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I think if we get a lot of input from everyone here, this could be a super valuable resource for figuring out which fruit trees and berries will grow best in your area.

You are in the right spot if you are in a Temperate climate hardiness zone 7.

If you think you are not in the right spot or you want to check your climate zone and hardiness zone for sure, click on the main thread to find out and get additional information Fruit Trees and Berries that Grow Best in Your Area Naturally and it will have a link to your specific climate zone and hardiness zone for you to post!

Familiar places in this area...

Raleigh, NC, USA


(source)


This list won't be perfect, as there are so many different factors that affect a fruit tree's growth, but it should be a good help by seeing which trees do well for others in a similar area who have had success with a particular variety. By growing trees that are already slightly adapted to your area, saving the seeds, and growing new fruit trees, you could help create many more new varieties that are very adapted to your specific area!

Hardiness zones are one important factor and show the average annual minimum temperature for a location. You can click on https://garden.org/nga/zipzone/index.php?zip=27822&q=find_zone&submit=Go+%3E to find your exact hardiness zone, and there are also links to lots of other good information.


(source)

Fruit tree nurseries usually list hardiness zones for their fruit trees, but I've often found they tend to exaggerate the growing zones and are often unreliable.

They often leave out one very important aspect... climate zones.

What is a climate zone you may ask?

A climate zone takes other important things into consideration, such as humidity and rainfall. There are many different subsets and climate zones, but I believe this website does a great job of simplifying it into a few main climate zones...

A) Tropical- hot and humid, average temperatures are greater than 64°F (18°C) year-round and there is more than 59 inches of precipitation each year

B) Dry- dry (not humid) and little precipitation

C) Temperate- warm and humid summers with thunderstorms and mild winters

D) Continental- warm to cool summers and very cold winters. In the winter, this zone can experience snowstorms, strong winds, and very cold temperatures—sometimes falling below -22°F (-30°C)!



If you live in the US, you should be able to tell your general climate zone based on the map below and the descriptions above of what it should be like there.

I couldn't find a great general map for Canada and other countries, but you should be able to generally tell from the descriptions above. If you want to find out your exact climate zone, you can check out a cool map here World Climate Zones to find your zone with links at the bottom of the page based on the color, that you can click on with detailed information of your climate zone.


(source)

This should be a huge help to others with that same climate and hardiness zone to help them decide what to plant!

If you could post your general location in your state or country with your reply, that would be an awesome help!

The trees should be able to grow well naturally without extensive disease or pest control.
COMMENTS:
 
pollinator
Posts: 926
Location: Huntsville Alabama (North Alabama), Zone 7B
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I am in Zone 7b in North Alabama (aka Rocket City).  I find that Jujube, Asian Pear, Asian Persimmon, Pawpaw, Raspberries and blackberries grow well here.  I will soon wood chip my backyard and see what else I can get to grow between the trees.  Any ideas/suggestions?
I also grow mushrooms on logs.  The warm and hot varieties grow well but are usually consumed by bugs.  The Cool and Cold weather varieties (Shiitake, Oyster) are wonderful and no bugs.  
 
Posts: 9
Location: Charlotte, NC
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I’m near Charlotte, NC, and strawberries and raspberries seem to be the most fruitful.
 
pollinator
Posts: 2339
Location: Denmark 57N
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North West Denmark, Oceanic climate 7b

Oceanic climates are defined as having a monthly mean temperature below 22 °C (72 °F) in the warmest month, and above 0 °C (32 °F) (or −3 °C (27 °F)) in the coldest month.

(we do often get a month where the average is -4 or so)

Trees

Apples
Plums
Quince
Pears
Cherries
Elder
Hawthorn
Rowen

Bushes

Sea buckthorn
Red/black/white currants
Gooseberries
Blackberries
Raspberries

 
Posts: 2
Location: Fayette County GA
1
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Blueberries, especially the rabbit eye variety, do really well throughout Georgia.  They like really acid soil (4.5-5.0).
 
gardener & hugelmaster
Posts: 3694
Location: Gulf of Mexico cajun zone 8
1970
cattle hugelkultur cat dog trees hunting chicken bee woodworking homestead ungarbage
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I'm 7a or 7b depending on the source & to a certain extent altitude. Blackberries, raspberries, & blueberries grow wild here. Especially blackberries. Persimmons are abundant in the wild too. There are commercial apples & peach orchards around. Elderberry does great. Still struggling with figs but it is possible to keep them alive around here. Some people grow strawberries but I haven't tried growing them here yet. Intend to start a patch of those this spring if time permits. Watermelons & melons in general thrive here with a bit of soil amendment first. A friend planted some plum trees 2 years ago. No fruit yet but they appear to be doing good.

