Tahitian and Bearss are the common lime varieties grown in New Zealand, and both share comparable cold sensitivity to lemon — meaning zone matters here in a way it doesn't for orange. What's different for lime is that the zone split shows up in planting timing itself, not just which variety to pick.
The Comparison
| Variety | Harvest Timing | Notable For |
|---|---|---|
| Tahitian | June to August | The standard NZ lime, grouped with Bearss under the same harvest window |
| Bearss | June to August | Effectively interchangeable with Tahitian on timing |
| Key lime | Around April | Ripens notably earlier than Tahitian/Bearss |
This comparison draws on Yates NZ's how-to-grow guide — cited directly for both harvest timing and planting advice, since lime isn't a seed-grown crop and no seed supplier in this project's data stocks lime trees.
Why Planting Timing Itself Genuinely Differs by Zone
This is the one place among the citrus comparisons where the source material gives explicitly different advice by climate rather than a single uniform recommendation: Yates NZ recommends planting lime shrubs in spring, once the soil has warmed, for cold climates — but in warmer areas, autumn planting instead. The current sourced planting window (September–November) models the cold-climate spring advice uniformly across all three NZ zones for safety, since that's the option proven not to expose a young tree to frost risk anywhere.
For a temperate garden, spring planting is the right call — it's the option the source specifically recommends for cold climates. For a sub-tropical garden, though, Yates' own guidance opens the door to planting in autumn instead, which a temperate gardener genuinely shouldn't attempt with a young, frost-sensitive lime. If you're gardening in NZ's sub-tropical zone and want to plant outside the standard spring window, autumn is the source-backed alternative to ask a nursery about — this site's modelled window still defaults to spring for consistency across zones, but the underlying guidance itself is zone-specific in a way the other citrus comparisons aren't.
Tahitian and Bearss — the Standard Picks
Tahitian and Bearss share the same June–August harvest window and are treated as the default lime choice regardless of zone — comparable cold sensitivity to lemon means neither is meaningfully hardier than the other in the sourced data, so the choice between them comes down to what's actually available from a local nursery rather than a genuine zone-driven decision.
Key Lime — a Genuinely Different Season
Key lime stands apart on timing alone: it ripens around April, well ahead of Tahitian and Bearss's June–August window. That's useful if you want lime fruit earlier in the season rather than doubling up on the standard variety, though the source data doesn't distinguish Key lime from Tahitian/Bearss on cold-hardiness — the harvest-timing difference is the documented distinction, not a hardiness one, so don't treat an April harvest as evidence it copes with cold any better or worse than the standard pair.
Site Basics
Lime shares comparable cold sensitivity to lemon, so the same general citrus site advice applies: a full-sun, wind-sheltered position and free-draining soil, since citrus roots do poorly sitting wet through winter — worth applying regardless of variety, though not itself part of the sourced comparison above. In a temperate garden, that shelter matters more in a young tree's first couple of winters; a large container is worth considering on an exposed site so the tree can be moved somewhere more protected, or under cover, if a hard frost is forecast.
A Practical Starting Point
For most gardeners, Tahitian or Bearss is the sensible default lime regardless of zone — the two are effectively interchangeable on timing and hardiness in the sourced data, so pick whichever a local nursery actually has in stock. Add a Key lime alongside one of them if you specifically want fruit ripening earlier in the season rather than concentrating your whole lime harvest into the June–August window; running both means picking limes across a longer stretch of the year instead of one concentrated glut.
The planting-timing question is worth revisiting once the tree is actually going in the ground. A temperate gardener should stick with the spring window this site models by default. A sub-tropical gardener has a genuine, source-backed reason to ask a nursery about autumn planting instead — it's not a workaround or a guess, it's what Yates NZ itself recommends for warmer areas, and it's the kind of zone-specific detail that's easy to miss if you only read the general spring-planting advice that applies safely everywhere.
Ready to plan the rest of your citrus bed against the calendar? Check the NZ Temperate Planting Calendar or the NZ Sub-Tropical Planting Calendar for your zone.