Twisting branches, beautiful green leaves, sometimes already bearing the first fruit: this is your chance to really live la dolce vita. Citrus trees promise to be the big patio trend for 2016. They don’t take up a lot of space, but they have lots going on. They’re also easy to maintain, beautiful to look at and you can pick and eat the fruit. The feeling of long, languid summer evenings with a view of something that thrives in Tuscany is enough to make you buy one straightaway. But which one will it be?
Don’t go small
All citrus trees look a bit alike. They’re slim, densely branched trees with a somewhat tangled crown. The choice is biggest in lemon and orange trees, which are also the most decorative and which offer the greatest resilience. There are also grapefruit, kumquat and mandarin trees, but as an ‘entry-level citrus’ a lemon or orange is an excellent choice. It’s worth investing in a specimen that has been grown a bit already. Not only does it have more impact on your patio, but the slightly larger trees are also stronger, better developed and more likely to survive than the little ones. The leaves must be attractively green, and a few small fruit already on the tree is also a good sign.
Mobile citrus, always handy
Once you arrive home together, you need to find a good spot. Citrus trees like a large, heavy pot that won’t tumble over easily in a summer storm. To make it easy for yourself, place it on a platform with wheels, so that you can move the tree to the places in the garden where there is the most sun during the summer months. It’s also an easy way of moving the tree to the greenhouse, shed or living room when the nights start getting colder again. But that’s a long way off – before that you can enjoy the enchanting atmosphere that a citrus tree brings to your garden for months to come… and you can pick the lemon for your margarita straight from the tree!
