Well, back from my trip to Clermont/Kissimmee and found citrus at a WallyWorld less than a mile away from where I stayed - 1/2 mile north of 192 on 27. Bought 3 healthy fruiting trees in rootbound 5 gal pots from 4 1/2' tall to 7' tall. Ponderosa has a 4 inch fruit and tons of babies & blossoms. Honey Murcott is very bushy with a ton of blossoms. And, a tahiti lime with lots of baby fruits & blossoms. Trunks are at least 1 inch diam. BOUGHT ALL 3 FOR JUST LESS THAN $50.00. And, paid no shipping as I got them in my car!!!! They make my other plants look like pee wees. Soooo excited! Sooo inexpensive!
Dr Manners, if you read this...I'm confused about one thing.
You said Bearrs lime is same as Tahiti. On the tag it says "Persian lime (Tahiti lime)". I alway hear that the limes we buy in stores are persian, and the Bearrs lime I tasted was different than store bought. Was this mislabeled?
Tags also say the rootstock is 'Volk'. What is that?
They also have a canker reg. #. Also says when they were budded-- in '04 & '05. I'm amazed at how big they are being less than 2 yrs old! I will post pics soon if anyone's interested. I've seen many pics of potted plants from mail orders, but never like these. I feel so lucky.
I even answered my own original question!
Patty
Was it illegall for me to take them out of state???? Also have pics of Citrustower. It is very hilly there. Never had a chance to up there as the only time I went by was on a Sun. & they are closed then. There sure is a lot of houses right there..lots if development! I Still saw a HUGE orange grove there though.
I posted this here in "Inground" thinking that Fl. ppl would know where to go for citrus. I will go to 'Potted Citrus" to brag about this now. Thanks to all & Dr. Manners & GoneBananas for your advice and comments here.

I found that there is an Expo on August 23 & 24, 2006 at the Lee Civic Center in Fort Myers. I have never been to one and am hoping to go then. Has anyone been to this one?

Tammy - I would like to check out the place you went to for your trees. I can not find Wally World listed, so I figure I could always just take a drive. 192 & 27 is not far from me. Was it on one of these routes and do you happen to remember what was close by? If you can please post pictures of the trees you got, would love to se them.


Thanks

Hi Disneygirl (I'm not Tammy - I'm Patty LOL)
WallyWorld is just another name for Walmart. Sorry for the confusement.
Take 192 west to 27 & then turn right (north) & go about 1/2 mile. It will be on the right. You'll see a big sign "ALWAYS" & that's it. Go in the garden center. I'm telling you, the trees there would cost MUCH MUCH more on internet. I bought the 5 gal ones marked $24.86. There were bigger ones too that were $40-50 (?). But, mine are big enough - up to 7 ft. I told the checkout guy I only wanted one & I came from Wisc & jokingly asked if I could get a 3-for. To my surprise, he rung up $49.72! Only charged for two & winked. I tried to tip him but he wouldn't take it. What a guy!!!
More than 3 yrs ago I bought a meyers from Acorn Springs (mistake) half the size at $35 - 40 plus another $20 for shipping. Good luck & let us know what you bought
Patty

My apologies Patty - That is what I get for multi-tasking and thinking all at the same time. While writing to you I was telling myself that afterwards I needed to call my friend back (from Massachusetts) since we keep playing telephone tag.

Anyways, THANK YOU. I have never heard anyone call it that. I know exactly where that one is and will be heading that way tomorrow. I was just at the 2 other ones that are near me, but nothing new that is all that great. In January I did get my Valencia from Wal-Mart. It has flourished very well, with alot of help though. I have seen some trees at walmart with good sized fruit on it.

Well Thank you again and don't forget to post pic's. I just LOVE looking at them.

OK, I will try to post a pic of my new trees.
One on left is Honey Murcott (tons of baby blossoms), middle is Ponderosa (notice the big green lemon) with tons of fruits & blossoms, on right is the 7 ft. Tahiti lime - lots of baby fruits & blossoms.
[img][/img]http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y202/Patty_in_Wisc/newcitrus.jpg

I did something right! Here's the citrus Tower. I stood up thru my sunroof to take this pic (almost lost my glasses ha ha)
[img][/img][url][/url]
And, can anyone identify this fruit tree? The fruits are 1 inch with thin skins. Very sweet w/ flesh like a pear. 2 huge seeds in each.
[img][/img]http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y202/Patty_in_Wisc/fruitsunknown.jpg
Sending some to Citrus Joe - I bet he knows!

Loquats - related to pears.

very unrelated to kumquats nor any other citruses.

The Croxton grapefruit is 13 years old (maybe 14 now). The official temperature there has been as low as 12 degrees since the grapefruit was planted. We were told it went through this freeze without protection. Of course, there is no way to be certain how cold the tree actually got, but I talked with someone from Riverbanks Zoo and Garden, which is similarly situated on the Saluda River, and they had recorded 12 degrees there.

Ned

Thanks Joe. So THAT"S a loquat! Always wondered what loquats were.
When I said "Citrus Joe" I meant Joencolo (Joe in Colorado). Millet sorta nicknamed him that. Funny, no one there could tell me what it was. Hey, congrats on being moderator here.
Patty

'Tahiti' and 'Persian' and 'Bearss' (in California) should be the same lime. 'Bearss' (in Florida) is a regular lemon (C. limon). So if you got a plant labelled 'Tahiti' in Fla., I can't imagine why it would taste different, unless it were mislabelled.

Loquats are ripe on most trees now, here. I'm enjoying them!

Malcolm

I've got another month on my loquats before they are ready....

Welcome to the forum WI!

I'm sorry, but I'm still confused. The limes in our stores have seeds. They are supposed to be Persian (?). Citrus Joe sent me a Bearrs lime and it was sweeter and had no seeds (which they are famous for). Also, nurseries on internet sell Persian AND Bearrs - as two separate limes.
Guess I won't know what I have till I taste it
Patty

And I thought there were only a handful types of limes. After I went to the citrus tour, it seems that there are more types of limes than there are lemons. If only the limes are as cold hardy as Meyers lemon, I would have added all of them to my collection.

Also expect the Bearss lime to be a short lived tree. All limes with heritage from Bearss have a genetic disorder called "wood pocket" that makes them short lived.

The other types aside from the Key and Bearss are: Millsweet milleta, Thornless Key Lime, Giant Key Lime, Australian Lime, Malaysian Lime, Black Twig Lime, Mexican Giant Lime, Ginger Lime, and there were 5 more types but was not writing notes at the tour, and when I get back to the trees later, I can't find the tags on them. Some of the limes are sweet as oranges only with lime aftertaste.

One of the best cold hardy Key lime substitute for me are limequats.

Patty Persian Limes do not have seeds, or should I say very rarely will you find a seed... http://ecocrop.fao.org/GPPIS.exe$ShowHost?Host=4631 If your limes have seeds I would say they are key limes. As Joe has posted, there are many types of limes but there are only two varieties normally sold in the stores. Persian (Bearss) or Key limes.