Several decades ago, I hybridized Poncirus trifoliata and Clementine mandarin using Poncirus as the pollen parent as Clementine is 100 % monoembryonic when used as the seed parent. The only difficulty was the timing of flowering of the 2 parents. Some of the flowers on the progeny were misshapen and not capable of setting fruit. A few of the hybrids were vigorous and fruited in a solar greenhouse without supplemental heat in southeastern Pennsylvania. These trees were planted directly in the soil with the perimeter of the greenhouse base insulated 4' deep using panels of Styrofoam insulation. One of the trees fruited with Clementine-like fruit, deep orange, seedless, not bitter, but tart, about 2 inches in diameter. Regrettably, I discontinued covering the greenhouse and lost the trees to winter cold. I had previously sent 2 scions to an amateur citrus breeder in Tifton, GA. He was an elderly gentleman at that time and they may not have been further propagated. These trees began flowering and fruiting at 5-6 years of age. I did not fertilize these plants and did no pruning as flowering began on the most distal branches, especially on the longer upper branches beginning to bend downwards.

Good idea sharing our wish list :) I think I may order that variegated Eureka from Target. I don't use many acidic lemons and for that price it'll be a great ornamental tree. When I do get lemons from it, I'll cook up some baked goods for the special holidays. I'd want to add a Gold Nugget for its reputation of an amazing flavor and according to four winds it ripens in spring/summer. I'd add a second mandarin that ripens a different season near winter..a Satsuma mandarin or maybe a Page mandarin as Brian suggested it's easy to grow. Mandarins for both cold and warm weather seasons! A blood orange for the unique taste. I'd love to have a citrus fruit with hints of berry flavor. I've read posts here about different experiences with each variety so I'm not sure which I'd go for. Either a Moro or Tarocco but I definitely want homegrown blood oranges. A Sunquat maybe? If I ever get to try one. Lastly either the finger lime or red lime. I haven't decided which I like better. The caviar beads look adorable but the red lime pulp is also so beautiful. I prefer to eat fruit fresh out of hand so these limes are lower on my general grow list.

I can give a review of the Kabosu Cutting into it, this smells like the best very high quality Meyer lemon (and I'm not much of a fan of Meyer lemons) mixed with some very aromatic Satsuma smell. There might also be a tiny hint of Yuzu aroma, barely perceptible. The inside is a little bit more fragrant than a lemon, has a little bit of Yuzu smell. Eating it, it tastes like a lemon. Not bad at all, but it doesn't have the most flavor, and it's just a little dry, like Yuzu. But it is still fairly juicy. The flavor is like lemon, maybe not the best quality lemon but not that bad, kind of watery, mixed with a little bit of tangerine and Satsuma flavor. I do not see any seeds inside. I think Kabosu is supposed to be picked green in Japan, so these may have been considered too over-ripe. Although they tasted like they might be underripe to me. In this cool climate (Pacific Northwest), they probably wouldn't be the most sweet. The peel was about as edible as a normal lemon, maybe just a little bit more. One probably could use the peel in cooking, although it might not be the most ideal. The peel reminds me a lot of the flavor of Satsuma peels, although maybe just a little bit softer like Yuzu. The white pith appears to be edible, only the tiniest bit of bitterness, not that much inferior to the pith of citron. The fruit quality inside is better than Yuzu, but I suspect the peel is still very important for the flavor, if you were making a sauce. One last thing, I do want to emphasize that this review may not be representative of what Kabosu is really like, but rather a single account of Kabosu grown in the far north in the Pacific Northwest climate. I think the peel is where most of the flavor of Kabosu is. The peel is less edible than that of Yuzu, somewhere between Yuzu and Satsuma mandarin, but I guess it cannot be too bad since I am finding myself eating the peels. The flavor of the peels is mostly like somewhere in between the peels of Satsuma mandarin and lime. Maybe just a little bit of Ichang papeda / Yuzu flavor, but the orange part of the flavor of Yuzu is not really there. I think the peels of Kabosu could definitely be candied to be made into a snack.

Nothing suddenly *this* year, but over my gardening experience I would say two things stand out. One is digitalis grandiflora. I like foxgloves but don't like dealing with biennials. I was pleased early in my gardening life to discover digitalis grandiflora. Not as large or showy as biennial foxgloves, but a lovely soft yellow and a perennial with quite long-lasting blooms. Then I saw that it multiplied. Oh, how nice. After a few years, I realized it was, as you say, everywhere! At first if it popped up somewhere I didn't want it I would dig it up and move it. Now, I rip it out and toss it. I also try to cut back the spent flowers as soon as they are done. I don't regret planting it by any means, but I do now try to keep on top of it. The second plant that comes to mind is penstemon. The reason this one gets me is that I NEVER planted it! One year many years back I found a volunteer in a shade garden. I asked around, looked it up, and identified it as penstemon. Hmm, wonder where that came from. Then a few years later I suddenly realized it's everywhere! It kind of bugs me but I leave it for the bees who seem to love it, and then rip it out or cut it back. Honorable mention: columbines. I know, I know, this is one of those that a gardener should *expect* to seed around. Being a new gardener at the time, I didn't realize they did so to quite such an extent. It was really only last year and this year in particular that I am making a determined effort to control them. I do so, so, sooo love them in the spring, especially all the different shades of pinks and purples that have mutated and popped up over the years (not so much the Green Apple variety, which are actually more like plain white and boring - those I rip out gladly lol). But once spring is done, they are nothing but in the way. In the wrong spots, pink and purples mixed in my red-yellow-orange bed, taking up space that could be used for other plants... they had to go. Just this spring I dug up a ton of them - and by the way, who knew they had such strong root systems? Yikes. (Lol most of the foliage in the photo above that is not columbine or LoTV is digitalis grandiflora!! Which was NEVER planted in that bed!) My designated red, yellow, orange bed - apparently these guys didn't read the garden plans! The boring (imo) Green Apple reseeders. Still a nice swath of white in the spring garden, though Lastly, it was just in the last few years that I noticed my hellebores were reseeding. They are an unnamed variety - given to me by a gardening friend who bought one of those "grab-bag" type offers of half a dozen or so unnamed ones inexpensively. I don't mind those reseeding - yet, lol! - as I have plenty of shady spots I can place them, and I love the early blooms. Have given some away too this year. Funny, my carex Ice Dance has barely moved in 20 years. But it IS in a very small spot surrounded by asphalt, so there's that! :) Dee