Citrus ripen through winter. This ‘Ponderosa’ lemon is taking its time, probably because it is still growing. Individual ‘Ponderosa’ lemons commonly weigh two pounds, and can potentially get a bit heavier than five pounds. That is heavier than some of Rhody’s chihuahua friends. I doubt that this particular lemon will get much larger than it is now, but it is already bigger than an average ‘Eureka’ lemon. It is about as big as a baseball.

The problem with this fruit is that it is on a tiny lemon tree in a #1 can. It is one of two fruits. I should not have allowed them to develop as much as they have. I should have removed them when they first appeared in order to divert resources into vegetative growth, rather than fruit development. Now that they grew this much, I sort of want them to finish ripening. It would be a waste to remove them now. After they ripen, I can prune their stems from the tiny tree, and process them as cuttings to grow more new trees.

I would like to install this little ‘Ponderosa’ lemon tree into a landscape at Ponderosa Lodge. Not only is its name appropriate, but the weirdly huge fruit might be interesting to the children who come to ‘Outdoor Science’ school there. Contrary to the huge size of its fruits, ‘Ponderosa’ lemon trees do not grow very large or very fast. However, a mature ‘Eureka’ lemon already inhabits the garden there, and we recently installed a ‘Bearss’ lime. Another lemon tree would redundant. We would prefer to grow a more edible citrus within the limited space that is available, such as a sweet orange, Mandarin orange or kumquat. For now, we will just enjoy this tiny lemon tree with its huge lemons right here.