Fruit Trees and Berries that Grow Best in Your Area Naturally- Temperate Zone 8

 Mr. Smarty Plants wishes you many fruitful years to come!

Rubus trivialis (southern dewberry)

Prunus rivularis (creek plum)

Prunus mexicana (Mexican plum)

Diospyros texana (Texas persimmon)

Diospyros virginiana (common persimmon)

Fragaria virginiana (Virginia strawberry)

Fragaria vesca (woodland strawberry)

Dennis Bangham wrote:I find Asian Pears, Asian Persimmons, Jujube and Pawpaw grow well here.  Raspberries and Blackberries too.  

Anne Miller wrote:I am Zone 8b, very dry, usually in a drought.  Texas Hill Country

I have Agarita, (Mahonia trifoliolata) and Prickly Pear Cactus.

I don't have any native fruit trees.

For future reference:    

 Mr. Smarty Plants wishes you many fruitful years to come!

Rubus trivialis (southern dewberry)

Prunus rivularis (creek plum)

Prunus mexicana (Mexican plum)

Diospyros texana (Texas persimmon)

Diospyros virginiana (common persimmon)

Fragaria virginiana (Virginia strawberry)

Fragaria vesca (woodland strawberry)

https://www.wildflower.org/expert/show.php?id=3650

Also Capsicum annuum (Chile pequin)  might grow here if I tried it.

I have a thornless blackberry that turns into bird food since the berries dry up before they get ripe enough for me to eat.  It has handled the drought without water.

We planted a pear that got cedar rust, then we replace it with a Methly Plum that just didn't do anything but struggle.

Mike Turner wrote:I'm in upstate South Carolina, Koppen zone humid subtropical, USDA cold zone 8a, AHS heat zone 8.  

Peaches and plums grow well and self seed readily. Limiting factors are susceptibility to late frosts and pest/diseases such as plum curculio and brown rot.

A wild plum is native.  Persimmons (American and Asian) grow well with no limiting factors.  American persimmon is native and common.  Pears (European and Asian) grow well, but fire blight is present, so use fire blight resistant cultivars. Apples grow well, but our summer heat, drought, and diseases limit fruit quality, they are small and tart.  Sweet and sour cherry trees do not grow well in our heat, even though a wild relative, the black cherry (Prunus serotina) is native.  Apricots, pluots, and other stone fruits will grow, but are highly susceptible to late frosts, so you will rarely get a crop.  Jujube grows well, but set fruit poorly most years (don't have the right pollinators present?). Figs grow and fruit well, although an occasional cold winter will kill them back to their roots. Trifoliate hybrid citrus (citrange, citrumelo) grow well and are only susceptible to late frosts.

Grapes (muscadine and northern) grow well with no limiting factors on muscadine.  Northern grapes are susceptible to Pierce's disease which will kill them after a number of years of good yields.  Muscadine self seeds and is native.  Fuzzy kiwi will grow, but will be top killed by an occasional cold winter.  Arguta kiwis will grow, but are limited by our summer heat and drought. Both kiwis are susceptible to late frosts.  Bramble fruit will grow, but our heat and drought stress the plants and limit fruit quality.  Blackberries do better than raspberries. There are native brambles, but have small and tart fruit.  June bearing strawberries grow and fruit well, our summer heat limits everbearer fruit production. Strawberries will self seed. Blueberries grow and fruit well, are pest free, and are native.  

That Plant maps site has AHS heat maps for each state, but doesn't list them on their home page.  Google "AHS heat map" and your state name to find them on their site.

Bonnie Cleaveland wrote:I'm in 8b in Charleston, South Carolina. It's HOT and humid during the growing season.

My friend close by grows Satsuma oranges.
I successfully grow Meyer Lemon, grapefruit, Pom 'Wonderful', and Persimmon 'Fuyu'. The citrus didn't produce this winter, as last winter we had a VERY uncharacteristic week-long freeze with snow on the ground! Young plants may need covering in even short periods of.freezing weather, but when they get more mature, they seem to do well.

Mike Turner wrote:Steve Thorn,
Apple trees grow fine and bloom here, but the summer heat and drought results in them producing small, tart fruit that is suitable for pies, but not that good for fresh eating. Assuming you can beat the squirrels to them.

Kate Downham wrote:I think I'm in zone 8b or 9a, temperate climate. Inland Tasmania.

Growing wild around the place I have seen:
Apples
Elderberries
European plums
Hawthorn
Blackthorn
Blackberries
Some pears

There are a lot of old hawthorn hedges around. I remember reading something a while ago about grafting certain fruit trees onto hawthorn, so that might be a way to use the root system of something already thriving, while producing tastier fruit.

