Lemons outside in England

No, I haven't tried one - I suspect you'd have to be in a very mild or sheltered place for them to thrive.

That's what I would have thought but the ad in Gardeners' World mag says 'the trees are proven to flourish and survive the worst of British weather - severe frosts down to
-5 degrees C, lashing rain, sleet or snow and ferocious high winds.'

The oranges are Navelina and the lemons are Eureka.

Mind you, I once had one in my conservatory and I managed to kill that so maybe there is no hope for me with one in the garden however tough they are!

Yes. Too good to be true Weedpatch. I move mine in every October until late April. By the time it dies you can't ask for your money back. I'm surprised Gardener's World doesn't pull the ad. And (ask Spritz) I'm an optimist. LOL.

I have to agree with John - we usually do - and be utterly disbelieving on this. I think there will be lots of disappointed buyers.

Yes i would also agree with John and Spritz, Gardeners world actually did a bit about them (not sure if these varieties) last year, on the programe and at the time the advice was the same as given here, you do need to bring them in, they don't mind cold, like a lot of things but the frost and strong winds will kill them. this add for them in GWM - was it by any chance being suplied by T&M? because you can not trust them as far as you can throw them, T&M that is, - they have thousands of customer complaining, and the customer service team does nothing, so this would kinda make sence if it is, in my experience most of what they send id DOA anyway so it really would'nt matter what you did with them over the winter lol. i doubt that Gardeners World trial run everything they give special offer on anyway. and just when did they trial run them? if the advice they were giving this time last year on the programme was to bring in overwinter? hope this helps,

Thanks all for confirming my fears.Unfortunately I'm a bit of a pessimist, so it often pays to check with others.

I did find the company name a bit worrying, Garden Bargains. Bargins are invariable duff although at £39.95, not so much of one.

I was interested to hear your thoughts about T&M. I used them for years but found I was getting more and more disappointed and my complaints seemed to fall on deaf ears. I have now given up on them.

£39.95. Some bargain. I bought mine (4) at Wilko's 3 years ago at, I think, £3.99 each. Might have been £4.99 tops.

Yes you do have to be careful Weedpatch, i think that Gardners world mag, just allow companies to advertise, the offers have nothing to do with GW at all, a very good mail order company i could recomend would be jparkers, i have bought loads off them and all has been lovely, and just as discribed or as John has said your basic retailers such as wilkos, B&Q, homebase, ect are good for basics at the right times of year, because you can see what you are buying and most people have easy access to them. of course the best place to buy would be your local nursary or florist, because they have trained staff careing for the plants. if you would still like to try a citrus tree i would wait until the spring then look in the obvious places first and you may be able to get a real genuine bargain.

Majeekahead is right. Spring is probably the best time to buy these then you can 'get acquainted' with them over the milder weather (notice I didn't say summer, lol). You will almost certainly get nice healthy plants at Wilko's or similar. They get them from Dutch nurseries and are usually very good.

You have to be very careful when buying from magazines and newspaper adverts - read the small print and often you will find 'Your contract is with T&M young plants'.

I, like many other GOY members, have given up on T&M - their quality had dropped and their customer care/complaints department is poor.

you just got to look in the back of your everyday news paper or mag to see rubbish gimmicks 4 sale.gw just take the money for the space in there mag.dont believe everything you here.just buy the sport you will see lots of crap in there.lots of people are on the make.personaly like my fish,dogs and woman i like to see what im buying.its called commen sense.very lacking in this day and age.

Good old Wilko's. I bought a lovely tree fern from them this year. Granted it wasn't enormous but neither was the price.

I think you are right about waiting for Spring. It was just that I had never seen any citrus which were said to be suitable for outdoors before.

I had a lemon tree from The Range for my birthday it is about 12ins high and has 3 lemons on, we used the larger one which was delicious,I am keeping it in the conservatory and feeding it every ten days with a winter citrus feed, so far so good, the cost of the tree about £6.00.

lovley probably wear it belongs

That is more my price range. Can't believe it has fruit at that size! Is you conservatory heated?

cool

Hi Weedpatch no we have no regular heating in there, when it gets really cold we put on a small heater which keeps it comfortable, my husband is one of those hardy sorts, put another vest on is his answer to most things..........

cool

I'm like your husband Dottydaisy, only I put on an extra fleece, so perhaps not quite as hardy.

Sounds like the conservatory might be the place if I buy a lemon tree. I could always have a heater in there with a frost watch theromstat thingy. (I'm not a technical type of person but sure you know what I mean. Most women understand 'thingy'.)

you could buy some plastic lemons and glue them to a cherry tree or something lol

Only trouble with that, is that cherry trees are more difficult to grow than lemon trees. LoL.

are you sure i guess it depends wear you live.there are loads of them in this neck of the woods.i own 4 one being the plant im training round an old swing to frame the 6` head i built there
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=BoNds9Y-YSw

Re: Eureka and Navelina citrus trees.

