Citrus Record

Hybrid between Meiwa Kumquat and Satsuma Mandarin. Ovate fruit has a thick mild flavored peel and acid pulp.

Hong Kong Kumquat is an evergreen shrub with the smallest fruits of the true citrus. It is a great plant for containers or smaller spaces. The Chinese preserve the colorful orange raisin-sized fruits for spicy flavoring but it is grown chiefly as a novelty ornamental. It is hardy outoors here in Aiken, SC but not likely to be winter hardy in colder zones. As with all Citrus these cannot be shipped to Florida, Texas, Louisiana, California, Arizona, or California.

Hardiness

Zones 8–10

Height

4–6 ft.

Spread

2–3 ft.

Fortunella obovata 'Changshou' is the Changshou kumquat, the sweetest and most generous of the kumquat tribe, whose fruit swells to the size of a ping-pong ball, far larger than the little oval kumquats most people know. Round to gently obovate, ripening bright orange, that fruit is eaten whole, skin and all, the thin rind sweeter and more tender than any other kumquat's. A compact, dense, thornless evergreen, the Changshou is as pretty in a pot as it is productive.

Hardiness

Zones 8–9

Light

Full Sun

Height

6–10 ft.

Spread

4–6 ft.

Bloom

White

Plant type

Shrub

3-Gallon - Pick Up Only

Hardiness

Zones 9–11

Light

Full Sun

Height

10–20 ft.

Spread

8–15 ft.

Bloom

White

Plant type

Tree

This is a cold-hardy citrus hybrid bred to carry oranges into gardens too cold for ordinary citrus, a cross between the trifoliate orange, Poncirus trifoliata, in the large-flowered form called 'English Large', and the notably hardy Changsha mandarin, Citrus reticulata. Both parents are prized for cold tolerance, and stacking the two produces a small, thorny tree that shrugs off freezes that would kill a true orange. The cross matches the well-known US-852 citrandarin, a hardy-citrus line from the USDA breeding program.

Hardiness

Zones 7–9

Light

Full Sun

Height

8–15 ft.

Spread

6–10 ft.

Bloom

White

Plant type

Tree

Woodlanders has long championed hardy citrus, the trifoliate hybrids that push oranges and their kin well beyond the usual citrus belt, and 'Benton' is one of the toughest of the group. The plant is a citrange, a deliberate cross between the sweet orange, Citrus sinensis, and the hardy trifoliate orange, Poncirus trifoliata, that legendary deciduous, thorny survivor of cold-country citrus breeding. The name citrange simply fuses citrus and orange, and the hybrids inherit the trifoliate orange's remarkable cold tolerance.

Hardiness

Zones 6–10

Light

Full Sun

Height

10–15 ft.

Spread

8–10 ft.

Bloom

White

Plant type

Shrub

Woodlanders has long led the way in offering cold-hardy citrus, the kinds that carry fruit well beyond the usual citrus belt, and Ichang Lemon is a favorite of the group. The plant grows as a medium, evergreen small tree with large leaves on winged petioles and thorny branches, opens the fragrant white flowers typical of citrus in spring, and follows with very large, lemon-yellow, fragrant fruit.

Hardiness

Zones 7–9

Light

Full Sun

Height

10–12 ft.

Spread

6–8 ft.

Bloom

White

Plant type

Tree

The Indio mandarinquat is one of those happy accidents that citrus breeding throws up now and then, a natural cross between a mandarin (Citrus reticulata) and a kumquat (Citrus japonica) that borrows the best of both parents. From the mandarin come the size, the deep orange color, and the perfume; from the kumquat come the sweet, tender, wholly edible rind and a welcome measure of cold tolerance. The fruits hang like small golden lanterns against dark evergreen leaves through winter, oblong and glossy, and the whole tree carries a poise that belies how easy the plant is to grow.

Hardiness

Zones 8–11

Light

Full Sun

Height

6–10 ft.

Spread

6–8 ft.

Bloom

White

Plant type

Shrub

The Lakeland limequat is a citrus lover's answer to cold: a compact, productive hybrid that pairs the hardiness of the kumquat with the bright, tropical punch of Key lime. One of three limequats bred by W. T. Swingle of the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Florida in 1909 and named for the town of Lakeland, this cross (Citrus x floridana) joins the West Indian, or Key, lime with the round Marumi kumquat (Fortunella japonica). The result carries intense citrus flavor on a plant that thrives well beyond the usual citrus belt.

Hardiness

Zones 8–11

Light

Full Sun

Height

6–10 ft.

Spread

4–8 ft.

Bloom

White

Plant type

Shrub

The Meiwa kumquat is the sweet one, the kumquat you can pop whole into your mouth and eat skin and all. A small, tidy, evergreen citrus, Fortunella crassifolia carries round, bright orange fruit a little over an inch across, and where most kumquats offer a sweet rind wrapped around sharply sour pulp, the Meiwa softens the contrast: the peel is thick and honey-sweet, the flesh only mildly tart, so the whole fruit eats like candy off the branch.

