Citrus as Garden Art

By Haskell Harris | March 3, 2010 | Design

Nine years ago, during a semester abroad, I found myself alone in the open courtyard of the Palazzo Medici Riccardi in Florence, Italy, surrounded by an ornamental grove of potted citrus trees.

I'd been wandering around the place all morning trying to find the elusive garden, and by the time I got there I was grateful to find it void of tourists and clicking cameras.  

It's hard to imagine that a simple plant held so much history in its leaves, but these trees, heavy with fruit, certainly did. 

To the Medici, oranges represented wealth and fertility. If you look closely at Medici commissioned paintings, like Botticelli's La Primavera, look for the citrus trees.  They are present in many of the art forms that the family had a hand in.

The single specimen garden was one of the most beautiful sights I'd ever seen. 

And one day I want my own grove. 

Not only do the citrus trees retain their shiny, evergreen leaves all year, but citrus blossoms produce the most intoxicating scent. A few months ago I got my collection started with two Meyer lemon trees that were covered in blossoms and put them just outside the front door. The fragrance wafted into the house every morning when I left for work and every time I crossed the threshold in the evenings. Heavenly! 

I've also been looking to the ornamental citrus gardens in Charleston for ideas. I've spotted several examples, some potted, some espaliered (which just means that they are trained to grow completely flat against a wall or other structure).

I love how espalier looks, so I thought I'd post a few images of other fruit trees trained in a similar fashion. Turns out that the practice goes back even farther than the Medici, all the way to ancient Egypt. For centuries, people have used it to take advantage of space in small gardens, to create hedges in open areas, and more. 

If you're thinking of adding citrus or fruit trees to your garden, one of the best mail-order sources is the Tasteful Garden in Alabama. And if you'd like to take the whole idea one step further with professionally trained espalier specimens, River Road Farms is your best bet. 

All you'll need after that is a pitcher of sweet tea to put those fresh lemons in...

Image credits: olga-martinez.blogspot.com; sandrobotticelli.net; agrowingtradition.com; frenchgardening.com; orange2.bp.blogspot.com; dovegreyreader.typepad.com; americangardenhistory.com; eastanglia.wordpress.com

Football Blues

By John Currence | August 20, 2009 | Food

I love summer for the bounty it brings — the tidal wave of tomatoes, okra, squashes, etc. But April 1 to September 1 is a difficult four months for me. Why? There’s no football. Sorry, folks, but baseball does as much for me as reruns of Mama's Family, and the thrill of the NCAA basketball tournament only lasts so long. Of the things that make that time tolerable, though, the summer berry crop ranks right at the top, and blueberries are my hands-down favorite.

August is the most difficult time in the stretch. Summer's blueberries are drying up and disappearing for the next nine months. Bess and I talk weekly about buying as many as we can get our hands on and freezing them, but we never manage to get from one market to the next without eating everything we’ve purchased. Smoothies, cobblers, and pies fill our lives, and it is a happy antioxidant-filled couple of months.

But now the end of the season is upon us, and blueberries are becoming scarce. Our great berry carnival is coming to an end. My advice to you: Scour the markets and enjoy what you can find. It'll be May before we are blessed again, and football only gets you part of the way there.