This Yuzu tree is in Olympia, WA, in the Yashiro Japanese garden. It was originally grown from seed, and is now 42 inches tall (106 cm). It is not covered during the winter. But the small Japanese garden is located in the downtown area of the city, and is enclosed by a high fence. So the spot is mostly protected from colder winds. It probably does not get as cold there as more open rural areas further away from the city. It's a very optimal spot. From what I've seen, if it were any colder than this, a Yuzu would probably not grow so well in this region. Pictures taken September 5, 2024. This is an Ichang lemon. It is planted in a very protected spot, sort of a nook close to the wall of a house. It gets plenty of sun early in the day but is mostly shaded from afternoon sun. It is not very big, maybe only 20 inches (51 cm) high, but the leaves have survived through the winter and it has put out a good amount of new leaf growth this year. It was not covered last winter. For those who may not know, "Ichang lemon" is believed to be a hybrid between pomelo, and either Ichang papeda or Yuzu. It originated from ancient China, where it was referred to as "Shangjuan" (older Chinese romanization spelling) or Xiang-yuan (modern Chinese romanization). This is really not the most optimal or most specific name because that same name could also frequently refer to citron (Citrus medica) or even pomelo, in a more general sense. "Xiang", by itself, translates as "fragrant". The "yuan" part is a character that shows the symbol of "tree" or "plant" but pronounced in a special way, and most commonly associated specifically with citron. It's possible the sound of the word "yuan" originally derived from the word for "round" or "ball". It's not a true lemon, in the sense that it does not have any citron ancestry. But the fruits are supposed to be very similar to lemons. Of course, Ichang papeda is supposed to be significantly more cold tolerant than Ichang lemon. However, I tried to grow two small Ichang papeda plants further out in the yard away from the house but they slowly declined after the first winter, despite being able to put out a little new leaf growth, and were not able to end up surviving after the second winter. They just seemed to lack enough vigor to be able to grow fast enough and recover from the winter. From my personal experience, Yuzu plants seem to be more successful here, strangely, but even then I had a bush (on grafted rootstock) that gradually declined after two years and finally did not recover after the third winter and died. I do have another very small Yuzu bush in the yard (further out from the house) that is slowly recovering from being mostly killed-back during an especially cold winter 3 years ago. I've noticed that the hardy citrus plants seem to do better if they are closely surrounded by bushes of other plants, which seem to offer them some cover and a little bit of insulating protection from both the cold winds of winter and the hot dry heat of summer. I can point out there does exist a huge Ichang papeda bush in Portland, Oregon, in the Hoyt Arboretum, planted right against the wall of the visitor's center. Portland is 2 hours south of Olympia. (115 miles, 185 km) The plant looks like it's doing very well and I have seen fruits on it. (Though the fruits do not have any seeds, probably due to lack of pollination because there are no other citrus varieties planted nearby, and maybe the Poncirus trifoliata next to it doesn't bloom at the same time) The bush is between 7 to 8 feet in height, and has huge thorns, many of which are nearly 3 inches long. The precise location is at the very top of a small mountain, what amounts to a big forest preserve that is surrounded by the city. This is a Dunstan citrumelo, or at least just a picture of the top part of the plant. It has done very well and seems to be the most resistant to cold damage out of the many hardy citrus varieties I have seen here. There's a bush at the bottom and then a tall leader branch that rises up with some more growth at the top, 78 inches (200 cm) tall from the ground. It usually keeps its leaves, but there was one winter that was so cold that the leaves died and later fell off, even though most of the petiole segments of the leaf remained alive on the plant (that's the very small segment of the leaf at the base where the leaf attaches to the stem). It has not yet shown any signs of flowering or fruiting, so it may take a few more years for it to get bigger and more mature.
