Lemon Tree Very Pretty

Lemons are an amazing fruit.  I love using lemons in recipes.  And my favorite lemons are Meyer lemons.  They are actually a cross between an orange and a lemon, or so I've read.  They do have a lovely flavor and are perfect for making desserts.  

When I lived in Northern California, I had a Meyer lemon tree in my front yard.  It was only about 5 feet tall and 5 feet wide, but it was a happy lemon tree.  One of the last years I lived there, it produced over 200 lemons!  I was making everything I could find that called for lemons...and giving them away.  


When I moved "up North" to Palouse, I brought little potted lemon tree with me.  It did really well outside in the summer but when I brought it in for the winter, scale moved in with it.  Scale is a nasty little insect that wreaks havoc on a plant.  Unfortunately, I didn't realize what was going on until it was really too late.  Scale-1, Dona-0.

So, I bought another lemon tree for the pot and started again.  This one did fairly well.  I knew to watch for the scale and found some good organic pesticide "oil" to combat the little buggers.  It worked for about 2 years.  Then, in my zealousness to keep the tree happy, I watered and watered and watered too much.  And then fungus gnats moved in.  I was able to get rid of the gnats but I killed the tree by giving it too much to drink.  Sigh...Overwatering-1, Dona-0.

Even though the trees didn't make it, we did get some lemons from them along the way, thank goodness.  So, we got to enjoy a few lemony treats...enough to know we wanted more.

Not being one to give up easily, I bought another Meyer lemon tree.  So far, so good.  It produced a few lemons, three of which actually got full sized and are ripening now.  It hasn't gotten scale, or gnats, or overwatered.  

                                                                                                                                                     
Tonight I made Lemon Budino (Italian for pudding) from the first ripe one.  Oh, my, it is heavenly...more like a lemon souffle with a gooey bottom.  One of the lemons will become Lemon Cream, which is basically a very creamy lemon ice cream.  I don't know yet what the third will be.  I have to be choosy when I have only 3 instead of 200.  What they say is true....you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone.  Boy, do I miss that lemon tree.