Meyer’s lemon

7 January 2011

A weekly flower is a tall order at this time of year. In the garden, an impossibility. In the conservatory maybe just possible, but predictable and not quite thrilling. It is the wonderful little Meyer’s lemon that inspires me, as it gradually opens its wax-white flowers and offers their perfume on the shortest and most sullen days of the year. At the same time, moreover, as it ripens its fruit.

The little tree (it is four feet high in its pot, after maybe twenty years) always has a few lemons starting to glow; now it has a couple of dozen. I should have marked a few of them to see how long each one takes from formation to ripeness ; certainly several months. Presumably it depends on the season. Nor am I sure why its blossom, which appears sporadically at any time of year, is most prolific in winter.

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