| We live about an hour south of Houston, Texas and I am trying to decide on two fruit trees to plant in the back yard. I prefer a peach, plum, or a orange tree but there is to many types to choose from. Which trees are better for are area/zone, and which trees can produce alone without being fertilized? |
| Decisions, decisions, decisions! I'd vote for planting a peach tree. Try one of these: Midpride Peach; Tree is vigorous and has good to excellent quality fruit. Ripens mid to late June; is yellow-orange with distinctive red striping and yellow-fleshed; freestone type; needs 200-300 chill hours. Red Baron Peach: This one has it all! Double coral red-frilled flowers. Great taste (rates a 10). Freestone. Very good production. Ripens from mid-June to Mid-July. 500 - 600 chill hours. Tropic Beauty Peach: Early bearing semi-freestone. Good quality, sweet and juicy. Ripens before Plum Curculio gets fruit. Yellow fleshed. Ripens late April 150 chill hours. Tropic Snow Peach: Excellent rated (a 9+). Large white meat freestone. Ripens mid May. 200 chill hours. Bonanza Minature: If you don?t have a lot of space and want a truly outstanding peach that is very productive in our area, this is especially for you. Popular yellow freestone - large fruit is sweet, low in acid, with a mild, refreshing flavor. Good container plant. Early June ripening. 5-6 ft. tree. 250 hours or less. Best oranges for your region: Republic of Texas Orange: Documented back to 1847 near Angleton, Texas. Medium to large round orange. Very flavorful. Very cold tolerant. A sweet flavorful orange. Will grow to be a rather large tree. My three-year-old tree is already 10' tall and has an upright posture. Best taste in early January. Cara Cara Pink Navel Orange: The color of the flesh is closer to that of a blood orange, the flavor had a hint of grapefruit with the typical excellent sweetness of a navel orange. Will withstand mild freezes but protect with a hard (26 degrees) freeze. Fully ripe in early December. Marrs Early Orange: A navel orange budsport relatively unknown outside Texas. It is commercially seedless, but seedy fruit can occur because of adjacent pollinizers. Marrs attains maturity in early October, sometimes in late September, primarily because of its low acidity. It bears heavy crops of very sweet medium fruit size but it exhibits a tendency to alternate bearing. It is grown for the fresh market. Moro Blood Orange: Most colorful of all the blood oranges. The exterior shows a bright red blush, and the internal color is deep red mixed with orange. The juice is equally dark, sweet and juicy. The fruits are medium-size, easy to peel and usually seedless. One of the most delicious of all oranges. Will withstand mild freezes but protect with a hard (26 degrees) freeze. Fully ripe in early December, but is very sweet weeks before. Plum trees need a pollinizer. 2-in-1 plum is a tree upon which 2 varieties of plums have been grafted; all excellent varieties for our climate. If you only have room for one plum tree, this is a good choice. Best wishes with your edible landscape. |
