Courtney Wolfgang

Great, thank you so much John!

Hello!

I am still a newbie in regards to fruit trees. Thanks in advance for any help you can provide!

Two Christmases ago, we planted a small Persian Lime tree bought at a nursery and propagated by a cutting from a mature tree. Being inexperienced, we didn't care for the young tree as well as we should. It is still small, surviving but not thriving. Though I pinched most of the fruit, I did allow it to bear about 4 limes in its short lifetime. Now I know I should have pinched ALL the fruit the first year in the ground.

Anyway, my question now is how to shape the small shrub into more of a tree shape. I have already pruned a few low lateral branches, taking about 40% of the tree--an aggressive prune. Now, it has a leader that splits into a perfect "y" with dual leaders, 9 inches off of the ground (see attached file IMG_0003.jpg). Do I choose one of these dual leaders to be the leader and lop off the other one? If so, how do I know which to choose? Or should I not do any more pruning as it has already been pruned a lot, should I prune one leader next year? I also heard of a method where you cut half of the unwanted leader this year, and the rest next year. Am I correct in assuming it is better for the tree to have just one leader instead of dual leaders, or are dual leaders acceptable for a Persian Lime?

I also have a Mulberry Tree with the same problem--dual leaders emerging just above ground level (see attached file IMG_0004.jpg). Should I prune to a single leader, and is now the time (Spring) to do it?

I live in Central Florida Zone 9 coastal... 8 blocks from the beach.

Thank you SO much for any advice you have to give... I am all ears, and VERY appreciative!


PS... if any pemies have a suggestion about what kind of companion plants to plant at the base of these trees, I would love to hear your thoughts on that too!

Hello everyone!

I have been gardening for 2 years now after purchasing a home on a .25 acre lot, 8 blocks from the ocean in Central Florida, Zone 9. I am learning as much as I can about permaculture principles. Although I have a huge amount of questions, today I am wondering if anyone can help me solve a situation in my back yard, in a long north-facing patch running east to west for 75 feet, bordered by a 4ft high concrete "fence" and tall shrubs from the neighbor's yard on its south side. It is about 6-7 feet wide stretching away from the wall. I tell you this to describe that it is partial sun, and towards the wall mostly shady.

My favorite flower is hibiscus... the old owners of this property left several old, well-established ones in this landscape bed I've described. My goals for this area are to put in some sort of ground cover so that I don't continually need to mulch and weed here, add some more color, and I would love to get the hibiscus blooming more (I get a couple blooms here and there, every so often). I've been using organic tropical plant fertilizer and seaweed spray which has worked OK, but I thought to myself, I wonder if there's a sort of nitrogen-fixing companion I can plant around my hibiscus so that I can lessen my inputs. If it added color (preferably with a flower) that would be an added bonus. And I'll always love an edible or medicinal plant If it's not a ground cover I'm not too bothered because I have other ground covers in mind.

So questions:

1. Do you know of any companion type plant or group of plants/guild that would help the hibiscus to be healthy and bloom more? Perhaps one that would suit my other needs (ground cover, color/flowers, edible or medicinal)?
2. What do you think of the other ground covers I have in mind: creeping raspberry, creeping thyme (Elfin), Laurentia Blue Star Creeper, Brides Tears (antigonon leptopus), FL native morning glories, New Zealand spinach. Would like to use a combination of covers. Are there any I haven't thought of that you think would be good at covering more than one function, either edible, pretty flowers/color, or increase fertility of that piece of land?

From east to west, the shrubs growing there now are banana, Washingtonian palm, Queen palm, Angel Trumpet, Hibiscus, Triangle Palm, Plumeria, more hibiscus, umbrella tree. All well established and at least 10 years old. Final note is that on the far east side, in front of the bananas, is the canal to the Thousand Islands water system, which is brackish water, held back by concrete sea wall.

Thank you for any help, suggestions, or guidance you can provide!! If I've forgotten any necessary detail, please ask and I'll tell you!