PLANT LIBRARY

Other Names:  Eustis Citrus Bush

Description:

A vigorous shrub that is a hybrid of lime and kumquat; white fragrant flowers from spring to summer; winter ripening fruit is small, greenish yellow, and can be used to flavor food and drink; strongly acidic with a tart flavor

Edible Qualities

Eustis Limequat is a medium-sized shrub that is commonly grown for its edible qualities, although it does have ornamental merits as well. It produces yellow oval fruit with a lime green blush which are typically harvested when mature. The fruits have a tart taste.

The fruit are most often used in the following ways:

• Cooking
• Preserves
• Juice-Making

Features & Attributes

Eustis Limequat features showy clusters of fragrant white star-shaped flowers with buttery yellow eyes at the ends of the branches from early spring to early summer. It has attractive dark green evergreen foliage. The glossy oval leaves are highly ornamental and remain dark green throughout the winter. It features an abundance of magnificent yellow berries with lime green blush from mid winter to early spring.

This is a multi-stemmed evergreen shrub with an upright spreading habit of growth. Its average texture blends into the landscape, but can be balanced by one or two finer or coarser trees or shrubs for an effective composition. This is a relatively low maintenance plant, and is best pruned in late winter once the threat of extreme cold has passed. It is a good choice for attracting birds, bees and butterflies to your yard. Gardeners should be aware of the following characteristic(s) that may warrant special consideration;

• Spiny

Aside from its primary use as an edible, Eustis Limequat is sutiable for the following landscape applications;

• Accent
• Hedges/Screening
• General Garden Use
• Orchard/Edible Landscaping
• Container Planting

Planting & Growing

Eustis Limequat will grow to be about 8 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 5 feet. It has a low canopy with a typical clearance of 1 foot from the ground, and is suitable for planting under power lines. It grows at a medium rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for 50 years or more.

This shrub is quite ornamental as well as edible, and is as much at home in a landscape or flower garden as it is in a designated edibles garden. It does best in full sun to partial shade. It does best in average to evenly moist conditions, but will not tolerate standing water. It is not particular as to soil pH, but grows best in rich soils. It is somewhat tolerant of urban pollution. This particular variety is an interspecific hybrid.

Eustis Limequat is a good choice for the edible garden, but it is also well-suited for use in outdoor pots and containers. With its upright habit of growth, it is best suited for use as a 'thriller' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination; plant it near the center of the pot, surrounded by smaller plants and those that spill over the edges. It is even sizeable enough that it can be grown alone in a suitable container. Note that when grown in a container, it may not perform exactly as indicated on the tag - this is to be expected. Also note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden.