Lemon Love
May 11, 2026
Hello Friend!
My poor lemon tree. I looked at it this morning and realized I felt the same way it did after being stuck inside over a long Michigan winter: wilting, a little frayed around the edges and desperate for some sunshine and toasty temps.
Lemon trees aren't made for cold and snow, so every fall I've lugged it into my house and tucked it into the sunniest corner I could find. To be honest, "sunny" and "winter" aren't exactly two words we use together very much here in Michigan, so I've always had to plug in several of those indoor sunlamps with tangled cords and timers for all those cold winter months. Ugh.
But somehow this tough little tree has survived many, many winters this way.
I'm not even sure how old it is. I do know it was originally planted from a lemon seed by my daughter Amanda when she was still living with us, which would now be well over twelve years ago
I remember we were slightly surprised when it actually sprouted, at which point Amanda promptly handed it over to her green thumb mom and asked me to "please keep my little tree alive". No pressure, right? But I did my best, and so it grew. A LOT.
Over the years we re-potted it several times until the whole thing was well over five feet tall and still growing. I've had to chop it off, spray it for bugs, and spritz it with water to keep it happy. It rarely produces a real lemon, mostly because it typically chooses to flower just after I bring it in each fall, without a single pollinating bee in sight. Silly tree. Maybe this year I can use a little fertilizer and encourage it to bloom outside. I have to admit though, the rare flowers it produces smell SO amazing!
Now here we are at the beginning of another warm season. Yay! I could almost hear my lemon tree sighing in relief when I shoved it onto the deck into the first full, real sunshine since last October. I'm pretty sure she's already looking better. I think I'll pull my chair up next to her and tip my face up too. We could BOTH use a little Spring sunshine! Now if I could just figure out how to ship this (high maintenance) lemon tree to my sweet sister in Florida, so we could all live happily ever after. Hmmmm.