 
Posts: 45
Location: SW Arkansas Zone 7b
4
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I'm in SW Arkansas zone 7b.  Continually adding, but here are most of the things we currently have in the forest garden.  Some are young and have not fruited yet, but I believe all will.
Fig (a few varieties. all die back to the root each winter unprotected), peach, european and asian pears, plum, apple, crabapple, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, gooseberries, elderberries, gojiberries, aronia berries, paw paw, hayhaw, muscadines, mulberry, apricot, nectarine, goumi, jujube, hazelnut, chestnut, black walnut, pecan
 
steward
Posts: 2878
Location: Zone 7b/8a Southeast US
1106
4
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Dennis Bangham wrote:I am in Zone 7b in North Alabama (aka Rocket City).  I find that Jujube, Asian Pear, Asian Persimmon, Pawpaw, Raspberries and blackberries grow well here.



That's a good list! I've heard a lot of those are very low maitenance too, which is always nice!

I will soon wood chip my backyard and see what else I can get to grow between the trees.  Any ideas/suggestions?



I would recommend blueberries, which can tolerate a little shade from the trees. The rabbiteye varieties have done well for me too, like Sandy mentioned above. They are low maitenance and mine have started producing a lot of fruit after just a few years!

I also grow mushrooms on logs.  The warm and hot varieties grow well but are usually consumed by bugs.  The Cool and Cold weather varieties (Shiitake, Oyster) are wonderful and no bugs.  



That's really interesting!
 
Steve Thorn
steward
Posts: 2878
Location: Zone 7b/8a Southeast US
1106
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Lucca Wade wrote:I’m near Charlotte, NC, and strawberries and raspberries seem to be the most fruitful.



Very neat! My strawberry plants do really good but don't produce much fruit, what varieties are you growing?!
 
Steve Thorn
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Posts: 2878
Location: Zone 7b/8a Southeast US
1106
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Skandi Rogers wrote:North West Denmark, Oceanic climate 7b

Oceanic climates are defined as having a monthly mean temperature below 22 °C (72 °F) in the warmest month, and above 0 °C (32 °F) (or −3 °C (27 °F)) in the coldest month.

(we do often get a month where the average is -4 or so)

Trees

Apples
Plums
Quince
Pears
Cherries
Elder
Hawthorn
Rowen

Bushes

Sea buckthorn
Red/black/white currants
Gooseberries
Blackberries
Raspberries



Great list Skandi! I'm excited to hopefully grow some currants and gooseberries soon!
 
Steve Thorn
steward
Posts: 2878
Location: Zone 7b/8a Southeast US
1106
4
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Sandy Golden wrote:Blueberries, especially the rabbit eye variety, do really well throughout Georgia.  They like really acid soil (4.5-5.0).



They've done really well for me too, sometimes just blooming too early and getting slight bloom or fruit damage from early frost, but other than that they're great!
 
Steve Thorn
steward
Posts: 2878
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1106
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Mike Barkley wrote:I'm 7a or 7b depending on the source & to a certain extent altitude. Blackberries, raspberries, & blueberries grow wild here. Especially blackberries. Persimmons are abundant in the wild too. There are commercial apples & peach orchards around. Elderberry does great. Still struggling with figs but it is possible to keep them alive around here. Some people grow strawberries but I haven't tried growing them here yet. Intend to start a patch of those this spring if time permits. Watermelons & melons in general thrive here with a bit of soil amendment first. A friend planted some plum trees 2 years ago. No fruit yet but they appear to be doing good.



Great info Mike!

We have blackberries growing everywhere here too! Often in the worst places!

I'm hoping to get some plums this year too. The late frosts and plum curculio got mine last year.
 
Steve Thorn
steward
Posts: 2878
Location: Zone 7b/8a Southeast US
1106
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Andy Youngblood wrote:I'm in SW Arkansas zone 7b.  Continually adding, but here are most of the things we currently have in the forest garden.  Some are young and have not fruited yet, but I believe all will.
Fig (a few varieties. all die back to the root each winter unprotected), peach, european and asian pears, plum, apple, crabapple, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, gooseberries, elderberries, gojiberries, aronia berries, paw paw, hayhaw, muscadines, mulberry, apricot, nectarine, goumi, jujube, hazelnut, chestnut, black walnut, pecan



Good list Andy!

I want to plant some pecans soon!
 
Posts: 61
Location: Europe - CZ, Pannonian / continental zone
13
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Temperate/Continental, 300 m (985 ft) a.s. l., 9°C (48 F) average year temp., 500-550 mm (20-22 inch) of rain/year. 30-35°C (90-95 F) in summer..
Peach, apricote, almond tree, mullberry, vine, figs (hardy varieties)
plum, cherry, sour cherry, apple, pear, quince, Sorbus, medlar..
wallnut, chesnut
almost all kinds of berries..
 
