Yesterday, I Became a Lemon Farmer...

I was supposed to be buying more paint for the old house yesterday. 
When i got to the paint counter, they informed me it was a 30 minute wait. 

Don't these people know that i cannot be trusted in a hardware store (with a garden center, to boot) that long?  Maybe that was their plan all along--make us diy-ers hang out a little longer for the things we need, so the store can clear the clearance racks. :)

Walking away from the copper-lined flower boxes was the hardest thing i've ever had to do.

However, sho-nuff, i found something. 
Consequently, i spent the other 25 minutes talking myself down from buying 2. 
Or 3.  Or, you know, the whole rack full. 

Meet my Improved Meyer Lemon tree bush.

Do you know how hard it is to resist lemon plants with lemons already on them? 

Harder than you might think, really.  Took me a few moments of talking to myself out loud in a highly populated garden center to convince myself i didn't need a bush like this. 

Did you further know that people look at you funny when you're debating with yourself.  Out loud. About plants.  "Well, why would i buy a plant because it has a lemon on it for $15, when i can just buy a lemon for 80 cents at the store?" "But if i buy one with only flowers, am i'm spending $15 on the 'hope' of a lemon or two?  You see the dilemma here.

However, the most priceless thing about this plant so far is that it reminds me of home and of childhood.  In AZ, my dad was clever enough to give my mom a lemon and an orange tree for personal holidays.  Clever in that we all benefited from the gift in glasses of homegrown o.j. and lemonade.

And the perfume of those sweet blossoms wafting through my nostrils when i was a kid...made the watering chores bearable in the 99 degree evenings. :)

You may wonder what makes the Improved Meyer Lemons "improved"?

I read on The Internets that they are not as susceptable to scale or pests as the original.  A Meyer Lemon is believed to be a cross between an orange and lemon, providing a sweeter juice for baking.  Here in the Pac NW, these lemons make awesome house plants.  They need temps above 40F degrees, and relish life at 55F.  A greenhouse in the winter is perfect.  If you choose to keep them as house plants, place them in the sunniest of windows (at least 6 hours) and mist them daily to help keep spider mites and dusty leaves at bay.  Fertilize them 3 times a year.  I've read they love healthy doses of alfala meal too.  Oh, and you only need one as they are self fertile.  That is if you can stop at just one.  :)