House plants

I have two citrus in my yard started from ruby red seeds that are 4 years old. Never expected them to fruit and they havnt. The leaves make a nice tea and add a little zest to cooking so they are not useless. Figs can do well in pots and be kept pruned back but I am in Central TX so its best to let these things free in the yard. I have an LSU Gold hybrid fig that grew to about 7' in one year. Big huge juicy figs the tree is loaded every year.
Cuttings anyone? No rutone needed, Harden off and stick em in the dirt. They will grow.
Bull,
I will send you cuttings of a lime I have. Cold hardy but not boston cold hardy could be kept inside for quite a while.
 
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I'd love to hear of you harvesting a stem of bananas in Illinois! Any idea what banana cultivar you're growing?

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I got this plant when I was getting ready to move from GA to MN in 2008 from my neighbor and horticulture student. He grew them for some class project and decided to share one with me after the project had ended. So the cultivar is beyond me.

It has probably 5 or 6 leaves on it. In May 2009 it got pummeled with hail, along with all my other plants, so they're still recuperating from that damage. I didn't realize that it needed so much water and fertilizer, though it explains some of the symptoms I'm seeing. I'll get on that. I probably need to get it into a bigger container, it's in a little 2 gallon pot right now.

I've given up on the grapefruit and put it outside for the cold IL winter. The hail damage was extensive and then my mom was nice enough to "take care of" my plants while I was in the process of moving and it now looks like a plucked chicken. I'll compost it and make good use of it.

I'm thinking about getting my pineapple plants into one of the greenhouses here at work. I've had two pineapples in the past produce a handful of fruit for me. I think these need more light and then they'll be good to go, they're old enough at least to start producing. I need to get some ripe apples to put with them for the spring to help them produce.

I also have an avocado tree that I started from a seed that I had put into my compost bin. When I noticed that it has germinated I potted it up. Any words of wisdom on that?
 
Avocados don't grow true to seed either, so it's a crap shoot as to whether it'll ever bloom, let alone fruit. Pollinating them is tricky, and generally requires another avocado nearby.

There's a little miniature cavendish banana that only gets 3 or 4 feet tall and makes a stem full of little lady finger sized bananas that you might have fun playing with. There's also a red jamaican banana that stays short and squatty and fruits like there's no tomorrow. You should also know that there are some banana varieties that are only grown for foliage and which never produce fruit.

I've got blue ice cream bananas in my yard, they're pretty much bullet proof. I gave some shoots to my neighbor across the street. He set them in a 2 gallon pot (over the reclaimed water supply line). In short order they found their way out of the bottom of the pot and into the supply line, where they went...well... bananas!

I've found pineapples grow best around other pineapples, at least for me. One or two by themselves, they don't do much. but put 5 or 6 in a tub, and they seem to decide to become a pineapple patch.. go figure. I have more success with them in shade here in Florida.
 
Hey BB you are getting some good advice...

With your little ones around, stay away from ficus!

I'd only add that whatever you decide to get, the easiest way to kill an indoor plant is to overwater it! the potting medium should only be moist at about 1" below the surface.
Keep a spray bottle of water nearby and spritz it from time to time, as your winter indoor climate is really dry! Better to mist the foliage than soak the roots.

My bro in Somerville has a window box that gets good morning sun to grow fresh herbs...the basil rotted off...too much water and the nice spahgnum moss on the top kept it too wet,parsely is fine as are the narcissus and iris!
 
As to the best place to get a mini lemon...I'd suggest looking for threads posted by people who've bought from different suppliers. Plant health, and nursery culture, combined with top notch packing and shipping would be what I'd look for in commentary.Google for suppliers, and then google them individually to look for commentary, independent of their websites

I'd also suggest waiting until well after all threat of frost is gone before ordering one. Don't want a cold sensitive citrus sapling sitting overnight in a semi truck somewhere in freezing temperatures.

A couple things to be mindful of.. even a "mini" citrus cultivar will try to get 8-10 feet tall, so you'll have to keep it reduced above, and probably below ground to maintain the size that you want. Also, most lemon and lime cultivars have thorns, so if you've got little ones wandering around, that may be a consideration.
 
Cervi,

Thanks for the tips! I never knew that lemon/lime have thorns. Look as though they are out of the running for a few yeras. I have 1 year old twins.

Does anyone know of a good place in the Norhteast that sells indoor plants? maybe an Arboretum, Greenhouse, or Botanical Garden?
 
BONSAI trees are so sweet and they are alot of fun creating. i have 12 of them and i created everyone. go for making your own BONSAI!!!!!
 
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