Blueberries are often commercially grown here without chemicals.

Steve Thorn wrote:

Mike Turner wrote:Steve Thorn,
Apple trees grow fine and bloom here, but the summer heat and drought results in them producing small, tart fruit that is suitable for pies, but not that good for fresh eating. Assuming you can beat the squirrels to them.

Yeah, who new squirrels were such good apple thiefs!

One year I had a tree full of apples, and on the way out of the driveway I saw one feasting in the top of the tree. When I looked at it later, not a single one was left!

What types of apple varieties did you try?

Mike Turner wrote:Liberty, honeycrisp, dolgo, ecos red

Gabe Gordon wrote:Extreme southern Georgia, zone 8b. HOT, humid, and long summers, with tons of rainfall, and a bit swampy.
I have found blackberries growing prolifically in the wild, as well as winged sumac, wild grapes and maucadines, red Chokeberry, and a few blueberry patches even, seeming all to do well. Pecans grow all over the place too, and I’ve seen several lemon trees around here producing very well. On my property we have planted lots of mayhaws and elderberry, which love it here, including the western blue elderberry. I’ve also got a few American persimmon trees and some red mulberry trees doing really well

Sara Rosenberg wrote:Zone 8a, Fort Worth Texas.

I am testing several types of trees but the best producers to date are Figs, peaches, mulberries, and nectarines.
My friend lives in a house that used to be where an old pecan orchard used to be.

Test varieties that I am also hoping will produce are:

cherry (Minnie Lee & Royal Lee)

plum

apple (supposed to be cotton root rot issues that hinder long-term success)

pear

almond

olive

pomegranate

NON-Adapted BUT put into a microclimate against a Southern brick wall and draped with C9 Xmas lights and the occasional clear plastic tarp in winter months

Mexican Lime

Meyers Lemon

blood orange

Miho satsuma

kumquat

arctic frost

Frost orange

Sara Rosenberg wrote:My citrus wall today.

Bryant RedHawk wrote:Many of the citrus family I want to grow don't grow here without winter protection and since I haven't gotten around to building the conservatory yet, those are what we don't grow, yet.

We do have, Apples; Ark. Black, Johnson, Fuji,  Figs; Brown Turkey and Celeste,  Pears; Asian and Bosc,  Plums; Damson and Elephant Heart,  Elberta Peach,  Black Mulberry.
Planting this year will be Cherry; Stella and Emperor Frances, hazelnut and chestnut.
We also grow Wine and table grapes, muscadine, Persimmon, Pecan and Hickory nuts, Slippery Elm.

Bryant RedHawk wrote:Went out and checked the tree and that is my mistake, the trees are jonathans, apparently I had a) fumble fingers typing or b)oldtimers kicked in there.

I do have a friend that does a U-pick-it orchard that grows the Johnson Keepers (we grow the Arkansas Blacks for over winter storage apples) His Keepers are pretty tasty and crisp most of the winter.

We chose the Arkansas black because of flavor, and it does make a super apple pie. They are sweeter to me than the Johnson Keepers and we try to use very little sugar in any baking.

Sara Rosenberg wrote:I'm having issues with my apples. Granny and golden delicious are hit with borers. Any suggestions? I have two yet to be affected. Any suggestions?

wayne fajkus wrote:This season i planted only native fruit trees for my central texas homestead. I created a tree belt to keep my sheep and cows off of them. It wasn't intentional but i am glad it happened. It's a limestone slope and it was easier to drill post holes on the flat land after the slope. The top of the slope is my existing perimeter fence.  

I planted santa rosa plum. Mexican plum. Texas persimmon. I have a list of other trees like soapberry. I was happy to find wild native blackberries (dewberries) already growing on the slope. I think the only reason they grew is the very close proximity to yuccas. The yuccas sharp ends kept browsing pressure to a minimum.

I mulched the area with woodchips and added branches as obstacles to deer.

I cant comment on their success yet, but i think the plan is valid.

Gabe Gordon wrote:Extreme southern Georgia, zone 8b. HOT, humid, and long summers, with tons of rainfall, and a bit swampy.
I have found blackberries growing prolifically in the wild, as well as winged sumac, wild grapes and maucadines, red Chokeberry, and a few blueberry patches even, seeming all to do well. Pecans grow all over the place too, and I’ve seen several lemon trees around here producing very well. On my property we have planted lots of mayhaws and elderberry, which love it here, including the western blue elderberry. I’ve also got a few American persimmon trees and some red mulberry trees doing really well

Steve Thorn wrote:

Sara Rosenberg wrote:My citrus wall today.

Great looking citrus wall Sara!

I'd like to set up one of these soon!