Hi Marysia, if you want to grow from seed, sow them in spring at 61 deg f, but seed do not come true, you may be better off taking semi ripe cuttings in summer, that way you will get exactly the same as your friend, Derek.

As Derek said, they probably won't come true, that's if they fruit at all, which is very unlikely.

Having said that, they are pretty easy to grow from seed. I planted quite a few in the summer and just about everyone of them grew. They are about 8 inches tall and in my conservatory for the winter. I grow citrus from seeds to use as a root stock to graft onto. You could always try this method, but it takes a couple of years for the tree to be big enough to graft on to, but the tree will be an exact clone of the tree you take the branch from, (i.e. your friends tree).

You could also try as Derek suggested and take cuttings. I've had some success doing it this way. Take green cuttings about 8 - 10 inches long, remove the leaves leaving about 3 or 4 of them, dip the ends of the stems in hormone rooting powder and pop them into pots of compost. A good idea is to cut the necks off clear plastic pop bottles and place them over the cuttings to create a mini greenhouse to keep moisture from evaporating through the leaves. They will take a few years to grow though.

Of course you could just go out and buy a lemon tree. They should be in garden centres soon, if not already. Go for a Meyer Lemon, they seem to be the easiest to grow, the lemons are huge and they flower 4 times a year, so you will have a combination of fragrant blossom, tiny green pea-sized lemons all the way up to fully ripe ones on the tree at the same time. I move mine into the conservatory for the winter and there's nothing nicer than to be able to go and pick a lemon off the tree at Christmas for a Gin & Tonic ;o)

thank you very much to both of you. I like the idea of cutting off a plastic bottle and putting over the top, it can act as a temporary greenhouse seeing I have not got one or a conservatory, but a very warm kitchen which I call my meditterean kitchen. Thank you once again for yuor ideas :)