Spring is in the air!

I went browsing around town today and stumbled upon this lovely planter.

So I bought two of them - one large one (pictured above) and one extra large for a citrus tree.

The local farmers market had citrus trees for sale for only $22 - $9 cheaper than Lowes, Home Depot, or Wal-Mart.  And prettier, too, I might add.  So I walked out with one Meyer Lemon Tree.  I had a hard time deciding between a Key Lime Tree and the Meyer Lemon Tree, but the lemon finally won out. 

Although the more I think about it, I wish I had gotten both.  Then we could have lemonade and limeade.  Cherry limeade and strawberry lemonade, too.  And key lime pies.  And lemon meringue.   And a pretty tree for our master bedroom balcony and family room balcony.  Hmmm...  Maybe I'll stop by the farmers market again this week and see what they have left...

Our Meyer Lemon tree has several buds ready to bloom.

And two baby lemons! 

The Meyers Lemon (and Key Lime Tree, too, I might add) is especially suited for container growing and will reach a maximum height of  8 - 10 feet.  It bears fruit in clusters of 6 after the blooms pass (but you prune to only 2-3 so the lemons are larger and juicier).  The lemon juice is sweeter than that of most lemons because it is thought to be a cross between a true lemon and a mandarin orange.  Yum!

Here she is planted in her new home on our front balcony!  Isn't she beautiful?

For our smaller pot, I selected these 'Homestead Heirloom Tomatoes.' 

I got 9 baby tomato plants for less than $3. 

And here they are in their new home, as well.  I'm afraid they will eventually take over this 20 gallon pot.  But in the meantime, they certainly do look happy and I can't wait to have fresh tomatoes on hand.

When Grace got home from school today and noticed the new plants, she said, "Yook, Momma.  It's uh tee on our howz!"  (Look, Momma, It's a tree at our house!)  And I told her it was a lemon tree for her and we had some new tomato plants, too.  And in a few weeks we would pick some lemons and make some homemade lemonade and lemon popsicles.   Her response was, "For meeee?  Oh, Momma.  Dats so sweet!"  (For me?  Oh, Momma.  That's so sweet!)  But not nearly as sweet as my Grace.