by Nan Chase
North America is divided into eleven climate zones, numbered 1–11, with Zone 1 the coldest and Zone 11 the warmest. Minimum temperatures are noted in 10-degree F increments.
While zones don’t tell the whole story of what will grow and thrive, they help in choosing varieties for your locality. See the zone finder on the National Gardening Association’s website, www.garden.org.
Usually orchard trees need some frost to produce fruit, although frost-free apples are under development. Some apples grow in -30 degrees F, Zone 4.
Photo by Nan K. Chase.
Cherry
The cherry tree is garden royalty, a horticultural grand duchess of regal stature and luxuriant garb, dispensing gifts liberally . . . but, like royalty, occasionally withholding her favors.
Among the first orchard trees to blossom in the spring and the first to bear fruit (and bearing younger than most other fruit trees), the cherry deserves a prominent place in the edible landscape. The cherry tree in magnificent bloom has come, over centuries of art history, to represent the visual essence of purity, beauty, and hope. Imagine how much more intense is the springtime experience of a cherry tree in full bloom when it occurs in your own home landscape.
To add to the allure, blossoming time often overlaps with snow, producing moody compositions of turbulent grey skies and snow-covered pink petals.
Beauty persists through an exceptionally long harvest season, ranging from June to August, depending on variety, and then through the red-gold glory days of autumn and into the winter months, when cherry bark gleams with warmth and color against crystalline snow. Soon after that, the flowers come again.
The fruit of the cherry tree is treasured for its voluptuous sweetness and satisfying texture. Cherries have important properties: high levels of anti-inflammatory and pain-killing compounds, potassium, sleep-regulating melatonin, and antioxidants. The fresh fruit is a pleasure to eat, and it also lends itself to canning and dehydration for year-round enjoyment.
Cherry trees don’t need much pruning or fertilizer. The lustrous wood glows red and is used for fine furniture, cabinets, and musical instruments. Not a bad use of a fine old tree once its bearing days are over.
Cherry trees have a few big drawbacks. Some kinds of cherries are more tender than others, so plant selection is important. Some are susceptible to insect pests and diseases. And, not insignificantly, a season’s fruit can quickly be wiped out by hungry birds, so you’ll need netting every year if harvest is a prime goal. Heavy rains too close to harvest can ruin the fruit, and fruit may not set at all if blossoms are knocked off by a storm.
Nonetheless, the cherry tree grows well in conditions found widely throughout the United States and remains a garden favorite.
There are three categories of cherry: sweet cherries, sour (or pie) cherries, and hybrid types, sometimes referred to as Duke cherries.
Generally the sweet cherries are the big juicy kinds that grace local fruit stands and make their way into supermarkets. These trees are more tender than the sour cherries, more like peaches in their requirements for mild weather and careful pest control.
Sweet cherry trees are taller and broader and are more difficult to protect from birds in the home landscape unless grown on dwarf or semi-dwarf stock. They need cross-pollination, whereas the sour cherries are generally self-fertile.
The sour cherries can withstand more cold (try -40° F), more bugs, more neglect, and soil that’s not as deeply worked or as rich. They aren’t really sour but are widely used in cooking, as they are flavorful and juicy and not overly sweet. And some nutrient levels are higher for the sour varieties.
Hybrids have characteristics of both, in varying proportions, and can be advantageous in meeting the challenges of particular locations. Just as with apples, this is a time to do research for local plant sources through your nearest Agricultural Extension office.
Thoughtful placement of cherry trees, particularly the more sensitive sweet cherries, can help the chances of success: a location at the side of a pond or a lake, or on a hillside, can mitigate the effects of a late freeze.
Preserving cherries is a pleasure once you’ve had your fill of fresh fruit. Canning, drying, or freezing ripe cherries can liven up the winter table at low cost. Photo courtesy of Northwest Cherry Growers.
Savory Cherry Sauce
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons minced shallots
1-1/4 cups canned sweet cherries, drained*
1/2 cup Pinot Noir
1/2 cup chicken stock or low-sodium broth
1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
1 teaspoon cornstarch dissolved in 1 teaspoon water
Melt butter in a medium saucepan. Add shallots and cook until golden brown, about 5 minutes. Stir in cherries, wine, and broth. Simmer 15 minutes over medium heat. Let cool slightly; then puree in a blender or food processor. Return to pan and add thyme and cornstarch. Whisk constantly over medium-low heat for 10 to 15 minutes, or until thickened and reduced to about 3/4 cup.
Recipe courtesy of National Cherry Growers & Industries Foundation.
*Canned sweet cherries are made using fresh cherries packed in a hot syrup of 1-1/2 cups sugar to 2 cups water, and then sealed in sterile pint or quart jars with a 25-minute boiling water bath.
A well-placed cherry tree becomes the focal point of an edible landscape, providing four seasons of beauty in addition to superb fruit. Photo ©iStockPhoto/Marie Fields.
