Citrus are very tolerant of heat and somewhat tolerant of drought, but most cannot handle DFW winters. Mandarins might work in the ground, but I'd still grow them in containers for the first few years. Only plant lemons and oranges in containers.

I wouldn't consider citrus to be large trees at all. In fact, our grapefruit are regularly pruned so that the fruits are easier to harvest. This is what the mature trees look like:

Ty

Here is a link that might be useful: Growing citrus article from Dallas Morning News

If you can find the May 2011 issue of Texas Gardener, it had an article on growing citrus in the DFW area. It sounded like a lot of work but the author had kept a variety of trees alive outdoors year round.

Thanks for the responses. I'll try a couple in pots and see what happens.