Thou Shalt Not Covet Thy Neighbor’s Citrus

Easily within reach from the driveway, but morally out of bounds.

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I don’t want his bananas, just the citrus.

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We inherited a large, scale-infested, whitefly-festooned lemon tree with this house. A couple years later, the giant whitefly, Aleurodicus dugesii, winged into town, and though it didn’t seem possible, the situation got even uglier. Ever since, I’ve been basically content to leave fruit tree growing to the experts. But on reflection, I think the tree was poorly sited by the original owner, in too much shade, causing an orgy of insect attacks, which evoked an unremitting sense of failure until the day the tree was gone. Still can’t make up my mind on home-grown citrus again. I think I’d still prefer another acacia.

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