If you are pretty remote then you can take advantage of using big black barrels of water around your citrus to store heat overnight. It’s a method that doesn’t work as well in places like the PNW where their winter day/night differences are smaller and their sunlight is weaker, but in the South it works quite well–just be sure to cover both the tree and the barrel so that the stored heat doesn’t just blow away (I think some people use multiple layers of frost cloth for better and more consistent protection. I’ve also used cardboard, straw, and tarp with good results, though that’s not something you can just leave on the tree.).
Keep in mind that Meyer lemon is considerably less hardy than Owari. Meyer is hardy for a lemon (well, technically it’s not a true lemon, but anyway…). Own roots is useful in that if they freeze to the ground they’ll grow back true. I’ve seen arguments both ways as to if trifoliate rootstock adds any hardiness. I don’t have evidence either way myself.
Oh, it’s a long list. I’ll start with the list I gave earlier and include more details and expand it a bit.
Figs, perhaps one from each “flavor group.” If you have root knot nematodes then LSU Purple is one you’ll want as it’s considered resistant. If you have them real bad you could probably graft other figs unto LSU Purple rootstock (it’s extremely vigorous, even for a fig, so that would probably help too). Alma, Celeste, Brown Turkey, Smith, Chicago Hardy, Hunt, and
Hollier are the classic varieties for the south. Most of the LSU figs are solid choices as well, and there are a decent number of other varieties that, while less commonly grown, are worth considering, such as the Adriatic types, Colonel Littman’s Black Cross, Verdelino, Yellow Long Neck, Atreano, Olympian, Mt. Etna’s beyond just Hardy Chicago, and Ondata. Avoid bad splitters and super late figs like Black Madeira, Craven’s Craving, and many of the CDD figs.
Rabbiteye blueberries. Whichever ones best fit your chill hours. Try to have early, mid, and late varieties. If you have an especially good blueberry spot, you can try some southern highbush, but there’s no guarantee they’ll do well. Plant in late summer/fall.
Blackberries. U of Arkansas varieties were bred for the South, so I’d lean towards those. Thornless are easier to manage, but birds and deer strongly prefer them too. My overall favorite so far is the thorny monster called Kiowa, especially when dead ripe, but Prime Ark Freedom has a lot going for it with primocane fruiting and all that. If/when I get Ponca perhaps my ranking will change.
Subtropical raspberries. Mysore raspberry is the only one I have experience with. It is root hardy but I’ve not gotten it to overwinter well enough to crop yet. Despite the thorns, it’s very easy to manage because it’s so upright and erect.
Raspberry/blackberry hybrids. Again, I’ve only got much experience with Tayberry, but I really like it. It takes the heat way better than a true raspberry, it’s very fast growing, thorny so the deer and birds don’t ravage it, and tastes great with both excellent flavor and good sweetness. Loganberry is pretty well-regarded, but I’ve consistently heard it’s very much on the tart side of things.
True raspberries. I’m testing out Bababerry this year, I’m really hoping it does well. Raspberries in the South need part shade, and in general are short-lived. Earlier varieties that ripen before the heat really sets in will have better flavor and the drupes will be properly filled.
Asian persimmons, American persimmons, hybrid persimmons. There’s a lot of variety to choose from. PVNA (coffee cake, chocolate), PCNA (Tam Kam, Fuyu), astringent (Saijo), hybrid (Rosseyanka), and American run the whole spectrum of flavors, textures, and ripening times.
Mulberries. I don’t have much insight here. They grow fast and taste good.
Pineapple guava, aka feijoa. There are newer varieties from NZ that are now available in the US that are well-regarded. This thing is so far my lowest maintenance fruit.
Muscadines and hybrids. I’ve had and really enjoyed Razzmatazz. It’s less strongly flavored, which is a plus or a minus depending on if you like the muscadine flavor, but overall it’s a very approachable and easy to enjoy fruit. Oh My! has gotten a lot of discussion on this forum, but I’ve never had it myself.
Kiwis, I also don’t have any insight on.
Jujube. Another really easy one with low maintenance. Avoid Lang as it is a drying variety for arid climates, not for fresh eating. The plant is drought tolerant but produces much better with rain/irrigation.
Che. There’s one particular user on this site who hates Che with a burning passion and has devoted his life to telling people not to grow it. Most other people on this site say it is mild but good to very good. Expect a few years of fruit drop. Deer absolutely love my plant, so be warned.
Clove currant may or may not be legal where you live. Check that first. It’s almost certainly the only current you’d have a shot at being able to grow near the gulf coast. Crandell is the variety most people have and enjoy.
Passion fruit. I don’t think you can grow standard P. edulis, but you can certainly grow the native maypop. Some people have varieties that they say are improved. I myself grow hybrid passionfruit. There’s a thread called Passionfruit in Zone 8 where I talk about those ones more.
Hardy guava. Psidium logipetulatum miiiiiight be hardy to zone 9. I grow Psidium cattleianum var littorea and really like it–it grows fast, set fruit at one year old, has no pest problems, and the fruit, which are ripe a few days after they detach from the tree, taste like a really good goldenberry/cape gooseberry. I think it’s hardy to like 20 F or something, but I’ve not tested it yet. It’s semi-hardy. Psidium robustom is another one that’s possibly semi-hardy.
