PlantFiles: Variegated Lemon Tree
Citrus limon 'Pink Lemonade'

Finally have flowers on my Varigated Lemon tree. The tree's about 10 ft tall and 4 years old. First time I'm expecting fruit from it. I used a Bayer systemic product a little more than a month ago (mixed with water and poured around the base of the tree) to fight off the leaf borers (psyllids sp?). And sprayed it with copper fulgamate (sp?) to fight off canker. And I'm using organicide (won't kill bees) instead of sevin (will kill bees) for fighting off other pests. Citrus in S. Fla is a lot of work. I think the Bayer product is the reason it's finally flowering and hopefully fruiting.

I bought it in January, it's growing like a weed and has got about 20 striped lemons on it. It's now mid-July, and I can't tell when these are are ripe. Any suggestions?
anyway...grows great in SW Florida.

I purchased one of these trees from Home Depot, what I think is at least 2 years ago, it is about 10 feet tall and yet no fruit yet?? It is now January. When should it first start to blossum? Is it possible I have a tree that is not going to produce fruit? I bought an orange tree the same time & it hasn't grown much bigger than when I first got it & no fruit either.

This tree was doing quite well in a pot until it got snowed on - barely survived, but had full foliage within a year and made some fruit the following year. It was thriving, growing like crazy, but became top-heavy so kept blowing over. I reluctantly agreed to put it in the ground, and it lost almost all its leaves. It is in a spot where it is getting summer afternoon sun - NOT recommended. Put lattice around the bottom to protect it more.

Here in Tucson it did best on the east side of the house where it got sun until about 1pm.

The poor thing has been tortured but keeps coming back!
Leaves are great for baking fish on - fragrant even after dried (my new "bay leaf")

I grow several dwarf citrus trees in large containers and this is, by far, my favorite! It flowers and fruits year round. The new growth is pink which turns to a medium green/light green/cream variagation and is very attractive. The flower buds are also pink and much more fragrant that those of oranges and limes. Most of the fruits are yellow and green striped, although some are completely yellow. The striped fruits begin to loose their stripes when ripe, becoming mostly yellow. The lemon flesh is pink and a little sweet with a hint of mandarin orange taste. Prefers a little afternoon shade in the blazing mid-summer sun and full sun Fall-Spring. This little tree attracts a lot of attention due to it's exotic look -- and the abundant and practical fruit make it a no-brainer for a warm climate or a tiny garden.