Paksworld

‘From the south of England, after a very hard winter, OATH contemplates the Fig, Olive, and Lemon trees in the greenhouse and thinks it will soon be warm enough for them outside,’ wrote Amanda Lee-Riley.   I cropped this, so I hope all three kinds of leaves are still showing.

Photo courtesy of Amanda Lee-Riley

I’m amazed that people can grow olives and lemons and figs in England…though I remember reading that in some areas the climate is amazingly mild.   We have a fig tree (and it survived the night of 10 F this winter!) but not olive or lemon…I’d really like to have a lemon tree again.  Where I grew up, in South Texas, there were groves of citrus and we had a Meyers lemon tree and a Valencia orange tree  in the yard.   I could come home from school, pick a lemon, and make lemonade…and when the groves bloomed…it was incredible.   My grandfather could graft trees, and had created a multi-citrus tree for his yard–two or three kinds of grapefruit, two kinds of oranges, lemons, limes, tangerines, etc.   I never saw it; my mother told me about it.

Orange-blossom honey…although I also love guajillo honey (native brushland shrub) which is completely different.   Clover honey is OK, but orange-blossom and guajillo honeys both have a spicy undertone.   Valencia oranges are almost too sweet;  I remember sitting on the roof of the arbor and having bees perch on my hand to suck the sweet orange juice (I was terrified but had sense enough to hold still.  They didn’t sting me.  However, I didn’t try eating an orange on the roof again.)