I'm trying to plant fruiting trees and shrubs which either don't care about chilling hours or which have a broad range of acceptable chilling hours. For me this means choosing mostly southern varieties, and realizing that some won't fruit each year. But with a broad enough variety, some may fruit even in a very bad year.
Here's a supplier of fruit trees for the Southern US, some of which may also grow and fruit in northern zones. These may give protection for years in which chilling hours are relatively few:
http://www.johnsonnursery.com/
