Recipes and AdviceAHH...the smell of a freshly cut Key Lime!
We first encountered a live key lime tree in November 1993 at Lignum Vitae Key State Park in the Florida Keys. Lignum Vitae Key is island off the beaten tourist path, only accessible by boat. The park features the 1919 Matheson homestead museum and a botanical garden. The botanical tour is renowned for the voracious mosquitoes. On this day in 1993, we were the only guests. After feeding our children to the hungry mosquitoes, the friendly Park Ranger made a healing offering of a few key limes. The limes came from a small tree next to the Matheson house. Although the tree was only a few feet tall, it generated countless limes. In spite of our hesitation, the Ranger assured us that a few ripe limes were no loss to the State. After raising productive trees to copious maturity, I now fully appreciate the Ranger's lack of concern.
After we returned home, we enjoyed a home-made key lime pie. We also sewed the seeds from the Lignum Vitae key limes. Since the key lime seeds are "polyembryonic," they grew "true to type," just like the parent tree. We nurtured the seedlings in pots, and then transplanted the young trees after about year. Within a few years form transplanting, we were harvesting more key limes than I could ever imagine.
From time to time we have seeds or small trees available for the cost of shipping and handling. If you are interested, you can inquire by contacting us.
If you'd like to learn more, click on one of the limes above!
