marumi kumquat on PT or FD should do well there.

In terms of oranges I would think that you could do the Seville Sour Orange (would probably need some protection the first few year or in case of extreme low temperatures). If you're open to mandarins and mandarin hybrids, the 10-degree tangerine (clementine x yuzu) or the nippon orangequat could work too.

I'm trying to grow citrus outside in zone 8a. Growing them in zone 8a in the PNW is much more difficult than zone 8a in the South, because the trees don't get the heat most of the year, with the extended cold season. The varieties that have a decent degree of edibility while having a chance of making it in this colder growing climate are rare and obscure, and you practically need a clear plastic enclosure for 5 months out of the year.

North Texas is probably difficult because of the hot sun. Usually mandarins (Satsuma or Gold Nugget) tend to be the cold hardiest citrus, but mandarins also do not deal with intense sun and triple degree temperatures as well. You might consider shade cloth in the summer, especially when the trees are young.

Anyway, I'm breeding my own citrus, but the types that can easily sail through zone 8a or 7 temperatures do not taste as good as your typical varieties at the supermarket.

I'm crossing Ten Degree tangerine with Satsuma, and then hope to cross that with Arctic Frost. (Ten Degree is a Clementine x yuzu cross, while Arctic Frost is Satsuma x Changsha). I also have a cross between a seedling of Oroblanco and Dunstan citrumelo. They haven't gone outside yet.

Y'all are ignorin the fact that in DFW, we ain't talkin bout no cold tolerance; we are talking about extremes...over 110F; below zero F.; and hailstones sometimes the size of baseballs. During "normal" weather in DFW lots of citrus could survive; it is the abnormal that kills them every time. My Brother lost 2 Meyer trees in 5 years in Austin; and that, my friends is a citrus paradise compared with DFW.

Parker

Are you Familuar with the marumi kumquat, Citsuma Prague, and Citrondarin.

All 3 boast 0F survivable with good flavor.

http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=23499.50

http://www.citrusvariety.ucr.edu/citrus/citrondarin.html

John There is a very good reason I don't live in DFW Texas. Hail, 110, )F high winds, and need I say FLOODS FLOODS and more FLOODS.

Hey! It's been bone dry here for the past 3 months AND it was only 102F this year.. yes we had crushing hail.. but that is just a minor detail! LOL! In all seriousness I do hear what everyone is saying about Citrus in my area. In essence it's a crapshoot at best. So without a retractable roof over the Citrus in the spring and summer and a fur coat in the winter the chances of success are low? Maybe I will try a couple under a roof overhang and under the hot air vent from the dryer???

"Maybe I will try a couple under a roof overhang and under the hot air vent from the dryer???".... there ya go... that is what we call a protected microclimate. Seriously, if I was fixin to plant me some citrus in DFW, I would proly have me a plan to build a greenhouse or at least a portable greenhouse for each tree.... anchored all four corners with industrial cable in case of tornado force winds. In short, I guess it is do-able; but I'd proly look for a better hobby. There is always that weekend when you are outta town and the Blue Norther hits. Temperatures can drop more than 100 deg. F in less than 24 hours; and I don't know many plants that like that.

Rarely gets to 10 degrees in DFW -- probably between 10 and 20 F. most winters for a low. So, depending on where you are in DFW, heat island, or not, you are in the zone 8 range. By definition, zone 8 can see 10 degrees and still be zone 8.

There are many 'super hardy' citrus and trifoliate hybrids that would probably do OK, but they are not particularly edible (citrandarin, citrumelo, citrange). Changsha mandarin is probably the hardiest species. Seedy but tasty. Also try Keraji mandarin.

In general, mandarins and kumquats, and Meyers might be OK in shade and with a canopy most years, but be prepared to cover them with a tarp should a sharp cold event come through. I've seen it get down to 10 or 12 degrees a few times when I lived there. That would kill most citrus. Of course any temps much below 28 degrees will ruin fruit.

I think the "Ten Degree" tangerine can only survive down to 11.5 °F, and then only for very short periods, since it's not as vigorous or resilient growing as yuzu.

Are you sure? I believe it got its name because it survived at 10F for several hours. Also, the ichang papeda is much better at passing its cold hardiness on to its progeny than the trifoliate - sometimes even second generation descendants (like the 10 degree) can be nearly as hardy as the ichang papeda itself.

Hellooooo Look around DFW and see how many citrus trees you see. The answer will be zero.

