Tom's Hardy Citrus

  Satsuma - Worth Every Effort The Satsuma “orange” (actually a type of mandarin) is generally considered to be the hardiest commercial citrus, and it generally lives up to its name.   It has a reputation of being reliably cold-hardy to at least 15F, and perhaps a little lower, as long as the freeze is of relatively short duration.   By short duration, I mean less than 36 hours of continuous temperatures below freezing.   During freezes of longer duration, Satsuma appears to be only as hardy as other mainstream citrus, and temperatures of 10F or below OR freezes lasting longer than 48 hours will kill an unprotected Satsuma. Having said that, it’s only fair for me to admit that I live at the absolute northern limit of possible culture for Satsuma.   My 20-year average winter minimum is about 15F, meaning that on average, I am pushing it.   In February 2003, January 2014, and December 2022, temperatures in my area were around 10F and freeze duration was 48 hours or more, meaning that a

A Citrus that Deserves the Limelight: CiClem #10 or Golden Lime Seedlings in February 2023 Hybrid vigor: Seedling in September 2023 from seed collected November 2022 From 1996-2000, my family and I lived in Augusta, GA. Although I had been interested in citrus before then, it was during this time that I really tried to take my hobby to the next leve. Unfortunately, at this time there wasn't a lot of information available in books, which tended to focus on Florida and California. The Internet was still in its infancy, and social media hadn't been invented. Much of my initial knowledge of citrus came from Mike's catalog, and from books published many years before, such as The Citrus Industry, which detailed many of the early crosses that were made by USDA researcher Walter Swingle and others in the early years of the 20th Century. From the lost and found file: many years ago, my friend Mike Kirk owned a fantastic mail order nursery that featured cold hardy citrus. I bough

Trifoliate Orange: Who's the Hardiest of them All? The hardiest citrus of all is the Trifoliate orange ( Poncirus trifoliata or Citrus trifoliata ). It is a deciduous citrus from central China, adapted to cold winters. In the United States, it is hardy to parts of Massachusetts west to about St. Louis, MO. In Georgia, it is hardy throughout the state, of course. It is definitely an heirloom plant and was frequently planted many years ago. The ripe fruit have a distinctive odor (which I find very pleasant) and many years ago, people picked the fruit in the fall and placed it in bowls inside. At that time, many people called the Trifoliate orange a "smell lemon." Because it was commonly planted and easy to grow in the South, the Trifoliate orange escaped cultivation and naturalized in many areas throughout the state (particularly the Lower Piedmont). Trifoliate orange is strongly adapted to floodplains, particularly those with sandy soil. In the Piedmont, it is extr