Flavorful, Fresh Fruits for the Orchard

Seasonal Planting Guide

Bare-root season is here. Plant your favorite fruit and shade trees now. Blueberries can be planted from potted plants; prepare a rich, acid bed with plenty of peat moss. Prune roses in February near the end of the dormant season, but you can clean them up now by removing old leaves on and around the plants. Primroses provide vibrant color during cold weather—choose some for your boxes and beds. Start seeds of broccoli, cabbage, kale, and other cool-season crops indoors now for planting outside in March.

Fruit Varieties for Your Orchard

Homegrown fruit is increasingly popular for its freshness and local benefits. Explore these varieties for new flavors and reliable harvests.

• Apples: Ideal for cold winters and warm summers. Consider heirloom varieties:
  • Gravenstein: Unsurpassed for applesauce.
  • Wolf River: Discovered in 1875, this large, sweet apple is disease-resistant and great for cooking, fresh eating, and drying.
• Asian Pears: Firm, round, and sweet. Try Seigyoku, a heavy-bearing variety with crisp, juicy, yellow fruit.
• Cherries: Royal Ann is a sweet cherry with yellow skin dotted with red, excellent fresh or for canning. Requires Black Tartarian for pollination.
• Apricots: Challenging in frost-prone areas, but Puget Gold is a hardy variety with large, flavorful orange fruit, well-suited for western climates.
• Peaches: Suncrest is a frost-hardy, yellow freestone peach with bright red skin and a rich, heirloom flavor.
• Figs: Chicago Hardy is a cold-tolerant variety with light reddish-brown fruit and excellent flavor.
• Kiwi: Hardy kiwis produce smaller fruit but thrive in shorter seasons. Ken’s Red yields large, bright red fruit with a sweet, mild flavor, ripening in July.

Plant bare-root fruit trees now, available at local nurseries, and add these tasty varieties to your orchard.