Patty I put up two pictures of the new Red on my blog linked below. The rootstock is Carrizo Citrange. As you can see it is not a well balanced tree but coming out the more bare side is a good branch that should bring it back in balance. I plan on turning the bare side South when I plant the tree to give it the best sun. I want to keep it as close as practical to the Southern side of my house for cold protection. Do you think I can go as close as 12-15 feet? It has blooms and a few have set fruit. I think I will pinch those off. Here is a link that might be useful: Georgia Home Orchard blog

Florida in particular has a habit of putting its own names on things; if you bought a "red navel" in Florida, it is almost certainly a cara cara. As for the blood orange, if the mycitrustree has a website, you could look there; it is likely they only sell one type; if not, give them a call and ask them. No other way I know to ID an orange until you get a ripe fruit.

I do not know. My orange tree is not blooming at the moment, also, it skipped last year. I planted the tree in Dec 2006, at that time the tree was about 6 foot. Then in 2007, I got no blooms (which could be expected, no unheard of for a newly planted orange). As far as I know they are supposed to kick off in January-Feb right? I hope I do not skip another year!

My take on it is this is a lot of hype with some truth to it in better growing conditions, handling, etc. Root stock can make a difference. I just ran across an academic paper online the other day that was comparing the effects of different root stocks on juicing oranges, and based on their photos alone the difference in color and consistency of the juice was easily visible. Having said that, as I mentioned in another thread the other day, it is important to match root stock with local conditions, a root stock that performs well in western high calcareous soils may perform poorly in low pH sandy and sandy loam soils on the gulf coast and vice versa, this is before even considering disease resistance. As to the old line Washington Navel bit, I think it is 100% hype, Washington Navel oranges themselves are a relatively modern variety dating to the 1800's (likely a sport from about 1822 in Brazil and 1870 in the US), with some of the original US parent trees still surviving. (google Parent Washington Navel Orange) Also see http://hortsci.ashspublications.org/content/45/4/523.full