Fruit Trees
Fruit trees are a great choice for many gardens in that they
provide spring flowers, of course lots of delicious fruit and often fall
color too.
They are also available on many different root stocks
and so it's possible to buy what is almost a "designer" tree for your particular
position.
Fruit trees usually consist of a grafted bud that provides
the top-growth and predictably determines the variety of the tree on a different
cultivated rootstock. This is because the best varieties tend to have poor
roots and the best rootstock tends to have poor fruit, so we get the best
of both worlds.
This rootstock means that it's possible to get the same
variety of tree in a selection of different sizes, do you want a 10ft, 15ft
or 20ft high tree? In this way it's possible to get what you want without
changing the variety. Just pay attention to what rootstock your tree comes
on.
Pollination is also an issue with fruit trees.
If the flowers are not pollinated properly in the spring, then they're not
going to provide you with much fruit. Depending on the kind of fruit you
have, you may need more than one tree to provide for reliable cross-pollination,
specific details are usually given when purchasing.
