Farmer's Story
Camelllia Groves is a small family farm supplying farm-to-table fresh, certified, pesticide-free lemons, lemon products, and other neighborhood farm specialties to the local community, to high-end retail and to the wholesale market.
Our family's roots are deep in the Florida citrus industry. My grandfather, W. G. Roe began shipping fresh citrus in boxcars to the New York terminal market in the 1920s. W. G. Roe and Sons became the largest shipper of fresh tangerines in the middle of last century, and expanded holdings to over 5,000 acres in Central Florida and 2 fresh fruit packing facilities. My father, Willard E. Roe, ran production operations and today, his children and grandchildren carry on the tradition with the Noble brand of tangerines and other specialties like pummelo.
So, when my husband Joe and I retired, we planted a small acreage around our home here on Eagle Lake and named it Camellia Groves, after the nearly 100 camellia bushes planted by the previous owners. Here, we are cultivating a seedless lemon known as Harvey (think rabbit!) Cold intolerance has prevented lemons from being grown this far north in the past. But, due to global warming, we are experimenting with this planting, now 5 years in the ground and doing well. We just planted an additional 3 acres of variegated (green and yellow) pink lemons that will begin bearing by next year so stay tuned for availability!
Since lemons bloom nearly year around, we can ship practically 12 months of the year! We ship our fruit into Canada as LTL bulk shipments as well as a subscription service of our premium size fruit to the local retail market. You can schedule bi-monthly or monthly shipments of lemons to your door! By popular demand, we have set up an easier (and cheaper) online ordering process and will now drop-ship fruit in season to the continental United States east of the Mississippi River. For all other inquiries, please contact us! Visit our website for recipes and more important information on why lemons are the MOST VERSATILE SUPERFOOD! CamelliaGroves.com