I have just sent off for the same offer in a newspaper advert, Weedpatch - but I've only just read the comments here. They don't look encouraging but I'll just have to wait and see. The trees should arrive in about two weeks. I'll keep you posted.

oops lol there is a green house heater thats electric with a thermostate and it has an automatic under 5dergrees option on it.it can handle the odd grip to so that was good for me.it`s only£24.99 i believe

Hi Crommers. I'll be interested to hear how you get on with the citrus trees and if they look to be a nice qaility when they arrive.
Good luck with them. You never really know unless you try these things and it would be wonderful if they were ok outside.

go for it

Hello Weedpatch,

Just to let you know that I emailed the firm's helpline yesterday because the trees had not arrived. They emailed back with a landline phone number for queries on orders, which I rang, and received an immediate response from a very helpful lady who apologised and said they would be with me in seven to 10 days maximum. So, once again I will report back when they finally appear and let you know their condition on arrival.

To Mr Noseypotter: Thanks very much for your tip about the heater but unfortunately my garden is not big enough for a greenhouse. Good luck with all your other ventures.

good luck with your trees crommers and thanx you so much

It makes such a difference if you get a helpful person on the phone when trying to sort delivery problems. Nothing worse than getting stuck with an automated service. At least the weather is improving which will give the trees a better start.
Look forward to your thoughts about them.

ive sean plenty of lemons outside in england.i believe there called poloticians lol

Hello Weedpatch, they arrived this afternoon while the sun was still shining here in south-west London although the forecast is for the night temp to plunge later this week. They appear in excellent condition although I am no expert. The Eureka lemon has light green leaves, a couple of full-blown flowers and quite a few buds about to burst. The flowers really do smell gorgeous.
The Navelina orange has darker leaves and no buds as yet. Both trees are sturdy.
The advice that comes with them says to put them in a sunny position, so I've done that. The watering advice is... "ensure the compost remains moist but not wet at all times." Later it says that when repotting "keep them moist but not wet at the root." I assume this means just give them a regular little sprinkle.
It also says they will need to be fed from May to September with a high potash plant food. And, of course, they invite you to buy their "specially formulated food" for these trees. I had already sent off for two separate citrus summer and winter feeds on another website so I'm hoping that will be sufficient. Anyone with any advice please let me know!

Good luck with the trees Crommers. They do sound to be really healthy and will hopefully do well for you.

I am keen to give them a go but as I suddenly decided to rip up my garden again, I'm in a bit of mess at the moment, so might wait awhile. I have plants heeled in waiting for new homes as soon as the ground dries a bit but as yet I've not settled on my design. I love change and have the horrible habit of doing this every now and again but it does make for alot of work and upheaval.

Do let us know how they get on.

spring is here YIPPEE

Both my trees are looking sad at the moment, especially the lemon. This winter of course has been particularly cold. I put fleece covering over them (I can only keep them outside) but the leaves still drooped. The lemon worked well last year, four fruits and fragrant flowers. The orange had one flower which dropped off and I never got a single orange. I emailed their help address and was advised to repot the orange which I never got round to.
They also insisted I should use Baby Bio citrus feed. I have been using Scarletts winter and summer citrus formulae on the grounds that I suspected they were all the same and Garden Bargains probably had a deal going with Baby Bio. I could be wrong.
The lemon, despite its excellent performance, has lost nearly all its leaves. The orange leaves are only now starting to fall off. I shall give them another winter feed and repot them with ericaceous compost as advised to see if they revive.
Can I recommend them? I'm not sure whether the unusually cold weather is to blame - or me. I would advise for, if you are prepared to move the pots around (out of constant rain for example) and have a sheltered area in the event of this big freeze being repeated. I'll keep you updated.

Hello Crommers, I'm in SE London and my lemon tree (grown from a Florida lemon pip started in New York in 1971) has had to stay outside for quite a few years now - I got fed up being stabbed by its vicious thorns while bringing it in and out according to season. It lives in the basement area between house and pavement and survived the February snow last year and this year's frosts and snows when I lost all my geraniums for the first time ever. It has produced 3 flowers (and the scent was out of all proportion to them) and one of the flowers started swelling at its base and there was a tiny lemon (after 38 years). I was so excited and proud and then it got knocked by a window cleaner...... Still it has done it once and may do so again. The good thing about my tree (according to RHS) is that because it hasn't had to produce fruit it has wonderful glossy green leaves. So, if a Florida lemon can stay outside (albeit in the soft South) I don't see why home-bred ones can't. Oh, I use the turquoise and orange fertilisers, which reminds me summer time has come so time to switch containers.

Thanks for the update Crommers.
I would have been so pleased with the lemon tree. Were the fruits a decent size?

There would not have been any chance of one surviving here through last winter. I lost so many plants it is heart breaking, things I have had for at least 15 years. I even lost lost phormiums and cordylines that I had put inside. No heating it is true, but a bubble wrapped greenhouse.

Hope your little trees rally and produce more fruit for you this year.

I live in Yorkshire and was given a lemon tree and an orange tree last winter which are now bearing fruit, (very small so far, but they are growing.) We put it outside in the spring. It was about 1 foot in height and has grown to about two feet. However we intend on bringing them inside in the autumn. They were on a windowsill and weren't doing well until they were put outside. Clearly the windowsill was too warm being above a radiator.