Valencia Orange Tree

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If I recall correctly, this was my first plant to grow from the seed of something I ate. Three little trees sprouted up, and I subsequently gave two away. I chose Valencia oranges because when I lived in Georgia I would travel to Florida often. There at roadside stands I would buy bags of Valencia oranges and they were delicious. I once stopped at orange tree plantation near the side of the road and ran out a picked an orange. I held onto that orange for several years, in remembrance of those scrumptious journeys. It just dried up like some sort of potpourri item. I realize Principal Skinner derides them because they are juice oranges, but I think that makes them all the better.

At about the same time I planted these orange seeds, I also planted some grapefruit trees at the request of my lovely wife. 3 trees popped from that planting and I gave one away. I have since heard about it's tragic demise. My two others also met a sad, yet honorable fate. Apparently, there is a limit to the number of plants that someone can keep in their house (not a legally imposed limit, but rather socially, or better yet, maritally imposed). My wife recommended the swift execution of some of my plants and was happy to let the grapefruit trees go. I hate to kill plants, especially ones I had raised from infancy, so I tried to give them a fighting chance.

Little ground squirrels often visited my potted plants outside (all of which have to come in during the winter) and, like little farmers, would plant seeds in my pots and later harvest them. But, in the process of planting the seeds, they often damaged roots and even completely uprooted the butterwort once. So, I decided to try to eliminate two problems at once. I planted the grapefruit trees in the ground squirrels' nearest hole. The trees didn't make it, but there's one less ground squirrel hole in the world today because of their sacrifice.

This picture was taken in August of 2008, so the tree is about 5 years old. It should be old enough to start producing fruit soon. Like the lime, it's had problems with leafhoppers. The quarter is there to show relative size.

Previous years' images: One Year Old | Two Years Old | Three Years Old

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