Photograph by Wedig + Laxton
Danny Trejo grew up on an 80-acre Florida nursery and grove, where citrus was all he knew. He also knew it wasn’t what he wanted to do with his life. Instead, he went into insurance and moved to New York City. But, one day in 2015, he was walking along a sidewalk in the Flower District and spotted citrus plants from his father’s farm. “I couldn’t believe the markup!” he says.
That chance encounter got the wheels turning, and the next year he founded Via Citrus, which delivers petite, affordable citrus trees (from $65) to customers’ doorsteps in two to four days. Then, just before the pandemic, Trejo and his wife, who is from Inman Park, moved to Atlanta.
Meyer lemon, Australian finger lime, and calamansi trees—all of which thrive indoors year-round or can be left outside most of the year in temperate climates—are the brand’s most popular varieties. “The calamansi is a great starter tree because they’re not as finicky as other citrus, and it will be blooming through spring, summer, and fall,” says Trejo.
Photograph by Wedig + Laxton
He also offers more unique varieties, such as yuzu, ponderosa lemon, and kumquat, depending on the growing season. All plants come in black grower pots, or customers can upgrade to eco-friendly decorative marbleized pots (from $65). Made partly from sustainable denim scraps, these 100 percent recycled plastic pots contain no virgin plastic. “It’s a lot easier to have someone create virgin plastic than to have someone go out there and collect plastic from our riverways, remelt it, and reuse it,” he says. “That costs a lot of money. But sustainability is part of our mission.” When possible, plants are shipped ready to bloom. The fruit is indeed edible, ripening at different times of year depending on the climate and the variety.
While Trejo knows that millennials play into the trope of being plant…
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