Lemon Tree -- California XIX

Very short contribution this time about lemon trees. We bought a small lemon tree in a pot for our yard. After two weeks adapting to its new environment it started to blossom. And it is in blossom for four weeks yet and still goes on. Lemon, tangerine, and orange trees grow here everywhere. They are just over-loaded with fruit but nobody picks it, nobody eats it, because Americans, similarly to Britons, believe that fruit/vegetables/mushrooms are safe only from stores, they would never pick a wild strawberry or a mushroom in a forest. Their pity.

The truth is on the other hand that we know someone who picked perfectly edible mushrooms on a public lawn and ended in a hospital with light poisoning. The probable cause were absorbed pesticides and herbicides. So though we see beautiful mushrooms 'zampiony' and 'spicky' all the time and we, especially David, are tempted we have to resist.

So back to our little lemon tree. I wanted to point out the smell of its blossoms. It is so incredibly appealing and enticing that I cannot pass by and not to smell the flowers. It reminds me of a cup of jasmine tea but many times stronger. Another nice thing about the tree is that a pair of humming birds come to feed themselves on the lovely nectar the smell of which I have just described. So imagine a little tree with white and pink flowers orbited by two metal green super-fast-flapping birdies. Or you don't have to imagine you can look at the pictures though without the birds.

After the petals fall off, a little dark green berry stays on the branch. Now we are watching them slowly grow. First fruit should come in the beginning of the next year. I am looking forward to having my first own-lemon tea:)