- Angel’s Trumpet (Brugmansia ‘Charles Grimaldi’) Needs lots of water and fertilizer, can be pruned like a tree.
- Citrus— Buddha’s hand(Citrus medica var. sarcodactylus), kumquat, Dwarf Meyer or ornamental lemon.
- Crape myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica)
- Crown of gold tree (Cassia leptophylla)
- New Zealand cabbage palm, Giant dracaena (Cordyline australis).
- Golden dew drop (Duranta erecta, D. repens.)
- Indian Hawthorn Tree (Rhaphiolepis indica ‘Majestic Beauty’).
- Japanese black pine (Pinus thunbergii ‘Magestic Beauty’, smog & fog resistant, dwarf form:‘Thunderhead.’)
- Magnolia grandiflora espalier: Small varieties for patio: M.g ‘San Marino’, M.g.‘Little Gem’, or M.g. ‘St. Mary’.
- Lemon trees make excellent espalier and fruit hangs on for long-lasting attractive appearance.
- Pomegranite (Punica granatum‘Wonderful’.)
- Pony tail palm (Nolina recurvata, Beaucarnea recurvata),
- Tropical hibiscus (Hibiscus sinensis ‘Agnes Galt’)
- Windmill palm (Trachycarpus fortunei) for patio corner, perfect smaller-size, hardy palm for patios, recognize by hairy trunk.
- Wisterias both Chinese (W. sinensis) and Japanese (W. floribunda), trained as trees
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We moved into a condo that has a nice back deck. It’s between full sun to partial sun for about 8-10 hours a day (depending on the time of year), then after that our location is mostly shaded. We bought one dwarf lemon tree last year (potted) the guy at the shop said it should be fine like that. It will bloom and then all the blooms die off and little fruit buds begin and then they fell off too. I didn’t prune it last fall, b/c well honestly rookie mistake I didn’t realize it. We are in the UTC/La Jolla area and I would love to start filling our back deck with some plants/dwarf citrus trees. Is it possible to successfully grow dwarf lemon/lime trees that we could not plant into the ground? Also, what type of plant food/fertilizer would you recommend. We are very new to planting/gardening in SoCal. As I grew up on the east coast and I’m finding that what I did there with just basil, needs to be much different to what I do here in SoCal. It’s been a shocker since basil on the east coast would get so big and here it seems to burn out almost.
Any recommendations on potted plants for the deck would be greatly appreciated. I was hoping for lilac, but I read you posts and see that it’s not so successful out here.
I look forward to your recommendations!
Your balcony may not have enough sun for your dwarf lemon tree to produce fruit, but perhaps your problems are caused by other factors. One thing is the sized of the container. Dwarf trees need a large tub, preferably a half barrel. Next, I do not recommend pruning. Lemon trees need very little pruning except to cut off dead twigs. Third there may be no bees to pollinate the blossoms. I recommend you hand-pollinate with a sable brush. Go from blossom to blossom and make like a bee. Next thing is that if the top of the roots are disturbed in any way this makes the fruit fall off, so digging is a no-no. Also when grown in too small a container, the water sometimes pours out around the root ball leaving the center of the root ball dry. Then all the fruit will fall off and sometimes the leaves fall off too, but often the tree stays alive and only needs re-potting with some fresh soil into a larger container.
To answer your other questions: Yes, you can take a potted citrus tree and plant it in the ground but be sure to loosen the outside roots of the root ball if they are growing around and around, and plant an inch or two high so the crown of the tree around the trunk will stay dry. This is not where the feeder roots are, they are out further and under the drip line.
Regarding fertilizer: citrus are heavy feeders and should be fed in late January and every month or two after that if grown in a pot. I recommend any organic citrus fertilizer and follow the recommendations on the package. If the tree does not thrive, feed more or check that the water is penetrating the rootball as it should. Water needs to wet the entire root ball and pour out the bottom of the pot or salts will build up in the soil. My month-by-month Southern California gardening books can greatly help new Southern California gardeners like yourself. I suggest you go to Amazon.com to look for them or purchase the Kindle version of my organic book, Pat Welsh’s Southern California Organic Gardening, Month by Month. It will tell you everything you need to know about growing just about everything we grow here and also about our unique garden timing, climate, soil, etc. Start reading in the beginning then read each monthly chapter while we are in that month. For citrus, however, use the index to find that subject in January and read that as well. It is a tragedy that Chronicle Books stopped printing this book last year and someone should tell them so. Gardeners don’t want to read this book on Kindle. An earlier edition of this book called “Pat Welsh’s Southern California Gardening: Month-by-Month, Completely Revised and Updated” is very good also and costs less than the organic book that went out of print last year. I am trying to get Chronicle Books to let me write a new, shorter version and then gardeners could use the Kindle version more like an encyclopedia.