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GregMartin
Citruholic
Joined: 12 Jan 2011
Posts: 265
Location: southern Maine, zone 5/6
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| Posted: Sat 30 Mar, 2013 10:40 pm |
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My pumelo x poncirus hybrid is blooming right now with beautiful, fragrant 3" diameter flowers and it got me wondering...what cultivar has the largest flowers and just how big do they get? |
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ivica
Moderator
Joined: 08 Jan 2007
Posts: 658
Location: Sisak, Croatia, zone 7b
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| Posted: Sun 31 Mar, 2013 7:15 am |
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The biggest one I saw is here:
link
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GregMartin
Citruholic
Joined: 12 Jan 2011
Posts: 265
Location: southern Maine, zone 5/6
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| Posted: Sun 31 Mar, 2013 12:51 pm |
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Ivica, I remember that post...gorgeous!
Here's a pic of the pumelo x P.t. flowers from this morning. I'm assuming that the flower size comes from the P.t., the fragrance must come from the pumelo. The 3 and 3/8" equals just over 8.5cm.
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citrom
Citruholic
Joined: 06 Feb 2012
Posts: 95
Location: Hungary, Europe, Zone 6
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Lemandarangequatelo
Citruholic
Joined: 01 Mar 2010
Posts: 469
Location: UK
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| Posted: Sun 07 Apr, 2013 4:23 pm |
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Amazing, how strong is the smell from that giant flower?  |
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GregMartin
Citruholic
Joined: 12 Jan 2011
Posts: 265
Location: southern Maine, zone 5/6
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| Posted: Sun 07 Apr, 2013 6:38 pm |
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Just those couple of flowers were enough to perfume my 36'x10' sunroom. They were at one end of the room and I could smell them from the other end. Top blossom diameter ended up measuring in at 3.5" (9cm) fully open.
There must be citrus hybrids with larger blossoms, but in my small collection this is the largest I've seen so far. |
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Lemandarangequatelo
Citruholic
Joined: 01 Mar 2010
Posts: 469
Location: UK
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| Posted: Wed 10 Apr, 2013 8:15 am |
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Very nice! Is there a list somewhere of citrus with giant flowers we can look at? A quick google search turned up nothing. |
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Scott_6B
Citruholic
Joined: 11 Oct 2011
Posts: 251
Location: North Shore Massachusetts
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| Posted: Sun 14 Apr, 2013 12:33 pm |
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Greg,
Any idea how cold hardy your pumelo x poncirus hybrid is? With fragrant flowers that large, it could be a very unique alternative to a Gardenia. Most Gardenias are only really hardy to Z7 or 8. If you don't mind, once I get better at grafting, I might hit you up for a cutting. |
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GregMartin
Citruholic
Joined: 12 Jan 2011
Posts: 265
Location: southern Maine, zone 5/6
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| Posted: Sun 14 Apr, 2013 1:48 pm |
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Not sure on hardiness. I have some seedlings that I'll plant out in May or June so we'll see how they do come next spring. I'm guessing they'll bite it, but we'll see. The fruit is pretty rough to eat and I wouldn't recommend it, but they're large and I'm hoping it makes a nice parent for breeding hardy children. Hopefully some of them will be both hardy and provide ornamental value for further breeding. Would be great to have some plants that are zone 5 hardy with large fragrant flowers, maybe tinged purple, and large tasty fruit that ripen by September or October.... 
I'd be happy to send you some bud wood, but you can also check in with Stan if you don't trust your grafting skills. I bought mine from him. |
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Scott_6B
Citruholic
Joined: 11 Oct 2011
Posts: 251
Location: North Shore Massachusetts
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| Posted: Sun 14 Apr, 2013 9:37 pm |
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 Greg, a hardy evergreen, tasty citrus variety that ripens in Sept-Oct. certainly would be nice for us in New England. Maybe some day, one can only hope.  The early Satsumas are probably the closest thing right now...they have everything but the z5-6 cold hardiness.
I would guess that the pumelo x poncirus hybrid is probably only z7a-b hardy at best. It will be interesting to see how it does outside for you.
-Scott |
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