Outdoor Oranges and Sowing Sausages

[Jay-ell]

Well the postie has just brought me a nice little package - two unusual fruit trees. At the moment they're little cute plant let's but I'll be growing them in tubs.

First up is the Hardy Orange "Flying Dragon" aka Japanese Bitter Lemon. Supposedly edible but so probably about as edible as slugs. It does look like it will have a use as grow your own razor wire. It has dinky little spines on it at the moment but they'll grow up to four inch hooks.

Jurassicplants Online Tree Nursery

Next is the Blue Sausage Fruit, aka Blue Bean Tree or Dead Man's Fingers. Fruits are supposed to ripen around Halloween.

Jurassicplants Online Tree Nursery

[purplekat]

I will be interested to see if you manage to get fruit off the sausage tree that far north, it's one I've considered but not dared to try yet.

[Snoop Puss]

Blue Sausage Fruit sounds more tempting than Dead Man's Fingers, but having looked at the pictures... fingers seem more appropriate.

That's a fascinating site, by the way. I'll go back to it. Thanks.

[Jay-ell]

It's going to be a couple of years till I see if I get any sausages.

That site is a good reason why I shouldn't be allowed my phone at work

[starloc]

The flying dragon is a great tree to look at, great as a rootstock for edible citrus....but....when it eventually fruits you dont want to try eating it......
Its generaly got an awfull aftertaste that takes ages to go....( some plants are beetteer than others and some peolple add a tiny bit to water and say its quite nice with the beetter plants fruit)
But its a brilliant plant , fully hardy in th UK ( I put mine outside in a 10 pot after a year of owning it ) even in a pot it can freeze solid and not harm it, thorns usualy about 2 to 3 inch long and you raly dont want to be getting near them....they are wicked
They look great with fruit on in the winter unlike citrus they loose all the leaves and have oranges on in the snow.
I have it in the garden in Liverpool so people who see me picking lemons and oranges through the year, see it in the winter and pinch them....and get such a disgusting taste they never try again.

[yummersetter]

I used to walk the dogs in a park in West London that had a lovely Poncirus. Fabulous perfume from the flowers and the fruit smelled good in a bowl in the house.
When we relocated permanently to Somerset I planted my own in the orchard but it only lived for a year or two. I put a ring of chicken wire round it to keep the dog's eyes safe from the thorns and the shrub ended up being swamped by grass and weeds