- Cold Hardy / Disease Resistant Citrus -

As a young boy Stan insisted his dad to grow oranges on their farm in Scranton S.C. One year his dad finally gave in and they planted a bunch of orange trees. They all died the following winter. Not giving up Stan found soon after, the more cold hardy tangerines and mandarins. In no time he had a mandarin growing out his back door that was the talk of the town. The mail man would come by and tell everyone in town about young Stan's orange tree. Stan has had a life long passion for citrus and is responsible for sparking my own obsession as well as thousands of others which he calls being a "citraholic". He founded the Cold Hardy Citrus Expo of the South East which every year holds an event showcasing rare and unique cold hardy citrus where individuals can win awards on their own cold hardy citrus fruits. Stan Specializes in cold hardy citrus, he currently grows and grafts some 40 different species of citrus till this day.  Many of these citrus species are extremely rare and come from all over the world. Almost all the citrus trees used here to make the tough citrus grove in Whiteville N.C. came directly from Stan 'the citrus man" McKenzie and his farm in Scranton S.C.

  In 1892, a young plant pathologist from the U.S. Department of Agriculture set out for Eustis, Florida, to determine what was ailing Mrs. Tom Platt’s orange trees.   In a postcard to a colleague in Washington, D.C., he wrote that an orange tree looked "something like an oak with bright yellow fruits hanging from its branches."
      This was perhaps the most ingenuous remark ever made about citrus by Walter Tennyson Swingle, who legend insists emerged from his first entry into a citrus grove with the Minneola tangelo.   Almost immediately, Swingle established a laboratory at Eustis, and started hybridizing all the kinds of citrus then known.   During the next five years, Swingle and his associate, Dr. Herbert John Webber, conducted much of the pioneer research that forms the foundation of our present knowledge of citrus.  

  He began doctoral work at Washington University, St. Louis, but in 1892, as a result of his first meeting with his lifelong associate Walter T. Swingle, he broke off study to accept a position as special agent of the newly created Vegetable Pathology Division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In a field laboratory at Eustis, Florida, Webber began the joint research with Swingle that was to continue over a period of half a century.   Out of their Florida years from 1892-97 came innumerable findings that were to stimulate the nation’s citrus industry and assist growers.   In the course of his citrus studies, Webber found time for the cytological research on the Zamia plant that led to his receiving the Ph.D. from Washington University in 1901—and an invitation to speak before the British Association for the Advancement of Science.