I'm on the board of my HOA which has a citrus theme in the common areas and we have hundreds of Washington Navel Oranges planted on our property. Consequently, we always have tons of navels that go to waste.

No one else on the board is really too interested in landscaping and so I've been able to take ownership of it. I've received approval to plant different types of citrus when we install replacements (vandalism / theft) or new trees.

Our landscape contractor has forwarded the following list of citrus that are available. We currently have 11 trees that are going to be planted in the near future. What would you plant in an HOA setting?

Oroblanco Grapefruit
Ruby Red Grapefruit
Nagami Kumquat
Eureka Lemon
Meyer Lemon
Algerian Clementine
Dancy
Gold Nugget
W. Murcott
Kishu Seedless
Page
Owari Satsuma
Tango
Cara Cara Navel (probably won't plant this because of all the other navels planted)
Moro blood orange
Minneola
Bearrs Lime
Key Lime

If you're wanting a pink grapefruit (to complement your Oro Blanco), I would suggest either a Melogold, which is pale pink, or Rio Red, which is redder, but will do better for your that Ruby. Ruby is a Texas grapefruit and really needs the heat to sweeten up. The Melogold is nearly genetically identical to Oro Blanco, and will do very well for you, and the Rio Red needs a little more heat than either the Oro Blanco or the Melogold, but out in Riverside you should get enough heat.

The Cara Cara navel tastes very different than the navels you have, and it is not a bad choice. It is very pretty, pink and looks really nice in a fruit salad. I love all your other choices, especially your mandarins. Lots of great eating and juicing choices.

Now, it begs to be asked, if folks aren't picking the Washington Navels, will you be able to get them to pick these? Maybe you can think about doing some sort of community service project and involve either your local MG's, Boys & Girls Club, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, a local school, etc. to come and pick the Washington Navels and either sell them or distribute them so they don't all end up going to waste??

Are you going to consider tree form and visual appearance ?
Moro and red grapefruit can be attractive specimen trees when in fruit.
Some mandarins are particularly attractive trees, other vars not so pretty.

Visual appeal is a factor, but not the sole factor. Some of these trees will be in areas where the attractiveness of the tree is not as important. The majority of these are going to planted within small (15-20 tree) grove areas.

Melogold isn't available to us...the only trees we can plant are those from the list that our landscaper gives us.

I was thinking about starting with seedless mandarins (Tango, Gold Nugget, Kishu) for successive ripening and overall appeal to the community. Owari satsuma trees seem a little on the small scraggly side, but they could be an option at some point.

Then, on the next grouping that we plant, add in grapefruit (probably ruby red for the different ripening time) and blood orange.

I can't be sure that they will pick these either, but we live in an area with a lot of navel orange growers...so it might seem easier to buy 25 pounds for 5 bucks than to actually pick them themselves.

Page mandarins (or Page oranges) make a very nice tree and also are fantastic to eat.

citruseverywhere wrote: -- "the only trees we can plant are those from the list that our landscaper gives us."

What the heck is that??? I know exactly what the h*ll, I would tell the landscaper.
Millet (668-)

Just a thought and it may not apply but if you want people to pick and eat them check for cross polination causing seediness in some varieties.