Posts: 142
Location: Western Kentucky - Zone 7
21
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Of things growing naturally or introduced in Western Kentucky Zone 7a (Heavy clay is our soil type)we have:

Black cherries
Pawpaws
Blackberries
Grapes
Black walnuts
Pecans
Hickories
American plum
Chickasaw plum
American persimmon
Japanese Wineberries
Black Raspberries
Hazelnuts
Mulberries
Paper Mulberries
Sumacs
Elderberry
Wild Passionfruit (Maypop)
And my absolute favorite: Autumn Olive <3

Generally the best success we have had have been:

Blueberries
Grapes
Muscadine Grape
Figs (Rough winters may suffer die back, but one grew 9 ft this past year!)
Blackberries
Boysenberries
Pears
Asian Pears
Mulberries
Black Walnuts
Hardy Banana (About 15-30 days too short a growing season to ripen fully, but a cold frame in the early Spring might help)
Anna and Meader Kiwi (Not Issai)
Red Raspberries in tailored conditions
Plums grow great, but bud early (Have some trying to flower right now)
Bush cherries (Sand and Nanking)

Also the reason why apples and peaches are much more iffy in my area is that most nurseries sell them in rootstocks bred for a loam soil. So in our very wet winters and springs, they rot or struggle. Digging out a much larger hole and replacing it with loam, compost, and a portion of the normal soil helps a LOT, but getting them on the correct rootstock is best. For our area apples should be on G22, G202, and M111. For peaches I am hoping to try grafting them onto Chickasaw plums this year. This maybe the same issue that regular cherry trees suffer here as the only cherries that grow well locally are sand, nanking, black, and ornamentals.
 
Steve Thorn
steward
Posts: 2878
Location: Zone 7b/8a Southeast US
1106
4
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Jan Hrbek wrote:Temperate/Continental, 300 m (985 ft) a.s. l., 9°C (48 F) average year temp., 500-550 mm (20-22 inch) of rain/year. 30-35°C (90-95 F) in summer..
Peach, apricote, almond tree, mullberry, vine, figs (hardy varieties)
plum, cherry, sour cherry, apple, pear, quince, Sorbus, medlar..
wallnut, chesnut
almost all kinds of berries..



Awesome Jan!
 
Steve Thorn
steward
Posts: 2878
Location: Zone 7b/8a Southeast US
1106
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Kevin Goheen wrote:Of things growing naturally or introduced in Western Kentucky Zone 7a (Heavy clay is our soil type)we have:

Black cherries
Pawpaws
Blackberries
Grapes
Black walnuts
Pecans
Hickories
American plum
Chickasaw plum
American persimmon
Japanese Wineberries
Black Raspberries
Hazelnuts
Mulberries
Paper Mulberries
Sumacs
Elderberry
Wild Passionfruit (Maypop)
And my absolute favorite: Autumn Olive <3

Generally the best success we have had have been:

Blueberries
Grapes
Muscadine Grape
Figs (Rough winters may suffer die back, but one grew 9 ft this past year!)
Blackberries
Boysenberries
Pears
Asian Pears
Mulberries
Black Walnuts
Hardy Banana (About 15-30 days too short a growing season to ripen fully, but a cold frame in the early Spring might help)
Anna and Meader Kiwi (Not Issai)
Red Raspberries in tailored conditions
Plums grow great, but bud early (Have some trying to flower right now)
Bush cherries (Sand and Nanking)

Also the reason why apples and peaches are much more iffy in my area is that most nurseries sell them in rootstocks bred for a loam soil. So in our very wet winters and springs, they rot or struggle. Digging out a much larger hole and replacing it with loam, compost, and a portion of the normal soil helps a LOT, but getting them on the correct rootstock is best. For our area apples should be on G22, G202, and M111. For peaches I am hoping to try grafting them onto Chickasaw plums this year. This maybe the same issue that regular cherry trees suffer here as the only cherries that grow well locally are sand, nanking, black, and ornamentals.



Great list Kevin!

My plums are already about to bloom too, so sad.
 
pollinator
Posts: 288
Location: WNC 7b
77
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Sooo it's been a minute since someone posted. I am new to our area and the list is very helpful for planning our homestead. Thanks ya'll.
Wildly growing we have...
Black Rasberry
Black Walnuts
Chestnut
our neighbor has persimmons, we'd like to have some too
Apples

We have added
Apples
Blueberries
A ton of strawberries (we get both of these from our county extension office bare root fruit sale)
Tomatoes do really well for us
Elderberries

We plan to add more fruit trees. I really want to try figs. We are zone 7b surrounded by zone 6. Sometimes the summer is hot and dry and the spring wet and cool.

 
pollinator
Posts: 195
Location: Asheville NC
65
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Sena Kassim wrote:Sooo it's been a minute since someone posted. I am new to our area and the list is very helpful for planning our homestead. Thanks ya'll.
Wildly growing we have...
Black Rasberry
Black Walnuts
Chestnut
our neighbor has persimmons, we'd like to have some too
Apples

We have added
Apples
Blueberries
A ton of strawberries (we get both of these from our county extension office bare root fruit sale)
Tomatoes do really well for us
Elderberries

We plan to add more fruit trees. I really want to try figs. We are zone 7b surrounded by zone 6. Sometimes the summer is hot and dry and the spring wet and cool.



I have lots of varieties if you want cuttings or whole trees. I’m right up the road from you.

 
Sena Kassim
pollinator
Posts: 288
Location: WNC 7b
77
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Kale yeah! Once we are on the other side of winter...I'd like to stop by for cuttings or trees. Thanks so much.
 
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