These citrus trees will give you fresh fruit year round, making you the envy of your friends. The plants need plenty of sunshine, so they are perfect for the back yard, sunroom, atrium, by a south facing window in your home or any other cold-protected area. Planting your tree in a container instead of in the ground will limit the tree's growth and overall size making these trees great for use on your patio or inside your home as houseplants.

Very importantly, our lemon, lime and orange trees are Texas A & M University Certified Virus-Free. All budwood is from TAMU Citrus Center, Weslaco, and is certified virus-free by TAMU.

Our containerized dwarf citrus trees are ready to showcase right out of the box. Expertly written care instructions are included with every order along with the toll-free telephone number to our farm.

The shipping "sleeve" enables you to get the entire root ball and soil rather than "bare root."
Getting the soil with the tree greatly increases your success with your new citrus tree.
We grow a standard size, budded tree, not a rooted cutting.

Trees are on semi-dwarfing rootstock which is good for growing in containers or in the ground. Growing in a pot will limit the growth and overall tree size.

U.S. agriculture regulations dictate that we cannot ship to CA, AZ, LA or FL or outside the contiguous United States.

Growing a lemon tree can be like having a fruit stand of lemons right in your own backyard, since many of these obliging trees bear their crops all year. That's good news for gardeners who want a steady supply of tangy fruits to make lemon bread, lemon curd, lemon meringue pie; or lemon sorbet - not to mention tall, cool glasses of fresh lemonade. And in the right climates (Sunset zones 8-9, and 12-24), lemon trees are handsome landscaping plants, offering not only fruit but also attractive form year-round; glossy, deep green foliage; and flowers as fragrant as daphne or gardenia.

Eureka Lemon. This is the standard lemon of markets. Its fruit is yellow, juicy, and highly acidic, with very few seeds. Its branches have a few thorns, and its foliage is dark green; new foliage is bronzy. It grows to 20 feet tall, with a slightly open canopy.

Improved Meyer. Not a true lemon, Citrus meyeri is thought to be a hybrid of a lemon and a sweet orange. 'Improved Meyer' is the virus-free variety that replaced the original. The yellow-orange flesh is very juicy and slightly sweeter than a true lemon, yet still moderately acidic.

Meyer lemons are popular among chefs and are becoming favorites of home cooks and gardeners. Their floral aroma and mild flavor make them perfect for dessert. It is said to be a cross between a lemon and an orange.

Prized for their floral aroma and mild flavor, they really shine at dessert

Its adaptability as a container plant allows it to be grown indoors even in the coldest parts of the West. It grows to 12 feet tall and spreads to 15 feet.

Lisbon. This vigorous, thorny tree grows upright to 25 feet, with a denser canopy than 'Eureka'. Its fruits are juicy and highly acidic - practically identical to those of 'Eureka'. They ripen mostly in fall, but some ripen throughout the year. 'Lisbon' is more resistant to cold than 'Eureka', and it's better adapted to hot climates (it's the best lemon for Arizona).

Ponderosa. This hybrid is thought to be a cross between a lemon and a citron. It bears large, rough fruits (a 2-lb. fruit isn't unusual) with thick, coarse skin and a mild lemon flavor. The main crop comes in winter, with some fruit throughout the year. The tree is open, with large leaves widely spaced on angular branches. It grows 8 to 10 feet tall, dwarf kinds to 6 feet.

SOIL. Provide good drainage. If your soil is clay, mix organic matter - peat, compost, leaf mold - into the soil before refilling the planting hole. Or plant in containers or raised beds.

If your soil is sandy, mix organic matter into it to increase water retention while keeping good drainage.

WATERING. Citrus trees cannot stand to be overwatered. Water a newly planted tree (or a tree in a container) thoroughly about twice a week in normal summer weather. Once it is established, water a tree in the ground every two weeks.

When you water, fill the basin so that the entire root zone is moistened several feet deep. Don't water when the top of the soil is still wet.

FERTILIZING. Use packaged citrus food that contains nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, plus iron and zinc, crucial to citrus fruit production.

Leaf yellowing indicates either overwatering or a shortage of trace elements, especially for trees in containers. If you are watering correctly, apply a chelated iron product containing trace elements, following label directions.

PRUNING AND THINNING. Prune anytime to shape the tree, remove dead wood, or thin the branches. Remove any suckers arising from below the trunk's graft union. Varieties that bear heavily in alternating years sometimes need to be thinned during the heavy years. For those varieties, after any fruit has dropped naturally, thin developing fruits to clusters of two or three.

As fruits mature, prop up the branches if necessary to keep them from breaking.

SUN. Lemon trees need full sun, but in areas with very hot sun, citrus bark burns. Wrap the trunks, paint them with tan or brown latex paint, or leave the lowest branches in place to shade the trunks.

HARVESTING. Flavor, not color, is the only reliable indicator of ripeness. Pick one fruit and taste it - if it's not ready, wait. Use pruning shears to nip the fruit with a bit of stem. Don't pick by hand or you'll risk breaking a branch.

If you are a garden lover, but have no space for your gardening appetite, don't worry gardening is not necessarily out of your reach. In the available space of your house say balcony, patio, deck, or sunny window, you can create a container gardening, which will not only bring you joy but also vegetables. So, are you ready to start container gardening yourself

In the past, gardening is an exclusive realm of the landowner. Nowadays even the flat dweller can grow his dream garden without having any fuss. One's dream can be fulfilled by container gardening, which means the gardening in a special container. Container gardening gives delights of landscape without weekly mowing. In the container, you can raise some perennials, annuals, and even shrubs and dwarf citrus trees.

Don't think container gardening can be achieved very easily. Container gardening also requires proper planning just like that of traditional gardening. Planning consists of finding your USDA zone (this will help to identify the suitable plant variety of your zone), amount of daylight you are receiving in your apartment, and finally choose your beloved plant variety.

It is always advisable to buy the plants from nearest nursery unless you have right conditions to go for indoor seedlings. You should not keep the tender plants of container gardening outside below 45 F temperature or in soaring winds. Moreover you should not leave the new plants through out the night in the outside to get frost it out.

There is a false notion that all the plants grow in the ground won't grow in the container gardening. It's not so. If you have any doubt, please do experiment on it. Moreover, any container with holes for drainage can be used for your container gardening.

Container gardening requires little budget in the initial stage. But it is having low maintenance with good satisfaction. Container gardening requires little fertilizer and water according to the specific needs of the plants.

There is numerous pot growing vegetable varieties as container gardening. In this type, the vegetable plant requires only sunlight and water. Providing these two things can easily help you get fresh vegetables for your ratatouille or salad. You can get more satisfaction by serving these varieties nurtured by your own hands to your beloved pals.

Don't despair-if you're not having balcony or deck? Get nod from your landlord for window boxes, a modern container gardening. It is highly possible to grow many bloomy annuals year-round and indoor vegetables in your sunny window. There is another type of garden called community gardens, which will satisfy the city dwellers.

There is no need to end your container gardening since you have entered autumn. But you can continue your container gardening by selecting the plants that are withholding the frost. The common plant varieties that stand up to the frost are Eulalia grasses, Mexican Lime, Cornflowers, Lavender cottons, Jasmine, Improved Meyer Lemons etc., In order to extend the life of your garden from early spring to fall, you can replant to match the conditions. Even you can contact some of the America's best gardeners through online to get design for your container gardening. They offer suggestions such as caring and choosing for pots, how to grow tips for succulents, roses, and bulbs, in containers.

Article Source: Understanding Container Gardening