Which chestnut variety are you growing? Also, the Sunshine Blue blueberry loves growing in this southern climate. The nursery catalogs selling it call it a dwarf plant suitable for pots. A misleading piece of advice as it grows into a handsome shrub 4' high, self fertile, loaded with medium size, excellent quality fruit.

Blackberries are a cinch here.

I don't grow any blueberry cultivars but I have wild blueberries that yield a lot of very good fruit.

Pears and sour cherries do well here. I have 3 apple trees on dwarf rootstock (Liberty and Freedom) that I don't spray. So I get lots of ugly apples that are good for cooking. We've had the apple trees for 8 years.

I think Sunshine Blue is a southern highbush (though I'd have to check). These hybrids are becoming popular. The chestnuts are seedlings of Dunstan hybrids, part American and part Old World chestnut for blight resistance. They haven't produced yet but are growing well. I've been afraid to try apples but I've heard good things about Liberty and may sometime try it and another to go along with it. Cold hardy citrus is probably the most interesting thing I have. Several stay outdoors in the mid-teens with no problem at all. I'm not sure about the next time we get 10, or 7, or 5 degrees, though at least one should take 5 degrees (a citrange that has fruit good for juice if sweetened a bit).

Attempting blueberries, raspberries and have a couple of tiny peach trees. The six older blueberries were in full bloom when the Easter frost hit. No fruit this year. :( So far, it looks like I'll have to settle for wild blackberries if I want to eat fruit!
The very small pecan tree seedlings got hit as well. They appear to be dead.
But I did notice a grape vine coming back that I thought was dead. Think it's a Concord. Had planted it year before last but it didn't thrive.
Would love to try a Kiwi and maybe apples too. But all in good time. . .I have enough right now playing catch-up with the veggies and perennials. :)

I know Cameron, NC was once considered the Dewberry capitol of the world.

Grapes gone wild: Concord, Reliance, and Marquis. Peaches deader than a doornail (thanks to the frost). Apples just now blooming so should be happy even in the lowlands of my Z7. Apricots died two years ago, plums (4 varieties) bit the dust - rather the humidity of my Z7. Cherries bloom but give no fruit. My best and most reliable is the Japanese Pear. The Japanese Beetles ignore them - HAH! Wild Hickory (mockernut) produce tons of nuts all by themselves in the woods but are totally unable to be shelled. My pecans are too young to bear but are vigorous and tall. I have two Feijola that flower and are happy but do not expect them to be fruitful for several years yet. Brown Turkey Fig is way over productive - after waiting 3 whole years on 3 year old trees! Honey Fig pouts. Thornless blackberries cross pollinate with the wild blackberries so all I get are seeds with some fruit barely there. Strawberries by the tons,can't give them away fast enough.

Nancy the nancedar

Is anyone attempting wine grapes? There is a nice little winery not far from our property in the Upstate (SC), and they seem to have a handle on it so far. My plans (when we get there) are for blueberries, blackberries, grapes, and strawberries. If I can add any native trees like persimmon, I'll do that as well. I love peaches, but aren't they a lot of work?

I have 8 grape vines that are starting to take off now. The first 2 years they struggled a bit. I planted 2 apple trees this year that are doing well.

I have 6 blueberry bushes that are loaded this year. The strawberries really grow well down here. A few years ago I bought 25 plants and last year I gave away about 150 plants.

I only kept about a dozen, and I moved them this year so I don't expect a big crop, but they are growing well. I was also given the gift of blackberries by the birds and they are doing well. No effort on them at all. As a matter of fact, it is an effort to keep them away from the garden.

Do melons count? We have great success with them. Just planted my first 2 thornless blackberries this Spring. I have a dwarf peach tree that gave us quite a few peaches the last two years but lost all the new ones with the Easter freeze.

Susanin Stokes county

"Is anyone attempting wine grapes? My plans are for blueberries, blackberries, grapes, and strawberries. If I can add any native trees like persimmon, I'll do that as well. I love peaches, but aren't they a lot of work?"

Pierces Disease plays havoc with most bunch grapes but there are still ones you can grow here for wine. Be careful in choosing obviously. The berries will do great but the upstate is near the boundary between where one would grow southern (mainly rabbiteye) and more-northern blueberries, so again get some good advice before selecting. The better native persimmon selections are all northern types (90 chromosomes) while ours are 60 but you'll really never know the difference except that it might be a good idea to include a northern male tree for pollination. I grow "Ruby" and have a few others coming along (e.g., "Garretson"). Yes, peaches take a lot of spraying.

I'm having great luck with raspberries, both gold and red. Picked my first this week and my bushes are loaded. They're ever-bearing and will produce from now until first frost, with an even bigger concentration of berries in the Fall. Great on cereal and very easy to maintain

there was similar post earlier this spring; you may want to search for more info. there's also an edible landscaping forum, which may be fun to peruse.

i have many cane berries and crosses- black, red and purple raspberries, 2 red raspberry/blackberry crosses, 3 varieties of blackberries, and wineberries (sort of a red rasp that will fruit in shade). they've all done pretty well for me, even though i'm borderline for the amount of light they want, and all have fruited. i also have an asian persimmon*, asian pears* (3x grafted- not sure the varieties off the top), seckle pear*, another european pear, an espaliered apple* 3x, not sure of varieties, a grafted 4x apple* (fuji, braeburn, wynochee early & cox's orange pippen), 2 cornus mas aka cornelian cherries, a sour cherry* (northstar), a sweet cherry i think i lost to the frost (compact stella), 2 types of bush cherries*, contorted jujube, 4 or 5 types of figs* (but some are still tiny), pomegranate*, rabbiteye blues* (climax, tiffblue, powderblue and premier), evergreen huckleberry, which is still small, hazelnuts, tree hazel, loquat, trifoliate orange*, pawpaws, a potted meyer's lemon*, a potted patio nectarine*, potted gooseberries*, mulberries*, honeyberry and red currents, hardy kiwis*, artic kiwis, schizandra vine, regular strawberries* galore, alpine strawberries*, and probably some other stuff i'm forgetting.

a couple things that haven't done well are the honeyberries and i can't keep rhubarb going for anything (wish i could, i miss it). the gooseberries and tree cherries have struggled. thimble berry aka flowering raspberry which is a thornless bush that bears red rasps, has done well, but will not set fruit below a mtn elevation (didn't know til after i bought them). the easiest things i have are the blues, persimmon, strawberries and asian pears. the pears require some pruning but that's about it, and the other 3 don't even really need that. caneberries are pretty easy, but you do have to know how to prune them. about 1/2 of what i have is too small to bear still, so i can't say about the fruiting, but the plants have been ok. i'm starring the stuff i've had that's fruited. apples need sprayed to get edible fruit. there are organic methods out there, but since i'm lazy about spraying, we haven't had great yields. peaches and nectarines are probably the most labor intensive fruit you can grow, fyi. autumn olive is edible and makes a good syrup if you have some growing near you. it's related to goumi. we haven't messed with grapes because the regular ones don't do so hot and we don't care for muscadines. in general, we prefer to grow stuff you can't find in market, or is too expensive, or just tastes a bunch better fresh.

we haven't bothered with most nuts because we don't have the sun or space. hazelnuts are bushes that do ok in part shade, so they are going in the backyard (still potted for now).

there are 3 books i highly recommend if you get into edible landscaping: both stella otto's 'backyard berry' book and 'backyard orchardist' books and another that goes by 'organic gardener's edible plants' by van patten. have fun experimenting and bon appetit!