The Promise of Things to Come

Lemon blossom buds

      So, about five years ago I bought a lemon tree. It's a dwarf Eureka Lemon. I planted it and took care of it, and every spring it would get a couple of blossoms on it, and every spring they would fall off, not even coming close to being fertilized. Well, last year I decided it was just not a good spot where I had planted it, and we transplanted our little lemon tree.
     We dug around the tree trying not to hurt the root system, then we pulled it out of the ground. We really didn't have to worry too much about the roots, there really wasn't very many. Poor little lemon tree! Finding a better spot for it, we planted this stick with sparse roots in it's new home. And it lost all, I'm not exaggerating here, it lost all of it's leaves. Kevin pruned it and we gave it some fertilizer, and then I basically kept my fingers crossed.
     Soon it started growing leaves again, and in spring it had a ton of blossoms; I counted around 300. But all  the blossoms fell off. That was last year.

     

Lemon blossom and buds

     This year with an abundance of blossoms I began to hope that my little lemon tree would someday bear fruit. And through the storms and rain and wind they held on. We started to see little tiny bulges where the blossoms had been. Tiny lemons? Oh, yes, tiny lemons.

 

Tiny Lemon

           Some of them grew bigger and some stayed tiny and eventually fell off. Today there are five lemons on my little lemon tree. the first time ever this little tree has carried the weight of fruit on it's branches! Now I can only wait to see if they can hold on until they're ripe. But I'm thinking even if they don't make it, the tree will only get stronger in it's new location and next year will be even better.