Orange, Bitter (Poncirus trifoliata), packet of 5 seeds, organic

Family:  Citrus (Rutaceae)

Hardy to Zones 6-9.

(Bitter Orange, Hardy Orange, Trifoliate Orange, Japanese Orange)  Thorny deciduous shrub growing to 9 feet tall, native to E. Asia, China and Korea.  The plants grows well in full sun to part shade, preferring loose, sandy soils of medium moisture and tolerant of both acidic and alkaline pH.  This is the most cold-hardy of all the fruit-bearing citrus trees.  We use the juice of the oranges just as one would use lemon, for making lemon-tahini dressing for our salads.  The fruits ripen very late in the year, and our first harvest generally occurs around Halloween.  Dried peel of bitter orange is an ingredient in many herbal teas and makes a consummate after-dinner aperitif.  Traditional use of dried bitter orange peel (TCM, TWM): Aromatic digestive bitter.  Bitter orange is extraordinarily thorny and makes an ornamental and very effective barrier hedge.  The plant is also used as rootstock for grafting oranges, lemons and limes, conferring cold and disease resistance.  Cultivation:  Seeds need 4 weeks in cold soils or in refrigeration prior to germination in warm soils.  We refrigerate the seed after harvest and sell stratified seed that can be sown in the warm greenhouse or refrigerator stored until being sown in the warm greenhouse or in the spring garden.  Allow seedlings to grow on until large enough to individuate, then pot up to larger pots and grow for a year before transplanting to landscape.  We supply only fresh, stratified seeds from our own harvest.

5 seeds per packet, certified organically grown