Ultimate Fruit Orchard Picks

Planning what trees to install can be challenging, there's lots to think about! Besides laying out the actually design of where trees can go, there's also big choices in deciding which varieties to choose! Not only should you consider harvest timelines (you may not want 20+ trees needing harvest at the same time!) but you also need to factor in if a variety is self-fruitful or if it will need a partner tree to pollinate with!

The plant selections below are my personal top picks but I've also grouped them out by their harvest season to ensure there's something to pick almost year-round! You can easily adjust this list as needed to your desired varieties or to adjust for your yards size! Just be sure to research pollination needs (I've marked below which options need a pollinator pair versus not) For example, if you were to plant the full list below, I'd recommend planning it out on a space covering at least an acre of land but you might chose just 3 trees that suit your city backyard, or expand the list for a larger country property! The possibilities are endless!

Summer Harvest:

Late spring and early summer bring on the best of ripe juicy stone fruit as well as a plethora of berries! Lots of summer fruit is also easy to bake into pies, juice, freeze for smoothies, store in jars and more!

• Cherry - Craigs Crimson & Black Tartarian (pollinator pair) or just Lapins (self-fruitful)

• Apricot - Gold Kist & Autumn Glo (self-fruitful)

• Nectarine - Arctic Star White & Liz's Late (self-fruitful)

• Peach - Donut Stark Saturn & O'Henry (self-fruitful)

• Pluot - Dapple Supreme & Flavor Finale (pollinator pair)

• Blueberry - Any combo of several in the southern highbush family such as Misty, O'Neal, Emerald, Jewel, Ect (pollinator pair)

• Grapes - Any type you like! Thompson, Flame and Concord are popular choices (self-fruitful)

Fall Harvest:

Fall brings in a whole new list of wonderful pickings, lots of which are popular choices for pie making!

• Fig: Black Mission & Celeste (self-fruitful)

• Apple: Honeycrisp and Pink Lady (pollinator pair)

• Persimmon: Fuyu (self-fruitful)

• Pomegranate: Wonderful (self-fruitful)

• Avocado: Hass, Mexicola or Little Wurtz Dwarf (self-fruitful)

Winter Harvest:

Citrus is the king of the winter harvest! Bright colors and zesty flavors to bring into the kitchen for fresh from the garden orange juice, lemonade, snacking or meat marinades!

• Lemon: Meyer or Eureka (self-fruitful)

• Lime: Bearss/Persian Lime (self-fruitful)

• Orange: Washington Navel (self-fruitful)

• Mandarin: Owari or Clementine (self-fruitful)

• Kumquat: Nagami (self-fruitful)

In my dream garden, the trees are spaced out in a rectangle grid and in the spaces between the trees there is rows of blueberry, raspberry and blackberry. There would also be ample space for rows of perennial herbs like rosemary and lavender or sages like Salvia and Russian sage for the pollinators!

Its nice to imagine it isn't it?! What would your dream garden look like??!