That is so funny John. I can't find any citrus trees growing outside here in Cincinnati either.

John's rule of thumb... hold your thumb up in front of you at arm's length; look at it and turn around 360 degrees; if you did not see any citrus (or what else you want to grow) there is probably a very good reason.

You are not looking in people's back yards. I knew of some guys that grew them there.

You guys are killing me! Looks like I really stirred up a hornets nest here. :) Great info shared here! I really appreciate all of your perspectives (even the snarky ones!) LOL :) I try to respond to others here too as this is a terrific community where we all share great information. Thanks again! I'm going to give the Citrus a try. If I lose it, I lose it, but I won't be out too much on a few plants.

The other thing to do is go to your local good nursery. Are they selling any there? If not and you are in a marginal area for citrus, try to network with people who are growing them and find out what varieties they are growing. There are quite a few hardy varieties that don't really have commercial potential, and so may not be easily found, but still, they are fun to grow.

Join a local fruit-growers club. Visit some local web forums for fruit-growing. Read the local papers! Do your web research.

https://dcmga.com/north-texas-gardening/trees/citrus-in-north-texas/

https://www.dallasnews.com/life/gardening/2011/03/10/grow-your-own-carefully-selected-citrus-trees

okay, my five cents, if I hold my thumb up in front of my at arm's length (I admit, not very long arm and wearing glasses does not help ;). ) look at it and turn around 360 degrees, All I see is what I or previous owner planted, nothing else. So I have to test if some is good to grow or not and can not rely on my eyesight.

John's rule of thumb does not work well in your backyard; it is designed for larger expanses of agricultural land. The point of it all is if there are no commercial citrus being grown in your area; then it is inhospitable and if you choose to defy the odds it is going to be a struggle.

That's not necessarily true; the area where citrus harvesting is commercially viable is more limited than the area where it's possible to grow citrus in your yard. And with just a little bit of Winter protection, especially while the tree is young, that expands the range even more. Then there's some areas of the country where citrus can be grown but every 5 to 15 years there's an unusually harsh Winter that freezes them all to the ground, so you very seldom see very mature established trees growing there long-term.

Generally though, growing citrus in zone 8 or 7 isn't for the faint of heart. It's not an easy forget about it low maintenance plant in these climate zones. Though occasionally there will be a seedling that manages to survive outside in zone 8 in some parts of the South.

Maybe it is I who am missing the point; but my position is that almost anything is possible; but do you want to put so much energy and money into something that will never be easy.

John

For me the answer is yes to a point. That is why I am sticking to only a few I can't buy at the grocery store. Just a selected few.

Steve

keep in mind that homegrown fruit, fresh off the tree, usually has better flavor than the fruits at a supermarket which have been sitting around a while. although in colder climates citrus very often doesn't ripen all the way, or does not reach full sweetness. Of course this can be solved by growing inside under controlled temperatures and light levels

This is particularly true of some fruits, typically mandarins are much better eaten fresh off the tree. (other citrus have a thicker rind and longer shelf life)

Then of course there are a lot of delicious varieties not common at the supermarket.

Olympia, WA

zone 8a

This is a Yuzu that was unprotected that at one point was completely buried in snow.

The Yuzu is only a few feet away from the South facing side of the house, so certainly that helped. I did at one point cover the small plant with a brown paper bag with a warm gallon container of water in there when it was forecasted to get down to 12 degrees (F). I don't think it ever got down quite that low in the yard, but I measured 24F that night at 3am in the morning. (The temperature was supposed to drop and reach its low at 6:30 am) The paper bag blew off the next day.

Some of those leaves at the bottom of the Yuzu look like they'll still be able to survive.

Dunstan citrumelo

picture taken just now, early March

Look at how green those leaves still are! It looks like it could start growing.

Check my latitude here. You'll find the location is just a tiny bit further North than Quebec City, Canada, or Duluth, Minnesota. But the Winter temperatures are relatively mild in the Pacific Northwest, because of winds blowing in moist air from the ocean.

Here's 10 Degree Tangerine. Still too early to say whether it will survive, but it looks like it might.

It was completely unprotected, except being covered with a brown paper grocery bag with a warm gallon bottle of water one night.

Keep in mind the conditions in the PNW are very different from Texas. In the PNW there is absolutely no danger of a warm stretch of Winter days bringing a plant out of dormancy. By the time temperatures even get close to warming up, all danger of frost has long since passed. In fact that's really more of a problem because of the short growing season.