What should I grow in a pot in zone 7b?

When I lived in zone 5, I enjoyed keeping a fig in a pot, bundling it up in our garage over the winter. Now that I live in zone 7b, near Atlanta, GA, USA, I can grow figs outside, so I’m wondering what other things might be fun to grow in a pot like that. I don’t have a garage, just some sunny windows, a warm basement, and a shady screened porch that’s probably not much cold protection.

What species would be interesting and thrive in these conditions? Citrus? What else?

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If I could only grow one in a pot, it would be one of the navel oranges.

Just to let you know I picked up some nice fig trees from Home Depot last week for $22 in 5 gallon pots (Brown Turkey and Celeste) they are huge and Wal-mart had some nice Hardy figs for around $20 I think. But they were selling really fast. You’ll find Brown Turkey, Celeste, Green Ischia, Kadota, LSU puple, Black Mission, Desert King and Italian Honey mostly around Atlanta. (pic below Home Depot)

Can’t say alot for pots since I try to plant in the ground. I do have some young Gooseberries and Jostaberries in pots but to early to say how they will do.

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Are homegrown navel oranges better than store-bought? I can get really good navel oranges very cheaply, so I don’t feel a need to grow them. I was thinking an Australian finger lime, Meyer lemon, or something like that I can’t buy in a store.

I know I’ve seen some kind of lemon at Pike, Home Depot and Lowes around Atlanta but I can’t reminder what kinds. You can call Pike they can usually tell you what they have before you go by there.

Currants or Jostaberry.

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Blueberries.

Currants & Gooseberries are a possibility, but have mildew pressure in zone 7. Not much benefit to putting them in a pot anyway in 7.

I guess my question wasn’t clear. The whole point to growing something in a pot is to grow something that I couldn’t grow in the ground. Figs and blueberries grow great in the ground, so there’s no point to growing them in a pot. I don’t know about currants, I guess I’d leave them outside over the winter and take them into air conditioning over the summer? I’m hoping for more suggestions of things that need to be in a pot because they would die if outside here the whole year.

Chillan Guava

Dwarf June plum

http://www.logees.com/june-plum-spondias-dulcis.html?

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Barbados Cherry (Malpighia glabra)
http://www.logees.com/fruits/container/barbados-cherry-malpighia-glabra.html

This is a picture of my Malpighia punicifolia, I am keeping as a bonsai. The fruit is reported to taste the same as the larger Malpighia emarginata but is maintainable smaller.

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Sadly no fruit has ever set. The trunk has grown thicker and it is having another flowering cycle, just as a cold spell sets in.

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I can tell you some things to not try.

Too humid for currants & gooseberries.

What varieties did you plant?

My crandall currant is not liking the full sun maybe it needs some shade. I have two goosberries in morning sun only (poorman and another) I forgot and they are doing good except the deer have found them and are eating the leaves.

I didn’t plant my gooseberries out last spring so I put them up in pots thinking they would be pamper them. In sort it did not go well for them.

I’ve put about 20 in the ground between colored currants, black currants, and gooseberries. The effects of mildew ranged from terrible to lethal. If you try you need to spray antifungals weekly during the summer, and they don’t like the heat either. I’m in Richmond, VA so I expect i will be worse farther south.

One or two gooseberries sort of tolerate the heat & humidity, but none do very well.

I’m deciding if I want to pull them all out, or try committing to a weekly spray schedule once the temperature hits 90s.