Fruit trees

[theobromos]

I wonder if anyone can help me choosing some weird fruit and nut trees for a friend, preferably available as seed? The climate is as cold as orange trees can bear it and a very limey soil. Anything interesting considered.

[waterdragon]

feijoas, obscure varieties of pears, nashis, heritage apple varieties, pomegranate, persimmon, loquat, avocados can be grown up through an existing/established evergreen tree, mulberries are a must. all these things work in my cold climate but growing from seed could take too long.

[nabraxas]

sorry theo i can't help- my mum had some banksia & kangaroo paw going in london(don't know if the 3yr old banksia survived the recent bad weather).

but what really caught my attention was waterdragons suggestion ov mullberries.- i don't think i've ever seen them. are they ok to grow in aus?- i mean do they spread badly?

[Torsten]

there are some interesting Prunus spp that will propagate well from seed and will be suitable for that climate.

[Gwydion]

nabraxas wrote: "mullberries.- i don't think i've ever seen them. are they ok to grow in aus?-"

Are they ever? Ha! They´re a central part of oz culture. Next to the hills hoist in every backyard is a mulberry by the fence, which is made into mulberry jam, eaten by thousands of besmeared kids, or simply used as superstaining missiles when they can´t eat any more. :D

That´s not mentioning varieties such as Shahtoot and other white mulberries, which are actually my absolute favourites.

You ought to ask- Is it OK not to grow mulberries in oz?

[theobromos]

I like most of the prunus spp I have tried, do tell more.

[Rev]

Edited April 21, 2007 by Rev

[nabraxas]

well that's me totally confused. i thought i had a pretty good working knowledge ov berries, but my only reference to this is the nursery rhyme.

is it called anything else like 'boysenberry'- which is another one i never knew till i came here. why don't you see mullberry commercially in cans/jam etc?

what makes (in australia) 1 berry ok to grow & the other (like blackberry) not?- is it purely how many ov the breed has gone feral? surely any non-native berry that's eaten by birds would pose the same threat? or are blackberry seeds much more agro than mulberry seeds?

[Darklight]

Gwydion:

Are they ever? Ha! They´re a central part of oz culture. Next to the hills hoist in every backyard is a mulberry by the fence

Really? I thought planting a mulberry next to the hills hoist was the last thing you'd do. Purple bird shit on your washing. See? I do know something about domesticity :-)

[Torsten]

Originally posted by theobromos:

I like most of the prunus spp I have tried, do tell more.

It really depends on your climate and area. try and find whatever is available locally or in similar climates. We have mostly tropical and subtropical species here (the temperate species/varieties we have in OZ don't do well from seed), but you should be able to find Prunus syriacus Syrian plums (mirabelle).... and we also used to have a red leaved/red fruited ornamental plum that used to have massive fruiting every 2-3 years. Actually, it was funny cos people who planted it as an ornamental in Germany used to get pissed off about the fruit and never even considered it to be edible (cos it said ornamental on the tag). I used to love eating them until my parents told me off for it saying 'they are poisonous - you can't eat ornamentals'. I ate them anyway and today I know that they are just fine to eat. There are a lot of japanese type cherries which are grown for their flowersand most of these don't produce ANY fruit, or barely edible ones. A common rule of thumb here is fruit size. Small (smaller than a cherry) is yucky, large is good.

[Slarty Fart Blaster]

Hi theo, i got what you asked for... just let me know if you want the whole fruits or just seeds