I had never even seen an indoor citrus plant until about six years ago, even though the practice of growing them indoors was quite common as far back as Victorian winters. When I saw that first one, it was a lemon tree in a rustic modern interior. The warmth from that tree against the spare design of the room has enamored me ever since:
Despite the idea's Victorian ancestry, I think a citrus tree growing indoors has a quirkiness and modernity about it that's still eye-catching and unexpected. And even though it's done in winter (for a reason), the look is so fresh that we're dreaming about it in spring. Here are some examples shown in the gallery above:
FIRST ROW:
• 1 a bonsai orange tree via Channel 4
• 2 Victoria Pearson for Southern Accents
• 3 via Apartment Therapy
• 4 in a galvanized pot, via Garden and Green
• 5 via The Kitchn
SECOND ROW:
• 6 A citrus tree grows in Brooklyn. via McBrooklyn
• 7 Tom McWilliams / Cottage Living
• 8 for not-so-green-thumbs: the Citrus Tree decal by Mina Javid
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I had 4 big pots with a kumquat, meyer lemon, and two limes. Loved having them in the house in winter - the kumquat would flower around christmas. But they would get "scale" bugs every winter, and I would spray and spray with neem and doc bonner's. They would recover, and then get them the next winter.
I miss them.
I LOVE this look. But I have a black thumb -- is citrus hard to care for? How much sun do they need? Alas, my tiny-ass apartment doesn't get much light... :-(
I've been meaning to pick up a dwarf improved meyer lemon tree. The plan is to keep it outdoors until winter hits.
Don't these trees need full sun? So how long do they last indoors?
My grandad had a faux citrus tree on his stairway landing that I just llllllllloooooooved when I was little. It was probably from the 30's or 40's.
Does the resulting citrus taste good?
A excellent source for indoor citrus is Logees. Here is a link:
http://www.logees.com/searchprods.asp.
can you keep them inside for the summer too? i'm an apartment dweller.
The second pic - oh be still my heart. Love.
I tried to keep my citrus indoors over the summer in my tiny one-window apartment a few years ago, and it ended up dying after looking very unhappy for a while. When I moved to my current apartment, which has an east-facing balcony, I got another citrus (a variegated kumquat), and it's been loving its morning sun. I even left it outside over the mild Austin winter, and it didn't complain one bit. :)
Yay! Indoor trees! I have a mandarin orange, five meyer lemons (all still itty bitty) and a kent mango growing well in a south window.
I grew a huge lemon tree in Upstate NY, and my brother grew a lime, which are both at least six years old now and happily spend the winter indoors, then get sprayed with soap and enjoy the humid summer on the deck.
i winter my citrus trees in the cellar. it does have just a little light but if it is not that warm they don't need that much. usually they start blooming in spring when i put them on my terrace. the smell of lemon flowers is gorgeous.
I did have the bug problem in the first years but now i spray them in advance before i take them inside. they tend to dislike too much warmth in winter.
Does anyone grow kaffir lime indoors? I recently acquired a very small tree, due to the scarcity of the leaves for cooking. I was wondering if anyone might have advice on keeping this type of citrus happy inside during the winter. I live in Richmond VA. so indoor time is a must.
Where can I even buy these trees? Lovely but I don't think I have ever seen one at a garden store. I live in Northern NJ btw.
I planted a grapefruit pip 15 years ago to inaugurate the arrival of my niece. It is 4 feet tall, has dark glossy leaves and 1 inch thorns (I wasn't aware these trees had thorns) and is thriving indoor and out.
I put it out all spring and summer, water it frequently, cut it back a bit here and there. In the fall when the threat of frost is upon us, I bring it into the house and place it in a southern window and water it minimally during the winter.
It has never had any fruit, but that's ok by me - it's a lovely small tree that is connected to our family in a very symbolic but beautiful way.
Oh.. my inspiration for getting a citrus tree started with those trees on Court St. I have been watching them for years and years. I also had a mechanic that serviced my work vehicle that grew a six foot lemon tree under a skylight in the garage loft. His come-on line was always, "Wanna come up and check out my lemons?"
Maybe my husband will buy me a nice meyer lemon tree for mother's day? (big hint)
I'm currently growing a lemon tree from seed...straight out of a lemon I bought at the grocery store. So far so good - it's not quite a year old and is doing well..just very tiny so far - all green, no bark, four leaves. Talk about a lesson in patience! Can't wait for it to one day be a flowering mini tree. Those flowers make me wish it would hurry up!
MonicaK: Last weekend Lowe's told me they would be getting mini-citrus trees in by this weekend. Also, try ShopTerrain.com. They may be able to ship you one. If not, Terrain is located near West Chester, PA. About a half hour south of Phila. You could have a road trip! Terrain is an incredible store, check it out.
It is really hard to grow citrus trees indoors year round. They need full sun (citrus need 8 hours of direct, sunlight), and even in a south facing window, that's really hard to provide indoors, especially in urban areas where buildings often shade one another.
A lot of the pest problems described by various commenters are at least partly attributable to growing citrus trees in less than ideal conditions. Stressed plants are literally a homing beacon to pests. For example, many pests are attracted to yellow leaves.
I have all these growing from seeds:
- sm orange.
- lemmons.
- avocados.
in front of window, they are growing well so far, they do dry out very fast tho, compared to some of my other houseplants, in summer i will probably mist somewhat,
washington state.
Wow, peahen should really play Debbie Downer on SNL.