Lemons and roses

Birthday season in our house and my parents have gifted us both with plants - a lemon tree for Mr Bassoon and a rose ("Warm Welcome") for me. Both lovely, but I have questions!

Does anyone have experience of growing/caring for a lemon tree? We don't have a greenhouse so it's currently sitting in the bay window in the living room, which gets reasonable light but I'm worried might be too warm all winter long. At the moment it's more of a bush than a tree, is there any particular pruning I should be doing to help it grow into a more tree-like shape?

Regarding the rose, I believe it is a minature climber. I know roses in general don't like pots but do the minatures fare better? I don't have anywhere obvious to plant a climber in the garden at present, and as we rent I would like the option to take it with me one day.

 

Sorry, no advice, but ...


... sending you both wishes

 

I grow citrus trees in pots You're spot on about them preferring cool conditions in winter. Frost-free, yes, and as much light as possible. Very little water and ALWAYS raise the pot up out of it's saucer so the tree isn't sitting with wet roots. Would a blowaway plastic greenhouse be feasible? I keep my trees in one of those tucked under the overhanging roof and they do much better than when I used to swathe them individually in fleece, not to mention the hassle of unwrapping them too soon in Spring and having to wrap them up again in a hurry 'cos of false starts For pruning, if you want a standard tree, you need to select the strongest, straightest stem and ruthlessly chop all the others out. Tie-in the remaining one to a cane to keep it straight and once it's at the height you want it, pinch out the tip. You'll need to rub out all the little shoots that regularly appear. Patience required

 

Thanks all. The local garden centre has a Christmas market this weekend so I'll combine that with some pot shopping

That's good to know @noisette47 , most places online suggest conservatories or greenhouses, neither of which I can provide! This year it might just be small enough to fit in the coldframe, will do some measuring tomorrow... How quick/slow do they grow?

 

They tend to just tick over in the winter if kept on the dry side. When the weather warms up and you start watering and feeding regularly, they get going. Depends on the variety, but it'll take at least a couple of years to form a standard, more if you want a tall one.

 

I bought a lemon tree last March and it has flowered and made fruit non stop. I kept it in the garden until September and then decided to give it a go indoors. It did suffer a bit of a shock, but misting it every morning has helped a lot. It's again full of buds

Citrus trees enjoy a big pot. Next spring when its repotting time I will add in some coffee grounds (free from our lovely coffee cart guy at work).

The flowers have wonderful scent and the fruit are very cute sliced in tea or garnishing fish dishes. A brilliant plant, hopefully it will get used to indoors life and live a long and happy life



Sorry for the bad picture, the lemon tree is at front. The monster in the corner is avocado grown from seeds.

 

Coffee grounds? Please explain.

 

Well, there are two firm schools for and against using coffee grounds as soil improvement agent. Apparently some plants love it thanks to the nutrients (Nitrogen compounds) and slightly acidic effect, and some hate it. I have tried previously in the garden but didn't see any notable difference.

However, I take my Grandmothers advise that coffee grounds are especially beneficial for Aspidistra and Abutilon but palm trees should only ever get tea dregs

Google thinks that Citrus are coffee lovers so I'm definitely giving it a try. Here are some links I found: Coffee Grounds & Gardening: Using Coffee Grounds As Fertilizer

Gardens: so you think coffee grounds are good for plants

So, it might just be a myth but I'm all for experimenting a bit.

And should it happen that the fruit develop a slight coffee flavour, all the better. Sounds like a potentially great combination to me