Surprise number 1 was to learn that the orange tree was in fact a mandarin tree. It's been 8 years since I bought four young citrus trees from the garden centre, and the labels quickly faded and disappeared.
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Lemon tree |
Tragedy struck after a year or so when one of them died. Sadly I had no idea by that time which one it was.
Over the years since then, one of the trees started fruiting lemons, so that was fine - knew which type of tree it was. As I had bought 2 lemon trees, there still had to be one alive.
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Oranges on tree |
The final tree right at the end flowered every year for about three years, sometimes more than once a year, but nothing ever came of the fruit.
I assumed the flowers had not been fertilized which should maybe have been a clue, but being on the wind-side of the other two, it could have been that the prevailing winds always took the pollen away from the other trees.
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mandarin tree with fruit |
All summer they got bigger while remaining green. I began to suspect I had been sold a lime tree, which would have been great, but finally the fruit started changing color.