For friends who have been following the nearly 10-year odyssey of my MYSTERY CITRUS* tree, I’m excited to report that there are a few tiny, nascent, round fruits appearing on it! Please cross your fingers that they finally make it to ripeness!

*When we bought this house in 2015, there was a small, almost-dead tree that I thought was a lemon tree. It was completely shaded by a huge eucalyptus that was threatening to fall over, and which we quickly had removed. In the removal, they damaged the “lemon” tree further. I decided, now that the tree was actually getting sunlight, that I could bring it back to health.

For FIVE years I fertilized it, watered it, and protected it with a frost blanket when it got below freezing at night. It actually started having some healthy growth. But no fruit. I assumed it was just building up its strength again. Finally, it produced a handful of small fruits, which I was surprised to see were ROUND! But they dropped off the tree while they were still tiny and green, so it was impossible to tell what they were. They obviously weren’t lemons.

In year 6, I was excited to see that it had many small fruits on it, and I had hope that this would FINALLY be the year in which it would keep the fruit on the tree until it ripened, and we could find out what it is. Unfortunately, it was attacked by rats during the night (same thing that happened here), and they not only ate ALL THE LEAVES but also much of the bark off the tree. I had no idea that could happen. Any remaining fruits dropped off. I didn’t know if the tree would survive.

But that little sucker kept hanging on, and during years 7 and 8 it just kept growing more branches and leaves, presumably replenishing its stores of energy, and didn’t produce any fruit. So you can see why I am so excited that now in the 9th year, we may actually see some fruit. I’m crossing my fingers. My guess is that it’s a mandarin orange. But we shall see.