There are several citrus trees growing at Dorothy Oven Park in Tallahassee,FL(zone 8b)-some are left unprotected-yet others such as this Ponderosa Lemon are given protective covering during the coldest spells. One of the workers at the small city park remarked that the fruit are not too acid when fully ripe for him to enjoy fresh.I have yet to taste one(I wonder if the supposed citron parentage can be tasted). I would like to know if anyone in zone 8b is growing it without protection. I realize that it is supposed to be more cold tender that Myers (which has orange in it's background).

That's a big lemon!

Microclimates are everywhere.

Here in Gainesville I know a man with an inground Eureka lemon that was a good twelve feet tall the last time I saw it. Healthy as anything and never having been frozen. I was having trouble keeping oranges from freezing twenty five miles away and slightly further south and he has a Eureka bigger than anything I've got.

.....Alan.

Hey Alan,
I know what you mean about the microclimates.I remember back when I attended UF (I graduated in '79) We had Parson Brown, Hamlin and Pineapple Oranges on campus -yet my grandparents who live about 30 miles north (near High Springs)cant grow any oranges due to hard freezes. On campus we used to have Queen Palms, Orchid Trees (Bauhinia), Sissoo, Silk Oak, Eucalyptus robusta and camaldulensis, and Melaleuca. I understand that bad freezes in the '80's took most of these out as well as zapping Silver Springs Groves near Island Grove.Eureka Lemon is quite tender-but Gainesville's microclimates can be like a bit of Tampa beamed to Alachua county