They are slightly more cold tolerant than olives. If you want fruit, you will probably need to grow them in containers so they can be winter protected.

randy

There are a lot of fruits you can grow in Oklahoma, depending on where in the state you live, and what kind of soil and climate you have.

Here's some of the fruit trees you CAN plant in the ground in the parts of Oklahoma that are zone 7: apples, apricots, cherries, crabapples, figs, jujubes, nectarines, peaches, pears, plums, persimmons. If you are in zone 6, you can grow most of these, but perhaps not jujubes or figs.

You also can grow lots of fruit that grows on vines, bushes or brambles, like blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, grapes, elderberries and gooseberries.

It is also possible to grow tree nuts like pecans, walnuts and almonds.

I've linked the OSU fact sheet on growing fruit in the home garden for you.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Growing Fruit in Oklahoma

I planted a hardy lemon this year, too, called the Ichang Lemon. Supposed to be the best for lemon pies! It is root hardy to 0 degrees.

But, you all, knowing me, I mainly planted it for the Giant Swallowtails, since anything in the citrus (rutaceae) family is a host plant for them.

Susan

I planted a pomegranate that was suppossed to be hardy to zone 6. But I learned that it isn't just how cold it gets, but how abruptly it gets cold. It did fine the first winter but that very cold December freeze--was it 05 or 06?--killed it outright. I'm not going to try again. That same freeze took out the hardy kiwis. I had mulched them all too. I have a fig though that has survived for over 20 years although it doesn't always produce. The April freeze killed all the shoots back to the ground this year and the new ones that came up have a grand total of 3 figs. I get a five gallon bucketful in a good year.

I agree that the sudden temperature changes are just as important as the minimum winter temperature with many plants. It is hard for many plants to survive a sudden plunge in temps, and you know how often we have those blue northers blow in and drop the temps 30 degrees or more in no time at all.

I have found that keeping the soil moist when a sudden cold spell hits will increase the odds of survival as dry roots freeze more quickly than well-hydrated ones. Mulching helps, but even it does not guarantee a plant will survive.

I've lost pomegranates to harsh winter weather, too, and haven't replanted them either. I think that the fig's ability to resprout and produce the same year is one of the great things about figs, although you don't always get a great harvest in the year that it freezes back to the ground.

The way our weather fluctuates wildly, I am happy to get any fruit at all in any given year....although this has been a great years here in southern Oklahoma for peaches, plums, apricots, pears and blackberries. A great year tends to be followed by a not-so-great year, so I am not expecting much next year.