Cherry of the Rio Grande is a semi-hardy Eugenia species that a lot of hobbyists grow.
Chilean wine palm should be hardy in your zone. I don’t know that you’ll live long enough to taste it, but that’s no biggie.
There are a bunch of unusual solanum species that folks grow. I’ve grown pepino dulce and litchi tomato and plan to grow them again. The latter might even be a semi-perennial for you. Other folks grow lulo, Brazilian sunberry, tamarillo, hardy tamarillo, etc. Feel free to search the forum, there’s a bunch of those things.
Loquat might not produce every year for you, but my guess is you’ll get fruit most years. Raleigh NC had loquats fruiting this year.
Myrcianthis pungens is looking like it might be hardy to zone 8. A few other guys on the forum and myself are growing them to test.
Technically some edible bananas will be root hardy for you. But you need the psuedostem to survive a winter to get fruit. Edible bananas are not as hardy as edible citrus, so you’d need a lot of protection. It can be done, but, well, it’s a lot of work just to get some bananas. Sure, some of the cold hardier ones taste better, are sweeter, and creamier, but you can get specialty bananas that are just as good at Whole Paycheck, Food Lion, or your local hispanic store. To me, bananas are not worth it.
Cape gooseberries are usually grown as an annual, but they’re also considered fruit, so I’ll include them here. There are two different species, and a lot of different varieties that range a lot in size, flavor, and sweetness. Since the genus is native to the east coast, there is a bit more pest pressure. Specifically, there’s some native fruit moth that lays eggs on the young fruitlets. The worm eats the developing fruit within the safety of the papery bag–you’ll never even know it’s there eating your prized fruit until it comes time for harvest and you find there’s a little hole in the bag and a bunch of worm poop where the fruit is supposed to be… It’s annoying as heck. The moth seems highly periodic, sometimes it destroys every stinking fruit, sometimes it doesn’t touch one. I think time of year makes a difference too. Also, you can totally overwinter cape gooseberries in pots indoors to get a jump start on next year’s harvest, which might also help with the moth, and I think the Hawaiian varieties actually need that long to produce fruit.
Strawberries are best grown as annuals in the south. Your state should have recommended varieties and guides.
Ok, Citrus time.
Satsumas. Xie Shan is probably the earliest, and is highly regarded for flavor as well. Owari is the classic Louisiana variety, can’t go wrong there. A lot of Owari bud sports and nucellar seedlings exist, such as Brown’s Select, Silverhill, and Kimbrough. They should taste similar and just have small differences in growth habit and ripening. I don’t know much about the other satsumas other than LA St. Anne being another very early one.
Thomasville is a kumquat x (trifoliate x sweet orange) that is a bit late ripening but extremely productive that tends to bloom and rebloom through the year and set new fruit. Because it is mostly used as a lime substitute, those later set fruit are generally still usable even though they wouldn’t fully ripen until late winter ordinarily. It’s supposed to be juicy, fragrant, and have just a few seeds. Fully ripe they apparently taste mostly like an orange with a bit of kumquat. It’s quite hardy. I’d protect it the first few years just so that it gets established faster, but you probably don’t need to if you don’t mind a little defoliation and die back.
Yuzu and sudachi are also well-regarded and cold hardy. They seem to do better in PNW winters than in Southern winters though.
Ten degree tangerine or clem-yuzu is fairly hardy and fairly decent. Stan McKenzie, a really good citrus nurseryman in upstate SC, recommends this one a lot. I recommend Stan a lot as he has a lot of stuff no one else has and his prices are really good. He’s a fun guy to talk to as well.
Ichange lemon is pretty hardy as well, though it’s not a true lemon.
Bloomsweet grapefruit is similarly pretty hardy, and similarly is not a true grapefruit.
Changesha is probably one of the hardiest ones so far on this list, with the exception of Thomasville. It is a true mandarin, and is sweet, but people usually say it is just ok as it is seedy and does not have much acidity.
Kumquats. While not very edible, Hong Kong kumquat is hardy to zone 7b if you can believe it. For edible kumquats, marumi is supposedly the hardiest, though I don’t know that there’s much any difference between them. Madison Citrus Nursery in GA is a great source for kumquats and most citrus on this list.
Trifoliate is of course completely hardy where you are. I’d argue it is also completely inedible, but to each their own. Sure, you can pick the fruits, squeeze some juice from the seedy, sticky, stinky mass, let it sit overnight in the fridge, drain off the juice from the sludge, mix the juice with water and sugar, and pretend it was worth the effort, but…
Dunstan. With the exception of pure trifoliate, Dunstan is the hardiest on this list. It’s a trifoliate x Duncan grapefruit. Of the 50% trifoliate hybrids, it’s the one people usually say is the best. The ones I have had, which were well-ripened and off of a fully mature tree, tasted great and were sweet-tart. The fruit is large and the seeds are all at the center of the fruit and easy to avoid. I think Stan is the only one who sells mature grafted Dunstan. Woodlanders sells Dunstan, but they are nucellar seed-grown, so it’ll take a half decade or so for them to fruit.
Ok, I think that’s enough from me.
