Looking for a citrus you can grow in-ground in cooler climates? We’d like to introduce you to yuzu fruit — and give you tips and tricks to help you grow your own yuzu!
A quick video introduction to yuzu:
Our citrus obsession
We live in Upstate South Carolina. Until the 2023 USDA hardiness zone update, we were in zone 7b, but we’re now zone 8a. For context, during the winter months, our temperatures regularly drop below freezing.
Nevertheless, we also grow about a dozen varieties of citrus, but we have to grow them in pots. Why?

Our potted citrus plants in November. These wouldn’t be so pretty and productive if we couldn’t move them into protection before freezing weather.
Most citrus isn’t very cold hardy. Thus, we use a pot-moving device lovingly named the Porta-Potter to lug our large potted citrus plants in and out of a heated garage as needed to get it through winter. Are we crazy? Very likely.
But once you taste a fresh organically grown blood orange, kumquat, satsuma, or other citrus you’ve grown yourself, you’ll understand our plight. Plus, our young son LOVES the all-he-can-eat citrus buffet in the driveway.