99. Shoreditch Lemon

Yes, it really is a lemon tree growing on an East London street.

Offering a glimpse of the future, a single lemon tree grows in a suitably sheltered spot on the pedestrianised junction of Rivington Street and Garden Walk in one of London’s hippest neighbourhoods: Shoreditch. It is a short, stout tree that will take a few years to provide a shady and fragrant canopy for this corner of London, but by the time it does, there is a good chance it will no longer be the only citrus street tree in town. Although not tall, we can expect it to flower, and then fruit, imminently.

The planting of this tree has been a long time coming. It was originally purchased by the publisher of my book, London’s Street Trees to mark the second edition’s launch in 2021, but with the pandemic and lockdowns, finding a suitable place for it proved difficult. But after two years in Italy followed by a winter in the care of the brilliant Tree Musketeers at the Hackney Tree Nursery, it finally made it into the Shoreditch substrate courtesy of Hackney Council’s tree officers in April 2024, the very end of the planting season, and just in time to feature in the forthcoming third edition.

Species details

Lemon
Citrus x limon

Where to find it

Garden Walk, London EC2A 3EQ
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Lemon notes

Like all the citrus family, lemons have white blooms that are intensely scented, glossy evergreen leaves, dark veiny bark and they have a propensity to grow thorns. It is only when the fruits appear that its identity as a lemon will be confirmed, and judging by the handful of other citrus trees growing in sheltered gardens, it could produce a considerable crop within just a few years.

Normally, fruit bearing trees capable of producing anything much larger than a crab apple are frowned upon by urban foresters who worry that the fruits will fall and rot causing hazards for pedestrians. Indeed, tennis ball-sized sand pears (Pyrus pyrifolia) growing on a turning off the Holloway Road in North London, are picked by the local council before they can cause any harm to people or traffic. But in Shoreditch things may be different; I will not be surprised if they are harvested by trophy hunters astonished by such a thing growing on a London street.

Although they are not street trees, other citrus fruit trees can be spotted in unlikely corners of London. A Grapefruit has been growing at Chelsea Physic Garden since the 1960s, while another lemon can be seen on the Rouel Road Estate in Bermondsey, a pomelo once grew in Peckham, and I have heard there is a tangerine to be seen near Islington town hall.

London’s Street Trees

The extended and revised third edition of my book London’s Street Trees is due to be published by Safe Haven in June, but if you cannot wait for the street tree publishing event of the year, I still have a few copies of the second edition available in my online shop. And of course, they are signed by the author!