. I shared one of my medium sized purple dats with my neighbor who loves gardening.
Carrie, I can just imagine how glorious your garage must smell with all those brugs inside. Keep whiffin'. It'll make the winter go by faster..lol.
A few weeks ago we were visited by two of the local Jehovah's Witnesses. I was in the back yard so I didn't see them coming, but I realized someone was there when I came around the side of the house and heard voices. I stopped to listen for a couple of minutes and realized they were talking about one of the noid pink Brugs, saying how beautiful the flowers were... etc. I said hi and we talked about the Brugs for a few minutes, and then they noticed a purple Datura with buds. I told them the two plants are related and grabbed a flower from the big one in the backyard. They loved it so much, even started to fight over who would get to keep it! lol
So, I ran inside, grabbed two packs of seed and gave them each one to take home and grow their own "Devil's Trumpet" flowers.
Best part... they were so enthralled by the plants that we didn't even really get into a conversation on religion. But I did read the pamphlet they left in our door, like I said I would.
Lynne
USDA Zone 9b
Heat Zone 10
Bradenton, Florida
