This wonderful compact-growing citrus tree, or bushy shrub is a hybrid between the mandarin orange and the cumquat. It’s somewhat more ornamental than edible. It has an attractive, upright, evergreen shrub with glossy green leaves that produce prolific, small, round, orange-like bitter fruit with a loose skin like mandarins.

Calamondin bear fragrant, creamy-white, starry blossoms in spring releasing a sweet, strong fragrance around your garden.

The shrub has few thorns and is cold hardy. It’s a great container plant around courtyards, patios, decks and swimming pool surroundings. They can be left to grow as rounded shrubs, used as border hedging, as feature plants in formal herb gardens or Mediterranean style gardens – or trained into standards with a globose head on top of a clean stem. The Calamondin fruit is largely unpalatable raw, but is perfect for preserves, brandies, liqueurs, marmalades, pickles and crystallising.

• Shelter from strong winds especially during flowering or while fruit is forming.