Orange tree progress

Pictures of the dwarf orange tree from a couple weeks ago:

Look at all those flower buds!  Wow, the tree really took nicely to some super tough love.  It was not doing well - seriously root bound in it's pot, leaves curling from not enough watering or being too cold because I left it outside too late.  So I cut back a bunch of the roots, put it in a bigger pot with worm castings, ramiel wood chips, and compost in the mix, and then watered with liquid fish, kelp, humus, and Effective Microorganisms, and stuck it under the grow lights in the basement.  Before I knew it it was super lush, super green, and super loaded with flower buds.

Uh oh - I knew we were in super trouble.  Yes, it looked pretty enough to bring back upstairs so we could enjoy it for awhile, but that enjoyment didn't last long.  It did THIS:

Dozens, if not hundreds, of flower buds opened, and we were overwhelmed with the super strong scent.  Someone's told me it's similar to jasmine.  The flower scent is very different from the broken leaf scent (which is more like bitter orange).

And yes, as many have asked, it does produce oranges, but these are more like big marbles, that do turn orange in color, but are incredibly sour.  They smell amazing, either pulled off and rolled in the hand, or tossed down the garbage disposal for a refresher.  But they do not taste good at all.  If you look at the picture above you can see some of the still-green oranges on the tree.

In previous years I've been able to decorate the tree with tiny Christmas ornaments.  Not this holiday season - it's grounded in the basement, and won't get to come back up until all those flowers have dropped.