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Varieties
Oranges
The seedless ‘Valencia’ orange is the best orange variety for most areas of Australia. It has few or no seeds. It is a fast-growing, hardy tree. The fruit ripen early (mid-September), but hold well on the tree for many months, making it a sweeter fruit than most other oranges in cooler areas. The fruit juice does not go off and turn sour in the refrigerator like ‘Navel’ juice does. This is why almost all of the world’s orange juice production is from ‘Valencia’ oranges. Ordinary ‘Valencia’ oranges are excellent to eat as well. All Valencias grow about 4m tall. Navels grow 3-4m tall.
The ‘Washington Navel’ orange produces its superbly sweet fruit in early winter. To eat the fruit off the tree, this is the best orange of all. But:
• It is a hard variety to grow well, catching every disease around
• The fruit juice deteriorates rapidly
• It usually produces less fruit than ‘Valencia’ trees.
Lemons
Eureka: the best citrus for most areas of Australia is the ‘Eureka’ lemon. ‘Eureka’ does OK in all but the coldest areas of Melbourne. However, it does hate vicious cold snaps. It produces fruit almost every day of the year. Whenever you need a lemon, it’s there for you – and lemons are certainly the most used of all backyard-grown fruit. ‘Eureka’ lemons have relatively few seeds and the trees are more or less free of thorns. This is a biggish citrus tree, growing to around 4m tall in gardens.
Lisbon & Meyer lemons: for cooler climate zones of Australia either the ‘Meyer’ or ‘Lisbon’ lemons are the preferred varieties. ‘Lisbon’ used to be the ‘Eureka’ alternative for Melbourne but these days ‘Eureka’ is preferred. ‘Lisbon’ is thorny, it does have more seeds and it fruits for many months less than ‘Eureka’. The sub-variety ‘Prior Lisbon’, an earlier-fruiting variety, is the better choice. It grows around 3-4m tall. The ‘Meyer’ lemon is a small tree around 2m tall. Its yellow fruit is gloriously smooth and relatively sweet to eat. The grated skin (zest) is of inferior quality to other lemons. Its fruit are produced for most of the year and this is an excellent variety for pot culture. ‘Meyer’ is the most cold-tolerant of all lemons.
The seedless ‘Valencia’ orange is the best orange variety for most areas of Australia. It has few or no seeds. It is a fast-growing, hardy tree. The fruit ripen early (mid-September), but hold well on the tree for many months, making it a sweeter fruit than most other oranges in cooler areas. The fruit juice does not go off and turn sour in the refrigerator like ‘Navel’ juice does. This is why almost all of the world’s orange juice production is from ‘Valencia’ oranges. Ordinary ‘Valencia’ oranges are excellent to eat as well. All Valencias grow about 4m tall. Navels grow 3-4m tall.
The ‘Washington Navel’ orange produces its superbly sweet fruit in early winter. To eat the fruit off the tree, this is the best orange of all. But:
• It is a hard variety to grow well, catching every disease around
• The fruit juice deteriorates rapidly
• It usually produces less fruit than ‘Valencia’ trees.
Lemons
Eureka: the best citrus for most areas of Australia is the ‘Eureka’ lemon. ‘Eureka’ does OK in all but the coldest areas of Melbourne. However, it does hate vicious cold snaps. It produces fruit almost every day of the year. Whenever you need a lemon, it’s there for you – and lemons are certainly the most used of all backyard-grown fruit. ‘Eureka’ lemons have relatively few seeds and the trees are more or less free of thorns. This is a biggish citrus tree, growing to around 4m tall in gardens.
Lisbon & Meyer lemons: for cooler climate zones of Australia either the ‘Meyer’ or ‘Lisbon’ lemons are the preferred varieties. ‘Lisbon’ used to be the ‘Eureka’ alternative for Melbourne but these days ‘Eureka’ is preferred. ‘Lisbon’ is thorny, it does have more seeds and it fruits for many months less than ‘Eureka’. The sub-variety ‘Prior Lisbon’, an earlier-fruiting variety, is the better choice. It grows around 3-4m tall. The ‘Meyer’ lemon is a small tree around 2m tall. Its yellow fruit is gloriously smooth and relatively sweet to eat. The grated skin (zest) is of inferior quality to other lemons. Its fruit are produced for most of the year and this is an excellent variety for pot culture. ‘Meyer’ is the most cold-tolerant of all lemons.