Large lemon tree growing, and fruiting, with protection, in Eugene, Oregon
Jan Spencer may have the most unique pet around. It’s a lemon tree.
This relationship isn’t the usual gardener/plant thing. No, he really has an affinity for this tree. In turn, the tree provides Spencer with a huge bounty of delicious lemons every year from Christmas to spring.
“I don’t get into the supernatural realm too much,” Spencer says, “but I think the lemon tree likes it here.”
Here in early February, the ripening lemons on the bushy tree are a sight to behold. Neighbors are welcome to pick fruit, and Spencer bikes around his River Road neighborhood in west Eugene stashing lemons in the lending library boxes neighbors have in their front yards.
These days, along with books, kids might find fresh lemons, the likes of which they won’t see in grocery stores. Spencer’s lemons also are occasionally sold at farmers’ markets.
His lemon tree wouldn’t raise an eyebrow in Southern California. But in Eugene?
And it’s not the tiny, indoor mini-pot kind of citrus. The tree stands 7 feet high and 25 feet in circumference. Can this really happen so far north?
Spencer is a local champion of suburban permaculture.
Cold weather protection
Here’s how the story began.
“The tree started life in Santa Clara (in Eugene), planted by a good friend’s dad,” he explains. “I always noticed that tree when I visited and marveled at it.”
The tree’s original planter, Phil Damron, was getting into his late 80s, and his wife, Jane, didn’t like how he had to go out so much in cold weather to put protection around it.
That led to Spencer “adopting” the tree eight years ago.
“For years we thought it was a Meyer lemon, but apparently it’s not,” he says. Whatever the variety, he’s delighted by its results.
“I replanted it out by the driveway in front of a south-facing wall, where I can gaze at it from the house,” he says. “But here’s the deal,” he continues. “It really is too cold for a lemon tree here. If you want one you need to protect it from the cold.”
Would that all pets get treated this well. “I watch the thermometer all the time during winter,” Spencer says. “Mid-20s is not kind to a lemon tree.”
He constructed a PVC pipe frame around the tree, over which he can throw blankets, sleeping bags, rugs and any other convenient protective cover.
He also puts a bubble pack around the tree up to 4 feet thick. The blankets drape down over the sides so no cold air can get in.
At times he’ll use an electric space heater, especially on nights temperatures dip into the low 20s. It takes up to 45 minutes of hard labor on those cold nights to sling all the protecting covers over the plastic pipe framework.
On warmer days, Spencer partially removes the tree’s protective layers for maximum sunlight exposure.
But typically, the tree needs covering only a few days a week during winter.
The over-arching lesson here is that you can grow anything anywhere if you have the resolve, passion and commitment to do it.
The Register-Guard, 2018
https://www.registerguard.com/lifestyle/20180215/eugene-lemon-tree-gone-bananas