Yardsmart: A more fruitful landscape

A beautiful backyard tree laden with ripe fruit is the epitome of the American dream. Like so many dreams, though, the ideal is far simpler than the reality. An ordinary landscape tree need only produce leaves, but a fruit tree must do far more than that. Before a crop of fruit is edible, the tree must flower, become pollinated, set fruit and ripen fully.

Choosing the right kind of tree is vital to whether the process is successful. This is why planting the one-variety-fits-all, mass-market packaged fruit trees can lead to failure. If you're going to invest many years in this tree, it's important to make your selection carefully.

First, learn what kinds of trees are known producers in your area for optimal compatibility -- you don't want to fight the climate. For example, apples are common in Washington state and peaches do well in Georgia.

Second, determine the nature of your winter. Certain fruit trees such as cherry trees require exposure to a certain number of hours below 45 F between November and mid-February. This is called their "chilling requirement." If a tree needs 150 hours minimum chilling, your climate must be at that required temperature for at least that many hours. While the tree may grow with less chilling, it will not thrive, nor will it produce reliable crops.

Once you've zeroed in on the kind of fruit, consider the exact variety to further narrow down your choices. For centuries, breeders have been developing fruit for its size and flavor. They also breed for better adaptation to certain local climate conditions. One aspect of this is bloom time, which is expressed as early, midseason or late.

Gardeners who live in regions with sporadic late frost or snow often find the flowers or the forming fruit irreparably weather-damaged. Late-season rains can prevent bees from flying at peak times, which interferes with pollination. If an early bloomer is planted in those regions, it may flower abundantly but never produce fruit.

The best way to find your local chilling requirements and optimal bloom time is to contact a local full-service garden center. They order their fruit trees by varietal name for every season. They know what works locally and generally maintain a vested interest in happy, satisfied customers. Master Gardeners at www.mastergardeners.com is another reliable source of information.

Another characteristic you might want to consider is size. Grafting allows growers to produce the same variety in three different sizes: standard, semi-dwarf and dwarf. All three produce the same size of fruit. Planting the smaller sizes allows you more trees in less space, so each one can offer a different kind of fruit.