Okay, orange for juicing - the classic Valencia is our "juicing" orange. But, if you'd like a very delicious alternative, try the Page mandarin hybrid. Think of it as a "Minneola hybrid". It is 3/4 mandarin and 1/4 grapefruit, and it is out of this world good, especially for juicing. My favorite fruit for juicing. Or, if you're adventurous, try a blood orange, like a Moro, or the best tasting of of the blood oranges, a Tarocco (either a "Bream" or if you can find it, the best tasting of all the Tarocco's, the "Thermal"). And orange for eating out of hand would be any of the great navel varieties. You certainly can juice them, but drink the juice right away, as their juice contains a higher amount of a chemical, when exposed to air creates a second chemical that will make the juice become a little bitter. But, best eating out of hand type of orange. The classic of course is our wonderful Washington Navel. A great couple of alternatives would be the beautiful Cara Cara navel (a sport of the Washington), which is a bit sweeter, and has pretty pink flesh (lycopene), or the classic Minneola tangelo. I love my Cara Cara. Satsumas tend to grow in a more weeping fashion (very beautiful specimen trees for your yard, so maybe? a spot in your front yard to show it off), so, instead of a Satsuma (which really is not the best tasting mandarin, imho), I would suggest a Tango mandarin. More upright, and one of the very best tasting mandarins out there. Another excellent option, and the very BEST of all the mandarins (again, imho), is the Seedless Kishu. If you have small kiddos, this is the perfect mandarin for them - pint-sized, completely seedless, very zipper skin, melts in your mouth with a rich, complex, sweet flavor. Grapefruits. The best 100% grapefruit variety for us in the more coastal areas of S. California will be the Rio Red. Very pretty red flesh (lycopene, again). If you would prefer a little sweeter tasting grapefruit, I would definitely go with the Oro Blanco grapefruit hybrid (pummelo x grapefruit), or it's "sister", the Melogold (which I think is a wee bit better, sweeter, thinner skinned). And, if you really want a sweet grapefruit, the Cocktail grapefruit, which is not even a grapefruit, although marketed as such, but a pummelo x mandarin cross, and my favorite of all the "grapefruits". I believe Clausen's has all the varieties I've mentioned. But, that's a HOOF from Culver City, let me tell you. There are some great options up in your area for good nurseries: Armstrong Nurseries, and they can even special order for you. Also Burkard Nurseries in Pasadena: http://www.burkardnurseries.com/plant-lists/citrus-trees , And, Sperling Nursery in Calabasas an N. Hollywood (think they still have their N. Hollywood location): http://sperlingnursery.com/ Another option if you're in the Bakersfield area is buying directly from Willits & Newcomb. They are one of the best commercial tree growers (along with Clausen's), and they also should have all the varieties just about, that I've mentioned. Hopefully our Los Angeles area forum members can also offer up some suggestions. These options will be more expensive than either Clausen's or W&N (as they're getting their trees from folks like Clausen's or W&N), so bit of a trade off - price vs travel :-) Lastly, I would still recommend going with semi-dwarfing rootstocks. Either Troyer/Carrizo, or even C35. Your tree will top out at about 15' - still way too tall for me - but you'll be able to manage your trees much, much better than trying to get a tree that wants to be 20 or 30' down to 15'. Citrus are tip fruiting trees, so you have to be careful in how to prune them, or you can end up pruning away future fruit. You would need to be very good a drop-crotch pruning, and most folks aren't :-) Stick with semi-dwarf rootstock and you will only need to prune out dead wood every 3 to 5 years from the interior of the tree, as citrus have lovely growth habits, and semi-dwarf trees should give you the perfect height tree for your particular application. Most of the trees at the UCR Citrus Variety Collection are on semi-dwarfing rootstock, and they are huge. Patty S.

Hi John. We have access to good citrus too BUT, you have to be willing to pay good money for them. For instance, I had never seen cocktail grapefruits locally. I found them at a Wegmans about 40 minutes from my house. We have a closer Wegmans, they just don't carry them. Last year or the year before, they were selling one of my top favorite citrus fruits, Minneola Tangelo. They were 4/$5! Yes, the fruits looked really nice bur cmon! Was the peel dipped in 14k GOLD! The cocktail grapefruits were the same, and the large navel oranges(also a top fav of mine) were $1 each and they were in SEASON!! I also got hooked on Meyer lemons. I could drink Meyer lemonade year round but here in western NY, they also sell for a premium. I was buying bags of them for $5 and there was maybe 5 or 6 small to medium fruits per bag. I forgot to mention they were organic, so this must have also jacked up the price. John I think growing your one citrus is the way to go. I now have 5 lemon trees(3 Meyer lemon, 1 each of Pink variegated and Ponderosa), an Oro Blanco and a Star Ruby, and a Kishu Mandarin that probably won't make it. I am hoping I can replace it this year! Lastly, is the new Tango mandarin I just bought a couple weeks ago. I have extremely high hopes for this tree, considering it is 3 1/2ft tall all ready, I should have fruits by next spring :) Andrew

Actually, variegated citrus do appreciate a little respite from strong afternoon sun. You'll know if your variegated citrus is suffering, as it will appear sunburnt. If your tree is in a container, simply place it where it will get some shade during the hottest hours of the day. Regular citrus prefer as much sun as they can receive, but will manage pretty darned well even with a fair amount of shade. Citrus are very adaptable trees. Patty S.

I suspect this is Swietenia mahagoni, West Indian Mahogany.