Lovely! Thank you for sharing your patient wait with us. :)

If it is just a little bit, I would let nature take it's course. If you see it struggling to come out, I would help, as I have done so for several Chrysalaids that have fallen. So any progress?

I'm thinking those "dots" (and darker area in the petal center), are just the natural coloration on the flowers. :-) If your buds are dropping, it could be that they are not getting enough moisture (maybe the air is too dry) or the tree is just naturally thinning itself for various reasons. I noticed that these lemons are so floriforous. They sortof go overboard. LOL I know you are in your fall season and going into winter there, so the cooler temps may help if it is dry. One thing you can try to keep ants at bay is a product called "Tanglefoot" (if they have it there), which is a sticky substance that you can spread on a surface that the ants can't cross without sticking to it. Some people wrap a small piece of cardboard or aluminum foil around the base of the trunk and spread the stuff on. This will help keep the ants off the top. A cheaper solution would be to use petroleum jelly to do the same thing. I think that once you can keep the ants down, then any aphid problem will be reduced. If you think there are ants colonized in the pot, I have seen recommendations to soak the container in a big bucket of water to try to remove the ants (they will bail out). Then you'd have to let the soil dry for a bit. After this, maybe prop the container off the ground and consider putting a piece of hardware cloth (window screen material) or cheese cloth over the drainage holes to keep the ants out. Just some thoughts!

Interesting stuff...thank you! One of the main impetuses for deciding to re-do my kitchen is that I really want the sink not to look at a blank wall. I prefer it to look out a window, but would accept it being on a peninsula looking into the living room. So, already form over function, I'm afraid. I also have never liked that the best view of my garden is obscured by a solid wall in the kitchen... Another "must have", and this one IS about function - though not necessarily exactly about kitchen, is that - in the warmer months - I am CONSTANTLY (literally, perhaps several dozen times a day) in & out of the kitchen garden door. AND, almost every time I walk in, I go straight to the kitchen sink to wash my hands. Right now, I have the sink easily accessible to the door - & that's not something I'm willing to give up. And, the truth is, I AM one of those people who mostly heats up stuff in the microwave - that and makes coffee every morning. I'm not much of a cook. I could probably get by with no oven just fine, and even without a cooktop. Sad, but true. Maybe with a newly designed, more functional kitchen, I'll take up cooking. But, at 48 years old, maybe not. I want the kitchen to look pretty, yes, I do. And I want to be able to heat up my food in the microwave and I want to be able to make my coffee. Yes, indeed. And I want to be able to look out the window when I eat and wash dishes. Oh, and to wash my hands when I come in from the garden. I realize I might not get all I want on a $30,000 budget... which I think is actually pretty generous for my small space and not particularly high-end taste - but the space itself will probably be my limiting factor, rather than budget. I hope I am not unrealistic.