Landscape highlights
Spring blossoms
Winter bark interest
Edible highlights
Fresh fruit from the tree
Canned (pitted) as pie filling or sauce
Dehydrated (pitted) for snacks
Frozen for winter use
Where it grows best
In a cool or cold climate (to -40 degrees F, Zone 3)
In deeply worked friable soil that drains well
In full sun
How to grow it
With some cross-pollination; check variety for requirements
With bird netting to protect fruit (see Bird Netting, below)
With planting in fall or early spring
On dwarf root stock for ease of harvest
Near decorative borders or comfortable seating
Situated in a raked gravel bed for a tranquil Asian feel
Bird Netting
Especially delicious fruit crops attract flocks of birds, so many gardeners install medium-weight bird netting over the fruiting trees or bushes before fruit ripens. Methods may include netting alone or on a framework of plastic piping or wood. The reusable nets are widely available at farm or home improvement stores, or online. Lightweight or fine netting is hard to handle. Some gardeners build movable chicken wire boxes to guard low-growing fruit or nuts.
Photo courtesy of Northwest Cherry Growers.
Crabapple
Surprise! The crabapple is a must-have tree in the edible landscape.
Smaller than most other fruit trees and hardy to sub-Arctic temperatures, the crabapple needs little care yet reliably produces loads of delicious fruit that’s packed with vitamin C and pectin, and therefore perfect for making jelly. The jelly is truly “summer in a jar” thanks to its sunny hue, and it makes a treat in midwinter. (Some cooks add crabapple juice to their apple cider in the fall for extra flavor.)
Crabapple trees encourage good pollination for other kinds of apples and should be used for that reason alone. Any late-summer fruit that isn’t harvested will stay on the trees for months, providing food for wildlife.
And then there are the flowers in spring, in shades from snow white to magenta, a great addition to the landscape.
I don’t know where the crabapple’s unfavorable reputation originated. Perhaps it reflects the fact that some varieties are too sour to eat right off the tree, although nearly all crabapples are delicious when cooked.
Crabapple fruit, it is true, has a tartness that may not be to everyone’s liking. But then
, I’m spoiled by having a generous neighbor with two heavily bearing crabapple trees in her front yard. Neither of us knows what variety they are, but the fruit, when it ripens, turns a beautiful pink-tinged gold. The taste is like candy, a perfect balance of sweet and tart . . . and juicy. From catalog descriptions we have narrowed them down to the popular Callaway Crab or possibly a Siberian or native American sweet crabapple.
My neighbor also has two delightful young daughters, and every year at hurricane season—usually the first or second week of September—the three of us spend an hour in the trees picking fruit (nice to know the trees have never been sprayed with toxic chemicals).
Over the next day or so I make jelly and leave a few jars on their doorstep as thanks. I say hurricane season because, living in the mountains of western North Carolina, we often feel severe effects of hurricanes hundreds of miles away. Just as the storm clouds begin to mass and warnings come over the radio, I remember that the crabapples will be just right and must be saved from damage. I treasure our warm, portentous afternoon forays.
Crabapples come in many varieties. Commonly on offer are Transcendent, Callaway Crab, Dolgo, Kerr, Hyslop, and Young America. Check with supply houses to see what new cultivars are available, and don’t be afraid to call an Agricultural Extension office for specific information about the fruit characteristics.
Crabapples reflect the changing colors of early autumn as they ripen. Unpicked fruit remains on the tree as wildlife food through the winter. Photo © iStockPhoto/Stuart Brill.
Crabapple Jelly
Use this jelly in yogurt with nuts for breakfast or as a glaze for roasted game or poultry.
Pick a sweet-tart variety of crabapple as it approaches peak ripeness, but include some underripe crabapples for more pectin.
Yield depends on the amount of crabapples picked. Two extra-large mixing bowls of fruit, about 15 to 18 pounds, yields 12 to 16 half-pints.
Rinse the crabapples in batches, leaving plenty of stems. Halve the fruit, place in a heavy enameled pot, and add enough water to cover. Bring to a boil and cook until fruit is soft and the liquid is lightly colored, 5 to 10 minutes. Remove from heat and strain through a cheesecloth-lined sieve into a clean bowl. Do not squeeze or press the pulp, as this clouds the jelly. Let the final batches sit overnight so all the juice can drip through.
The next day, wash and scald canning jars, new lids, bands, and utensils, including a wide-mouth funnel. Measure the juice, up to 8 cups per batch. Bring juice to a rapid boil in a large enameled pot for 5 minutes, removing any froth that forms; at the same time prepare a water bath in a separate kettle for sealing the jars.
Add 3/4 to 1 cup of sugar for each cup of juice. Dissolve sugar in the boiling juice, and continue to boil until the mixture reaches the jelling point. Test for this by pouring a small quantity of the mixture off the side of a wide cooking spoon; when it slows and forms a sheet rather than individual drops, the jelly is ready, usually about 15 minutes.
Pour carefully into jars, leaving 1/4 to 1/2 inch headroom, gently cover with lids and bands, and seal in a boiling hot water bath for 20 minutes.
The hardy crabapple variety called Rescue grows as far north as Alberta, Canada, where this specimen produces abundant yellow-green fruit. Photo courtesy of Linda Pierson, Wardlow, Alberta.
