Lots of people throughout the world in colder locations grow citrus in pots. Its shrub like character seems to lend itself to container growing. And it accepts a lot of abuse and survives.
As far as breeding cold hardy, yes kumquats, satsumas and other mandarins would be starting material crossed with some of the below. But citrus crosses are rather formidable since they are usually true to seed and most of the embryos that arise are maternally derived, not sexually produced but I guess a cold spell would be a heck of a selective force.
Also for citrus to properly develop it needs a cold and a hot period at the right times. But those zone 5 fig developers in Illinois settled to have figs.
I’ve got 3 poncirus growing in my front yard northeast of Detroit in the burbs.
The biggest one is about 5 feet tall, has only had minor damage 2years ago and has not yet bloomed for me. Thorny as heck.
I had a super contorted flying dragon that didn’t survive that same winter in a pot in my garage.
I also have a Meyer lemon and a finger lime that come indoors each winter, where they spend the winter in my typical Michigan basement.
None of them are very difficult, I’ve had no real problems with insects or disease. The lemon has fruited for a number of years, the finger lime has bloomed but not fruited.
Scott
Grow a passiflora incarnata if you want people asking “what is that.” And “is it real?”
I just ordered some passiflora incarnata seeds. Nice to see another Michigander here. I’m in Addison Twp. By Oxford. What town are you in. You sound close to Drew.
I’m in Saint Clair Shores, southeast Macomb county.
Let me know how it goes for you from seed. (I’ve got a co worker who wants one and I offered to try and propagate from a root cutting for her, if it works I will try to grow an extra) The only passiflora I have had luck with from seed is P. capsularis and it isn’t hardy or tasty ( but the fruits do explode open when fully ripe and it blooms in 1 year from seed for me.
I have several of these about 2 years old. This herb shows up in allergy remedies. From my notes…
“The fruits of Poncirus trifoliata are widely used in Oriental medicine as a remedy for allergic inflammation.
Poncirus trifoliata extracts have been shown to possess in vitro anti-allergic, antitumor, anti-inflammatory and antiviral activities. Poncirus trifoliata extract could possess a wide range of beneficial activities for neurodegenerative disorders. A water extract, taken for 10 weeks, suppressed weight gain in rats.”
Just sayin’
I have a client who lives in USDA hardiness zone 7a in California mountains. They built an Arboreum for 1/2 dozen Citrus trees. It originally failed because the original structure was only walls and ceiling with the trees planted in the native ground. Of course traditional Citrus crops do not tolerate 30-ish degree groundwater flowing by their roots. So after some of excavation, installation of 3/4" pond liner, and planting trees in 60" box planters the owner now has regular crops of their favorite fruit.
Haha Richard, Herbs are not like drugs, they are more like strong foods which you can titrate to your liking or the effect you want. Start with very dilute and go to more concentrated. For example… I would remove the seeds, blenderize one with a cup of water then add about a teaspoon of that ‘concentrate’ to about 8 oz of water or other drink. See how it affects your symptoms. I believe the ‘actives’ are in the peel. This also shows up in weight loss formulas esp after ephedra was banned by the FDA.
Full disclosure: I’m an herbalist, a practicing naturopathic doc, and an incurable experimentalist to boot. Maybe a dangerous combo, LOL. I’m growing it for it’s medicinal value, not the brix.
I’m a scientist, I’m quite familiar with effective dosages vs. homeopathic dosages, and even more familiar with sellers of herbs and services that take advantage of consumer ignorance of the same.
Hi Anne. I’m happy to discover you are a herbalist, naturopathic and experimentalist…! Happy to discover @Richard is a scientist… I am a second grade teacher (in Quebec, in french… my english is not that good!!). but I am also a big “self healing” enthusiast. Please continue to post infos about plants that have “special powers”! :ThankS!!!
Thank you for that suggestion. I have to try and find the book. I am actually just coming back from my local library, right now… I’ll look it up next time.
I’ve seen or have had Poncirus trifoliata growing outdoors, in-ground, here in KY for decades.
There was a sizeable P.trifoliata tree in a semi-sheltered courtyard at the community college, across the street from my office, that was probably planted around 1970…believe the Easter Big Freeze Disaster of 2007 killed it back to the ground… but I have a seedling of it, from a bletted fruit that I tossed out into the brushpile in the gully below the farm pond… was growing well… close to 8-9 ft tall; winter of 2014 killed it back to the snowline, but it’s re-growing.
Have some potted seedlings of the Flying Dragon selection that have spent the last two winters outdoors, on top of the ground just in a mass of potted plants shoved up against the back(east) wall of my house… seem to be doing just fine… I need to find a spot to stick them, permanently.
Have seen folks talk about processing Poncirus fruit. Someone from England made, what to them, was an orange marmalade similar to what they’d grown up with… but there is a particularly nasty oil/resin in the peel that you have to get around.
Pete Sauber once put forward a tongue-in-cheek recipe for Poncirus lemonade - juice of one fruit, 50 pounds of sugar, water q.s. to 50 gallons.
I am in zone 5b. I planted a flying dragon, Pocirus trifoliata (in full sun) and a trifoliate orange of unkpown variety (in shade) in the spring of 2020. I covered them with white frost fabric with no heater and they survived that winter. For this winter, they have no frost fabric protection and are exposed to the elements. So far, we have had temps (F) in the low single digits. I hope they survive.
I decided to not protect them from the cold because I did not want to be bothered every fall with building enclosures and covering with frost fabric.
