I'm growing a lovely Bergamot sour orange in a tall ceramic pot, extremely successfully. I bought mine from Four Wind Growers, and always extremely pleased with their trees, especially their very extensive root systems. I am getting ready, in fact, to harvest my first 8 or 9 fruits to make marmalade from. Both my Bergamot and my Bouquet d'Fleurs sour orange (which has the most exquisite and fragrant blossoms of any sour orange cultivar. Both are doing very well in containers. Mine are outside year 'round, of course, which makes it much easier to grow.

Patty S.

Thank you Patty for the recommendation! You've got me wanting a Bouquet d'Fleurs too just for the good smells. I go to the garden center often this time of year just to smell their little potted orange trees in bloom!

I think I may have to wait on my bergamot for a few years and then splurge on a larger Four Wind's tree. My husband and I plan on going to teach in Japan for 1-2 years within the next 18 months and my mother will be taking care of my plants and trees. If I got a 1 year tree now I wouldn't have fruit until post-Japan even if it survives transitioning to my mother's care. If I just wait until after Japan and spend a bit more I should have a supurb ready-to-fruit bergamot tree anyways.

It really helps to have a good review and know it can thrive in a container, so thank you Patty for responding. I'll be keeping bergamot on my to-do list. In the meantime the nursury near me has meyer lemons for $25 and that is also on my list ;).

Does anyone else have experience with sour orange types in containers, especially ones that winter inside? I've heard that the sweet varieties need more heat to sweeten, but I'm hoping the sour oranges still do will under lights part of the year.

I just found an interesting resource on bergamot I wanted to share, it is an informative site from italy (in english) about their bergamot industry: http://www.bergamottoconsorzio.it/pop_eng.html

I told myself I'd be satisfied with a Meyer Lemon, but I can't stop searching for a Bergamot.

Is this the same species as Sour or Bitter Orange?

If it is, I can tell you that they are very, very easy from seed. I find them faster and more vigorous as seedlings compared to the Sweet Orange, in fact.

I started mine from seeds, the fruit being sold in Asian markets on a seasonal basis (winter). Will germinate at room temperature without bottom heat.

From what I understand sometimes sour or bitter orange is called bergamot, but really bergamot is either a subspecies of sour orange or a different species entierly (depends on who is classifying it). Bergamot is yellow when ripe, not orange, and it seems to be a cross between a sour orange and something else (I've seen people claiming it's a lemon, grapefruit, citron, etc.).

That is great to hear that it is so easy to grow from seed! I'm still emailing various places looking for bergamot seed, and I hope it will grow as well as it's close relitive.

I just purchased a bergamot organge which is a cross of sour orange and lemon. Genetic research into the ancestral origins of extant citrus cultivars found bergamot orange to be a probable hybrid of Citrus limon and Citrus aurantium

It seems to be from reading to be less cold hardy than the satsumas and so when it gets real next week I plan to build a little tent around it and put a pail of water in with it. I would like to find out more about this cultivar. I purchased mine from just fruits and exotics two months ago.