Enjoy the snow and still pick fresh citrus

YEAR ’ ROUND WARM weather does not attract me to the tropics. Yet the thought of plucking sun-warmed oranges from a backyard tree has appeal. I feel no need to relocate though, because I can enjoy the snow here and still pick fresh citrus simply by growing a plant in a pot, where it can wait out cold weather indoors. This idea is not new. A whole wing at Versailles, the orangerie, was built expressly for overwintering potted orange trees.

A potted citrus tree would be worthy of window space even if its fruit were inedible. The orange or yellow berries (yes, they are berries, botanically speaking) are set off by the luxuriously green foliage, and the fragrance of the flowers rivals that of gardenia or jasmine. The beauty of the plant is attested to by the fact that citrus most commonly grown as houseplants are the Calamondin and Otaheite orange.

The robust-flavored fruits of either plant are unpalatable, except perhaps diluted to flavor an “-ade.”

I reason that if I was going to grow a potted citrus, the plant might as well also bear edible fruit. Oranges or grapefuits are a possibility, though a pot-sized plant cannot hold many fruits. And a small orange or grapefuit tree festooned with large fruits does tend to look sort of clumsy. Lemons or limes are good choices, since the juice of only one fruit will flavor a whole bowl of guacomole or a few servings of fish. I get the most out of one citrus plant by growing a type that has more than just lush foliage, fragrant flowers, and edible fruit. I am growing kumquats, whose skin is even edible! Just about any citrus plants can be started readily from seeds. “Volunteer” orange seedlings have sprouted at the base of a dracaena next to a rocking chair in my living room, evidently from seeds disposed of as someone sat rocking and eating a orange. (How do I know it’s an orange? Crushed citrus leaves smell much like the fruit.) The seeds germinate readily if sown fresh, before they dry.

Whereas seedlings of most fruit plants do not bear fruits that are identical to the parent plant, this isn’t the case with citrus. Many citrus exhibit apomyxis, which is the ability to form seeds without fertilization of the flower. The plants that grow from such seeds are genetically identical to the parents. Simply put, a ‘Valencia’ orange seedling eventually will bear ‘Valencia’ orange fruits. Not so for ‘MacIntosh’ apples or ‘Bartlett’ pears. Last year, I finally gave away a four-year-old tangerine seedling, and bought my present kumquat plant. The problem is that it could have taken a decade for the tangerine seedling to bear fruit. And this plant, like other juvenile citrus plants, had the undesireable property of being armed with stout, inch-long thorns. I bought my kumquat plant at a nursery, but if I’d known someone with a kumquat plant, I could have started the plant from a cutting. Most citrus root easily, and the cuttings usually flower and fruit early on. I once rooted a lemon cutting that was smothered with a half-dozen blossoms when the plant had only four leaves.

There are no special techniques to growing and fruiting