Native Plants
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Ask Mr. Smarty Plants
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Wednesday - May 21, 2008
From: Austin, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Non-Natives, Edible Plants, Trees
Title: Citrus trees for Austin
Answered by: Nan Hampton
QUESTION:
I am looking for citrus that grows in the Austin,Tx area. Could you offer any suggestions please?ANSWER:
Citrus trees (lemons, oranges, grapefruits, etc.) are members of the Family Rutaceae (Rue Family). These ones you are familiar with had to start somewhere with native trees (southeast Asia), but now are highly cultivated plants. Indeed, none of their direct ancestors were native to Central Texas or, for that matter, North America. You can see some of the other members of the Family Rutaceae that are native to North America. Since our focus and expertise here at the Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center are with plants native to North America, we can't really give you much guidance on what citrus trees will do well in Austin. However, I do know of people who have lemon trees growing in a protected area in Austin so I suggest that you contact the Travis County Agricultural Extension Office to see if they have suggestions. Skip Richter is the Travis County Extension Agent. Also, visit the Central Texas Horticulture page for information about growing ornamental and garden plants, native and non-native, in Austin.
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Possible non-native squash and gourd cross from Kyle TX
June 10, 2012 - Last year I gathered seeds from the yellow squash plants that were grown from a seed packet (hybrid, I assume). Well, now the fruit produced by those plants seems to be a cross between a yellow squash...
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June 06, 2007 - During the spring every year there are "Volunteer Onions" that grow in my lawn and garden. I live in Michigan, sw. question---are these onions? what are they--they smell like onions--- can they be e...
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May 07, 2008 - Will fruit trees (primarily peach) produce fruit if grown from a seed?
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Edible Plants for North Georgia
January 10, 2010 - We are planning a forest food garden in the hollers of the N GA Mountains.
Which edible fruit, nut, berry, herb and creepers would be best for this reddish, clay-like soil? The food garden is in...
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