First of all "Hi". I'm new to the forum as well as citrus growing.

I have a Improved Dwarf Meyer Lemon Tree (not bush) on the way and I've been trying to decide if my climate can support in-ground planting.

According to the heat map here: http://www.ahs.org/pdfs/05_heat_map.pdf

I live right on the line between Zone 7 and Zone 8. I'm west of Atlanta.

Any opinions on the viability of planting this citrus in-ground? I've not lived here very long and don't have very much experience with the winters although I believe frost is common in winter.

Thanks in advance.

Welcome Bo to the Forum!

Perhaps Stan McKenzie can help you here. Only the cold hardiest of all the citruses would perhaps be planted in the ground, such as those belonging to Changsha hybrids.

But anyway, here's a few listing of the cold hardy ones that you might find interesting:

http://www.worldwideplants.com/hardy_citrus.htm


regards,

Joe

Welcome to the Citrus Growers Forum, you are very welcome here. You can look around your area and see if you find any citrus varieties growing anywhere. If you don't, then that should tell you something. I get to Atlanta from time to time, and in the winter it can get quite cold for citrus. Meyer Lemon planted outside in your area could probably be accomplished successfully, IF you are willing to protect it from the cold freezes and frosts each time they come. You will get very tried of doing so. I would plant the tree in a container, that can be easily moved indoors when needed to protect the tree. Take care, and again welcome. - Millet

Meyer lemons will NOT survive Atlanta without major protection. You could get away with a Changsha mandarin or most of the Tri hybrids. Atlanta gets hard freezes most every year.

Myer lemon will not survive beyond 8b in the ground without protection. (I am pushing my luck in 8b!) I have had my in-ground Myer survive brief dips to 20 degrees f., but I am certain there would be damage, at even higher tempertures, if the cold persisted for any length of time.

There are sour, lemon-like citrus that will tolerate much colder tempertures. Citus tawanica, Taichang Lemon, Yuzu lemons, trifoliate hybrids, etc.. None will be as good as a Myer, but they make attractive trees and provide an edible (meaning you will not die if you eat them - LOL - actually some taste pretty good) fruit to boot. A few of these might make it in Atlanta most years. You can learn a lot about them surfing around on the web.

Here is a good link to start learning about the cold hardy types:

http://www.sepalms.org/

I have never seen a Trifoliata hybrid that is worthwhile to grow for the fruit not even the UD 119. I have a quite large FD hybrid in the back yard that is not too bad but is is not really good. It also suffers from the frost. It will probably be converted over to something worthwhile in the near future.

I'm in zone 5 & for an experiment I planted my 3 yr old 18" Poncirus Trifoliata in my garden last summer (I have several growing from seed so no big loss if it died).
Around end of Nov. I mulched it up covering it completely..2 ft high. Spring, had to cut all dead branches off & it's now about 3-4 inches but still green. It just won't get new growth going but it's not dead yet! We had a record breaking cold in Dec & record breaking warm in Jan..go figure.
I bought it at WorlWidePlants & the owner said it is hardy to zone 5 so I tried it inground after 3 yrs. Stan only ships for them.
No way is it hardy to zone 5!!

There is a mature Thomasville at the Bamboo Farm and Coastal Gardens that is known to have survived 3 degrees. (I emphasis mature because young trees will not take tempertures anywhere near this.) The the fruit is not the quality of commercial citrus but is edible and is better than any kumquat I have tried.

I can plainly see there’s many avid citrus lovers here. I very much appreciate everyone's thoughtful comments.

I had decided to containerize before I ordered the tree but recently was hedging on that decision. The fantastic spring here makes one forget there is a winter season. Thank you for sharing your freely given expertise with me.