George Shirley wrote:
> Jean B. wrote:
>> James Silverton wrote:
>>> Hello All!
>>>
>>> Today, I was in my local Balduccis, the best and probably the most
>>> expensive "gourmet" store. They had what I wanted: dates but there
>>> were some other interesting things like "giant lemons", really as
>>> big as grape fruits. I did not try these but they also had "sweet
>>> limes" and I bought one even if they were $5.99 a pound. They looked
>>> somewhat like limes with smooth yellow skins but had little lime
>>> taste being like not very juicy seedless oranges. You can keep them
>>> in my opinion.
>>>
>> Assuming the lemons don't lack flavor, they could be useful. The
>> limes don't sound like my cup of tea though. For one thing, I like
>> the tartness of limes.
>>
> The lemons sound like Ponderosa lemons, supposedly a sport between
> lemons and grapefruit or one of the other citrons. We have a tree on the
> south side of our garage and it makes lemons as big as three pounds on
> occasion. The skin is thick and bumpy and the lemon has a great many
> seeds. The seeds are viable and, if planted, will grow into another
> Ponderosa lemon tree. I've grown hundreds of them over the years to give
> away and also to sell at our annual plant sale when we still had them.
> Make a nice tree with some thorns on the branches. In the south they're
> prone to citrus rust mites but are easily treated with sulfur in a
> spray. We put up about 20 quart bags of lemon juice cubes every fall and
> enjoy "fresh" lemon juice in tea, water, etc. all year. Wife makes
> lovely lemon pies from the juices and I keep a bottle in the fridge for
> use in cooking.

I don't think I have seen those around the Boston area. I do have
a kaffir lime, but it is visiting someone who has a solarium until
it can go back outdoors sometime next spring. Sometimes one must
envy those of you who can actually plant such things outside (and
have them survive).

--
Jean B.