Landscape highlights
Spring blossoms
Winter wildlife food source
Edible highlights
Fruit preserved as jelly
Added fresh to apple dishes for flavor
Canned as juice, alone or mixed with other fruit juices like apple, grape, pear, or cherry
Where it grows best
Zones 2–7, to -40°F
In full sun
In a place with cold winters
In moist but well-drained soil
How to grow it
As a garden focal point for spring blossoms
For harvest after the first frost
With little pruning or pest control needed
Near contrasting early spring bulbs
With birdbath nearby
Varieties to try
Crabapples are naturally small, growing from six feet to about thirty feet at most. For best eating try Callaway Crab, Dolgo crab, or the Kerr apple-crabapple hybrid.
Peach
Only fools or optimists grow peaches.
The tree is temperamental: it falls prey to a wider variety of bugs and diseases than most fruit trees, and it needs careful monitoring and treatment. It prefers a moderate winter climate without late spring freezes, and light, well-drained loam rather than heavier garden soil. It requires more pruning—and more skillful pruning—than many other orchard fruits; at least one grower has written that the fast-growing peach “lives by the knife.” The peach has a short life span of only fifteen or twenty years.
And yet . . . there’s the beautiful, open, vase-like shape of the tree, like a hand raised in supplication, and sprays of pink blossoms in spring, sometimes with hints of yellow or orange like the fruit itself.
Mmmm, the fruit: when plucked ripe from the tree there’s nothing to compare. Like something alive, the peach from an edible landscape is warm to the touch, a little fuzzy. Juicy, filled with its own satisfying syrup. As good as a kiss.
A healthy peach tree of bearing age produces bushels of fruit a year. Peaches are nearly as good in their many cooked, baked, or preserved forms as they are fresh. Pie, cobbler, ice cream, chutney, anything. This fruit’s combination of taste and texture is one of life’s great pleasures.
Peaches managed for long-distance shipping to grocery stores nationwide can never duplicate that experience, because the secret of a tree-ripened peach is the complex development of natural sugars over time.
There’s a hopeful quirkiness to peach trees. Despite their many frailties they can survive and flourish in surprising places, and, in fact, they grow in most of the United States, having migrated over centuries from China through Europe to the colonies. Take the case of my gardening friend Marianne’s mysterious “mountain peach.” Marianne and her husband live on a windswept mountainside near Boone, North Carolina, at four thousand feet elevation. Winters can be intensely cold, with damaging ice and snow. But there in the front yard stands a perfectly formed peach tree, growing more luscious by the year.
The tree blooms every spring, and most summers Marianne harvests huge quantities of fruit, which she makes into preserves.
“How did you get this thing to grow up here, let alone bear fruit?” I once asked. The answer made me laugh. The tree was a volunteer, probably from a pit thrown onto the compost heap, she said. It gets no special attention and has remained disease free for twenty years now.
“Windswept” may be the clue. A peach tree needs good air circulation, both around and within its limb structure; breezes drive away frost and can also keep the branches and leaves dry and less susceptible to disease.
Similarly, peach trees may do well near a lake or pond that can lessen the likelihood of freeze damage. Planted thus, a peach tree never fails to create landscape drama.
Dripping with fruit, a well-established peach tree may produce bushels a season. Peaches grow quickly, providing welcome shade within a few years. Photo by Joanne Firth, courtesy of the California Tree Fruit Agreement.
Kissed by the sun, a peach on the tree grows more flavorful as natural sugars develop. Photo courtesy of The California Fruit Tree Agreement.
Peaches and Cream Pops
Makes 4 Servings
1/2 cup peeled, chopped peaches
1/3 cup peeled, pureed peaches
2/3 cup vanilla yogurt
Lightly swirl all ingredients together in a small bowl. Spoon into 4 Popsicle molds and insert handle. Freeze for at least 4 hours.
*For extra-sweet pops, add 1 to 2 tablespoons of honey to yogurt before swirling.
Recipe courtesy of the California Tree Fruit Agreement.
Gran’Pappy’s Peach Leather
2-1/2
cups mashed ripe peach pulp
1/2 cup sugar, plus sugar for sprinkling
Combine pulp and sugar in heavy skillet. Cook and stir until thickened. Spread out in a thin layer on a greased baking sheet; cover with gauze, and put in hot sun to dry for 3 days, bringing it inside at night. When leather pulls away from the pan, it is done. Place on a board sprinkled with sugar, and sprinkle sugar on top. Roll out as thin as a spatula, then cut into strips 1-1/8 inches wide. Cut small wafers and roll up. Sprinkle again with sugar, then store in a box with a tight lid.
Recipe reprinted with permission from Southern Appalachian Mountain Cookin’: Authentic Ol’ Mountain Family Recipes, ©2004, APS, Inc.
Easy to make in volume, Peaches and Cream Pops provide a nutritious snack right out of the freezer. Photo by Joanne Firth, courtesy of the California Tree Fruit Agreement.
Landscape highlights
Spring blossoms
Summer harvest and shade
Fall leaf color
Edible highlights
Fresh fruit from the tree
Canned in syrup
Dehydrated as “leather”
