I have a Meyer Lemon tree that I keep in a container. I bring it inside through the cold months. And back out during the summer. I get about 5-6 lemons a year.

There is an Improved Meyers that is supposed to be hardy outside to zone 7. You may want to try that one.

Thanks! I will google those verieties. Hardy is good - I would really like to just plant them in the ground. How tall do they get?

I got my lemon tree today in Pikes. It smells devine!!! Full of beautiful flowers - gorgeous.
In winter, will it be OK in a garage, or it is better off in my livingroom?
Thanks!

I have a neighbor who has had a lemon and a lime tree for years in pots that she brings into her basement for winter storage. It isn't heated. She gave me some lemons off her tree this winter. She has great luck and they've never been repotted since the first one. I'm not sure whether she has a grow light or not but her basement has no windows. They would not live here in middle GA if planted in the ground. I got one from Lowe's this month and I intend to bring mine inside for the winter and keep in front of a window with sunshine. I do that with a Dwarf Cavendish banana but I've never had any blooms (or therefore fruit). I'm just pleased with the tropical look and I know I'll enjoy the fragrance of the lemon in winter.

Wow! I would love to grow one outside. Mine has been traveling in for the winter and out for the summer ever since I bought it (improved Mayer Lemon). I might take a chance and plant it outside this year.
Thanks!

I would take caution about keeping your lemon out all winter. The poster who said they they leave it out does not have the zone number or location attached to their GW ID. So you have no idea where they are located.
I would bring it in.

Girlgroupgirl,
you are right about the zone, it slipped my mind. Somehow I assumed GA is GA, though Waltstree might live all the way down south.
Thanks!

Dear Natalie4b,
Take a look at the McKenzie Farms Website (www.mckenzie-farms.com). Located in Scranton, SC, McKenzie Farms specializes in cold-hardy citrus. Their plant listings are illustrated and provide descriptions of each plant's characteristics, including estimated cold tolerance.

I garden in Zone 7b and have a potted citrumelo, which is a cross between _Poncirus trifoliata_ and grapefruit. My plant came from Logee's in Connecticut, where they grow it in an unheated greenhouse. My citrumelo has sat outside in a pot for a couple of winters and has grown to about three feet tall. Regrettably, the citrumelo shares its pot with a colony of fireants. We had temperatures down to around ten degrees Fahrenheit twice this past winter. The citrumelo lost all its leaves, but its trunk and twigs are alive and well. It's now beginning to put out a new crop of leaves. If I can just decide where I want to plant it and, then, get it into the ground, I think it will thrive outdoors for me. It should be warmer in the ground than in a pot and, therefore, should, knock on wood, retain its leaves during coming winters. McKenzie Farms has a number of hardy citrus plants that I would like to try in Zone 7b.

Thank you Jay! Great selection and prices, too! Just visualizing citrus in my garden planted in a ground - makes me smile!

There is also a guy in Atlanta who grows hardy lemons and another citrus type fruit.

Here is a link that might be useful: Atlanta Fruitman

Good blog. I am so ready to keep my citrus outside! Last winter when I kept the lemon tree in a kitchen, ants would not leave no matter what I did. I was so happy to finally take it out a month back.

Here is a link that talks about one person's experience growing citrus in metro Atlanta that I thought might be of interest. I have a meyer in a pot and may try taking a cutting and growing it outdoors in a protected place with winter protection.

Here is a link that might be useful: Citrus in Atlanta

That is a really great forum and that person has wonderful insite!

Thanks!

GGG