By Jane Laskey, jlaskey@stcloudtimes.com

Published: February 28. 2008 12:30AM - Last updated: February 28. 2008 12:42AM

http://cmsimg.sctimes.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=DR&Date=20080228&Category=NEWS01&ArtNo=102280027&Ref=AR&Profile=1009&MaxW=300
PHOTO CREDIT: Kimm Anderson, kanderson@stcloudtimes.com
Francis and Elaine Rupp share a laugh Tuesday in the greenhouse attached to their rural Rice home. They share their good senses of humor, their love of nature and their passion for growing citrus fruits indoors, something they started more than 40 years ago.


RICE — Two Rice couples have found a solution for the wintertime blues.

When the snow falls and winter winds howl outside their windows, the scent of lemon, orange and grapefruit blossoms fills their homes. Shiny green leaves vie for attention with vivid yellow and orange fruit. And if occasionally they long for a taste of the tropics, they simply step into their sunrooms and pluck an orange from a tree.

As unlikely as it sounds, Francis and Elaine Rupp of Rice have been enjoying their own fresh navel oranges for more than 40 years. Along the way, they passed their passion for growing citrus trees to Bob and Dar Ripka, also of Rice.

Each couple has a miniature citrus grove that graces their backyard each summer and breathes life into their home during the winter.

"After days and days of no sunshine, you just get kinda blue," Dar Ripka said. "The trees make it so nice."

But the trees have borne some surprising and wonderful fruit. With each harvest, the couples' friendship has grown. It's flourished now for more than 25 years.

Planting seeds

The Rupps' passion for growing citrus began when Francis Rupp's brother sent him an orange tree. He slipped it into a pot and watched it grow.

"We thought, why not try it?" Francis Rupp said. "If they didn't work, they didn't work."

But the tree took to its new home. After 40 years, it's still going strong. It was the first of many trees, and the Rupps found a lifelong hobby.

Francis and his wife, Elaine, expanded their collection. They grew lemon and grapefruit trees. They potted banana, apricot and fig trees. At one point, they had 28 different trees in their home.

"It's so much fun when they blossom," Elaine Rupp said. "The one we find the most exciting is the grapefruit. It gets huge blossoms."

One of Francis Rupp's latest successes is a pineapple plant he started by slicing off the top of a pineapple and letting it root in moist sand. Through trial and error he discovered it "needed to be treated like a cactus." The hearty plant now shares their sunroom with the other trees.

The Rupps expanded their hobby outdoors with hardy specimens trees that were a match for Minnesota winters: apple, peach, pear and cherry trees grow in their yard.

Each year the couple looks forward to the new season's garden catalogs. But along the way, they discovered they enjoyed spreading the word about their hobby as much as the trees themselves. Though they've never sold a tree, the Rupps have given many away. They frequently strike up conversations with strangers and in no time, they're passing on a catalog to a new convert.

A chance encounter

One chance encounter introduced the Rupps to the Ripka family.

As Dar and Bob Ripka recall, it happened about 25 years ago. Francis Rupp was driving by the Ripkas' home and saw they were building a sunroom. He stopped and told them they would soon have the perfect spot for growing citrus trees. His enthusiasm was contagious.

"When he talks about his citrus trees, he just glows," Dar Ripka said.

The Ripkas' first tree was an orange tree ordered from a California orchard. It arrived by mail and quickly bore fruit. With that first orange, the Ripkas were hooked.

"They're very strong. We really don't do much of anything with them," Dar Ripka said.

Since then, they've added another orange tree, two lemon trees and a grapefruit tree. And despite the Minnesota weather, they've never lost a citrus tree in the 25 years they have grown them.

The Ripkas' trees are terrific producers, bearing fruit that rivals anything you'll find in the grocery store.

"Our biggest orange was 1½ pounds. It was bigger than a store grapefruit," Dar Ripka said.

The Ripkas' trees grace their deck each summer, but with the first frost they are back in the sunroom.

"Usually around Christmas time, the flowers blossom and the scent of blossoms around the house is overpowering," Dar Ripka said.

They now have a collection of nectarine, cherry and apples.

But Bob and Dar Ripka agree that the beautiful trees are the least of what they've gained.

"The best thing that came out of that day is our friendship with Francis and Elaine Rupp," Dar Ripka said. "We've been friends now for over 20 years."

A friendship grows

The couples discovered over the years that they all enjoy sharing a good joke, even if it's at their own expense.

When the Ripkas lost a tree to a hungry rabbit, the Rupps placed a fake rabbit in a cage and planted it in the Ripkas' garage. It was so realistic that when the Ripkas found it, they thought it was a real rabbit that had died. They brought it into the house only to find out they'd been fooled.

It didn't take long for the Ripkas to respond.

"They had this crazy funeral with this casket," Elaine Rupp said. "They dressed all in black and had us over for the funeral dinner."

Elaine Rupp still laughs remembering the joke. "It's stupid, but it's OK to be stupid," she said. "And it was a real pretty coffin."

The two couples also enjoy a friendly rivalry.

Francis Rupp remembers when Dar Ripka wanted a Meyer lemon tree. So he sliced a branch from one of his trees, rooted it and gave it to the Ripkas.

"We thought it would be a good joke on Dar," Elaine Rupp said. "We didn't think it would ever bear fruit."

But the joke was on them. The little lemon tree thrived, quickly becoming very productive. In fact, it's surpassed the output of any of the Rupps' lemon trees.

"We got 22 lemons off that little tree this year," Bob Ripka said. "We get so many lemons, we throw them down the garbage disposal to freshen it."

"They offered to send us pictures," Francis Rupp said. "We said, 'Don't you dare.' "

After two decades of friendship and laughter, Bob Ripka looks back fondly on the day they met.

"We're so happy they stopped by," he said.


Source:
http://www.sctimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080228/NEWS01/102280027/1009