Kaffir Lime In Zone 9

I'll be heading to Southern California tomorrow morning to spend some time with my sister and her family, enjoy my nephew's first birthday party (the theme is Uno...cute!) and check out my sister's first big garden project. I'll ask her if I can take some pictures to share. She has a lot of interesting plants, trees and shrubs in her yard because the previous owner was really into horticulture.

She has the most amazing lime tree in her yard. I think we've narrowed it down to a Kaffir lime (Citrus hystrix)- the rind is pocked and a yellowish green in color. The flavor of it was familiar but I couldn't put my finger on it. I kept tasting it and still couldn't figure it out until I squeezed it in some water. Ta da! It tastes exactly like a green Skittle and smells even more like it. I brought some home and put them in my disposal - the oils are so aromatic it worked out great. Apparently the leaves are used in Thai cooking and the fruits have medicinal uses. I'll snag some of those leaves while I'm there and try them in a recipe of my own. I just zoomed around online and found that Citrus hystrix is a Zone 9 tropical! Maybe there is one for me in my future.

The plants in my apartment are at the mercy of Demeter for the next few days while I'm gone. I'll cross my fingers and hope that they don't get too dry and my cat Charlee doesn't get too interested in them.

It will be a beautiful weekend in Zone 9 but I'll be in Zone 22. The garden will have to wait until next week. This is fine because with all of the rain we've had in the past two days, the clay soil will need to dry out before we can amend it. I'm hoping that my solarizing sheets of plastic are helping this process.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Daphne