Hardiness

Zones 8–10

Light

Full Sun

Height

8–12 ft.

Spread

4–6 ft.

Bloom

White

Plant type

Shrub

The Nagami kumquat is the easiest citrus most gardeners will ever grow, and the only one meant to be eaten peel and all. Clusters of small, oval, sunset-orange fruit hang against dense, glossy evergreen foliage, each one a burst of contrast: a sweet, tender rind wrapped around bright, tart pulp. Pop them whole for a sweet-and-sour snap, candy the rinds, slice them into a salad, or simmer the winter harvest into jewel-toned marmalade.

Hardiness

Zones 8–10

Light

Full Sun

Height

6–12 ft.

Spread

4–8 ft.

Bloom

White

Plant type

Shrub

The procimequat is a rare and fascinating citrus hybrid, born from a botanical marriage of the Eustis limequat (itself a cross of kumquat and lime) and the Hong Kong kumquat (Fortunella hindsii). The result is a precocious, compact plant that combines the zesty lime tang of the limequat parent with the tiny, ornamental charm of the wild kumquats, all on a frame small enough for a patio pot.

Hardiness

Zones 8–10

Light

Full Sun

Height

2–5 ft.

Spread

2–3 ft.

Bloom

White

Plant type

Shrub

The Thomasville citrangequat is more than a fruit tree, a living piece of Southern horticultural history. First fruited in Thomasville, Georgia, this remarkable hybrid was raised in 1909 by the legendary USDA citrus breeder Walter T. Swingle and formally named in 1923. The tree stands as a pioneering achievement in citrus breeding: a three-way cross combining the cold-hardy Willits citrange, itself a cross of sweet orange and trifoliate orange, with the Nagami kumquat, Fortunella margarita.

Hardiness

Zones 8–10

Light

Full Sun / Part Shade

Height

8–12 ft.

Spread

6–10 ft.

Bloom

White

Plant type

Tree

We'd hoped this Citrangequat might be the original 'Telfair' variety. With its egg size and shaped fruit it was in Joe Levert's outstanding hardy citrus collection in Augusta, Georgia. Our friend and hardy citrus guru Tom McClendon told us that 'Telfair' may well be extinct and advised as follows: "I collected that citrangequat at the Florida USDA citrus arboretum in 2000. It was a newer hybrid developed for rootstock potential and assigned only a number, not a name. I collected it because I reasoned it would be hardy and because it had beautiful fruit. When it started fruiting at Aquinas, I proposed calling it ‘Augusta’ to honor the tradition of naming citrus hybrids after the location where they first fruited (away from the USDA).

Woodlanders has been a leader in offering a wide range of Citrus and Citrus hybrids which are hardy outdoors beyond the normal Citrus growing areas. This upright small tree produces abundant Yellow-orange pear-shaped juicy fruit which is tasty when fully mature. The fruit is lemon-sized or larger than the 'Thomasville' Citrangequat. Citrangequats are hybrids between a Citrange and a Kumquat. This citrus is somewhat of a mystery. Records are sketchy but is has been grown for years at the Citrus Arboretum in Lake Alfred, Florida. It could be an unnamed Citrangequat variety or a more complex hybrid that includes Citrangequat. We thank our friend Jeff Stevens for propagation material for this unusual citrus.

Hardiness

Zones 8–10

Height

6–12 ft.

Spread

4–6 ft.

A charming citrus hybrid for containers, winter patios, and kitchen harvests. Known as the calamondin orange, x Citrofortunella mitis 'Calamondin' is a compact, cold-tolerant citrus treasured for abundant fragrant blossoms, ornamental good looks, and tart, edible fruit. A natural cross between the mandarin orange, Citrus reticulata, and the kumquat, Fortunella, calamondin is equally at home on a patio or in a bright kitchen window, offering both beauty and bounty the year round.

Hardiness

Zones 8–10

Light

Full Sun

Height

8–10 ft.

Spread

8–10 ft.

Bloom

White

Plant type

Shrub

Yuzu Ichandrin is not a lemon. This is something older and considerably more interesting, a naturally occurring hybrid between Ichang papeda, Citrus ichangensis, and Satsuma mandarin, long cultivated across the high-elevation citrus regions of China and Japan, and among the most cold-hardy citrus in existence. Where standard yuzu, Citrus junos, and true lemons would surrender to a Southern winter, Ichandrin holds. Mature, established trees have come through ten degrees Fahrenheit with nothing worse than tip dieback. This is, by any honest measure, the citrus a zone 7 or 8 gardener actually gets to keep.

Hardiness

Zones 8–10

Light

Full Sun

Height

15–20 ft.

Spread

12–15 ft.

Bloom

White

Plant type

Tree