Karyn... your flowers are beautiful ! Is the pink one the Brazilian candle ?? Lovely !!

Karyn, thank you for the pictures! Your flowers are
beautiful, I wish I could smell the orange blossoms the
fragrance is wonderful!

Karen

Beautiful blooms as always Karyn. You have such a green thumb.

Karyn, Thanks for sharing!

Rigo

Yes, beautiful as always Karyn! I wish I could smell that. Cat just used the litter box so that's all I smell right now, lol.
Thanks for sharing Karyn!
Daniella

YEA!!!!! Look at all of that... Love the last one...My Orange Tree has just begun to bloom.. Our weather has been beautiful.. Now if I could just ditch the winter funk and get back in the groove ...LOL
Thanks for the pic's they always brighten my day.. Glad to see you posting.. How are you feeling? AND THANKS for the seeds...
Kylie

Very nice Karyn! What is that third plant from the bottom? Is that a shrimp plant? I have one, but don't have the exact name. The last picture, pink flower, is so gorgeous. I too love the scent of citrus. I walk in my backyard and can smell the orange, lime and grapefruit trees and it is wonderful.

Your photos are beautiful. I like that last red one.
All the citrus around here are blooming too. There are a lot of mature trees in the ground across the street and the smell is awesome when the wind is just right. They are one of my favorite scents!

Karyn. I do hope you are alright. I have a question. I do have that smell my orange has a bud from growing under lights it was out all summer but this year didn't produce any fruit like it did in winter of 2006 what happened any ideas? thanks plantlover49

I don't know a whole lot about citrus, I just grow a few dwarf trees. I do know that citrus trees need a period of chilling to set buds and many times they won't develop fruit or it will abort at an early stage. I have a Buddha's Hand that flowers all year but won't hold onto a fruit. The largest they've gotten is a couple inches. I only fertilize them during the spring and summer, once a month and allow them to dry between waterings. Eloise that's a shrimp plant. I have a couple other colors but they aren't in bloom. That one was a really pale pink, almost white until I got it in the GH. Now it's red. The color doesn't show up well in the pics. I wish I could grow citrus in the yard. The only thing that is hardy enough to withstand the winters here are the Flying Dragons. I have a few and love the tree but the fruit is inedible. There's a few edible oranges (tangerines?) that are supposedly borderline hardy here but I haven't found one. The Brazilian Candles is one of my favorites. It's constantly in bloom. This one is still pretty small, about 5'. They are really impressive when they get to be about 8-10' and well branched. Hopefully it will get there in the GH.
Karyn

PL49: Many citrus trees bear heavy every other year. Unless there is a severe cold snap. My Naval orange and Moro Blood orange are loaded with blossoms this year. The Improved Meyer Lemon is always a good bearer, but my Dancy tangerine is blooming for the first time in 4 years!! So maybe she'll bear some fruit.
Good luck with yours. Gloria

Nice pics!

I have nine different citrus trees in the yard and they are about to bloom - the meyer lemon is actually blooming right now.

Here where i live, there are commercial groves of citrus trees and the smell is amazing when they are in full bloom. They are pretty much planted in every home too. You can drive down any country road, or walk down your block and the smell of citrus wafts through the air.

I remember being in Cali yrsssss ago. Went out for a run and there were baskets of citrus sitting on the curb for you to take.. The home we were staying at had a balcony you could just pluck your grapefruit off of for breakfast..Growing up in Okla. I found that so amazing...

Karyn I also wanted to tell you your flowers are georgious. I think I should fertilize with miracid instead of miracle grow aren't they just a little on the acid side maybe I need to repot it using soil thats more acid. thanks karyn, gloria appreciate the advise plantlover49

Plantlover I don't use Miracid and don't know if that would be good for citrus or not. I use something called Rite Green 4-6-8 Citrus, Mango & Avocado. I use that on all my tropical and sub tropical fruit trees as well as my figs. I also supplement with Epsom Salts and Kelp extract. I love going to my Mom's place in West Palm. I can just reach out the balcony window and pick an orange. I have no idea what the variety is, she didn't plant it. It's not an attractive fruit but it's the sweetest orange I've ever tasted. I'm afraid to plant more citrus trees at her place because there's rarely anyone there. My Mom will go down for a few weeks a year as will my sisters and I. The tree that's there is about 20' tall and doesn't need care but young trees would and the people she has taking care of the property really just keep the inside clean and mow the grass. The landscaping is mature and low maintenance.

Karyn

Soooooooo pretty. Thanks Karyn!

I use miracid on mine. They enjoy a little epsom and superthrive too. They do prefer a little acid soils but will tolerate most soil even the very alkaline soils like they have out here.
My small ones are in pots. I have a BH too and I got a few to fist size last year then the wind got to them, most of them drop off tho~ freaky looking things! About 90 % of citrus' flowers/small fruits drop when they are small and the actual fruit that will hold will increase as the plant matures.
The only citrus I know of that likes alkaline soil is the key lime and that is if it is on its own rootstock, but like I said they will do well and tolerate about anything except for having their feet wet lol.
If anyone wants a more cold tolerant type of citrus they could try a sour orange or a kumquat. I have hear that some of the flying dragon's roots will tolerate down to zone 7 with protection.

My Flying Dragons get no protection and do fine. I originally grew them to use as rootstock for grafting other citrus but I love the convoluted branches and allowed them to grow. The damn thorns could kill you though! I wish my BH would hold fruit. I grew it because the fruit's so strange looking. It's kind of a dud for me without the fruit because the blooms have absolutely no scent, no scent, no fruit - maybe no more room for the tree.

Karyn

Know what you're smelling, Karyn. Our neighbors have orange and grapefruit trees and this is the BEST time of year. Whiffing is free and glorious. Beautiful photos.

You can't smell yours? I have heard that from a few people, but mine does have a scent. I wonder if there is different varieties or if it is growing conditions, or if some people can't detect it? Wierd..
Mine is a have to put your nose in it in order to smell it ..and is lightly sweet. It isn't strong like other citrus. It is blooming now but this is one of the tiny hands that fell off last spring. I wish I woulda took photos of the bigger ones.
We have to paint the bark on our citrus here to prevent sunburn.

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The sun down there must really be strong! I'd never heard of having to paint the bark. I don't know if it's the variety either. I don't even know if there's more then one variety of BH?? I've heard others say that they can detect a citrus scent from their trees. I could tape the bud to my nose and still wouldn't smell it and it's not just me. Nobody else can smell it either but the foliage has a normal citrus scent. I got the tree from Four Winds. My biggest fruit have only been about 3x the size of the little one in your pic. I was really looking forward to having big weird fruit. It's certainly old enough to set and hold fruit by now. Maybe if I was in Z 9 or 10? All my other citrus sets fruit, even my Kaffir lime. That's another odd looking fruit but the smell is so nice and I use the leaves for cooking.
Karyn

Hey Karyn,

I snapped a couple of quick pictures of one of the many citrus trees near my home. These are on the campus of Fresno Pacific University. I can smell them from my yard and i live a block away. I have some dwarf trees myself, not the full sized ones because i have a small yard. Again, sorry for the poor quality pics, but i was using my phone. The trees are all in full bloom right now and they smell amazing.
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