I love citrus, but I am just on the climactic edge of the zone where they can be cultivated. I’ll be converting the cold frame into a mini orangerie, and grafting with my cold-hardy trifoliate orange, but in the meantime, I also want to try growing some more citrus from seed and seeing what survives (Darwinist gardening in action!).
Every time I get a seed in a mandarin orange, satsuma, lemon, or kumquat, I am throwing it out in the forest garden and seeing what happens: maybe 1/100 seeds sown here in Denmark will end up spawning my landrace of hardy citrus.
Chinotto (Citrus myrtifolia), hardy to −8°C. Used in cooking, too bitter to eat raw: long cultivated in Southern Italy, Malta and Libya.
Calamondin (× Citrofortunella microcarpa), hardy to -9˚C. Edible sour orange with a sweet peel: cultivated around the world, and as a common houseplant.
Nippon Orangequat (Fortunella crassifolia x Citrus unshiu) hardy to -9˚C. Edible, but sour: hybrid between a Meiwa Kumquat and a Satsuma orange.
Rangpur Lime (Citrus × limonia), a.k.a. “Lemanderine,” hardy to -9˚C. Edible but acidic: named after Rangpur, Bangladesh, and cultivated around the world as a rootstock.
Satsuma (Citrus reticulata ’Unshiu’, syn. Citrus unshiu), hardy to −10°C.Excellent flavour: long cultivated in China.
Changsha mandarin (Citrus reticulata ‘Changsha’), hardy to −11°C. Edible, but seedy: long cultivated in China.
Yuzu Lemon (Citrus ichangensis × C. reticulata), hardy to -11˚C. Edible and fragrant: long cultivated in Eastern Asia.
Kumquat (Citrus japonica), hardy to −12°C.Edible: fruit is eaten whole with a sweet skin and sour pulp. Hardy varieties include Meiwa and Nagami.
Ichang Lemon (Citrus ichangensis × C. maxima), a.k.a. Shangjuan, hardy to -12˚C. Edible, regarded as one of the best cold-hardy citrus: a hybrid between a Pomelo and Ichang papeda.
Bergamot Orange cultivar known as ’Tiwanica Lemon’ (Citrus taiwanica), hardy to -12˚C. Edible: an orange so sour it resembles a lemon, and the peels of certain cultivars are used for making bergamot oil.
Jiouyuezao mandarin (Citrus reticulata 'Jiouyuezao’) hardy to −13°C. Edible: long cultivated in China
Changshi Tangerine, (Citrus reticulata x (C. ichangensis x C. reticulata)) a.k.a. “The Ten Degree Tangerine,” hardy to -13˚C. Edible, nearly seedless tangerine: a Clementine x Yuzu hybrid developed in the 1960s.
Ichang papeda (Citrus ichangensis), hardy to −15°C. Inedible fresh: parent to a number of hybrids, including the yuzu, sudachi, ichang lemon/shangjuan, and others.
Trifoliate Orange (Poncirus trifoliata), a.k.a. Chinese Bitter Orange, hardy to -30˚C (zone 4a). Inedible raw, but used for jams and jellies: it’s not a true citrus, but citrus species can be grafted to it to increase cold-hardiness.
Sources: “Cold Hardy Citrus,” Just Fruits and Exotics Nursery
#citrus #fruit trees #hybrids #plant breeding #edible landscaping #forest gardening
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