If you want a shrub type with excellent fruit, I suggest the variety Geraldi, available through ediblelandscaping.com and whitmanfarms.com. I sampled the one growing at Edible Landscaping in Virginia this spring and the berries were awesome, and the tree very productive, even after the Easter freeze. While the catalogs say to 6 ft, I'd guess it was around 8ft at mature size. Do you have a warm micro climate available in your yard? I'm not sure if any mulberry will grow there in zone 4, as I have only seen them rated to zone 5. Good Luck, JB

Hoping to keep this thread alive... I've done my first re-tying and pruning of the spring shoots on my Belgian fence espalier. Question: What length do you keep your fruiting spurs? I trimmed to about 3 inches last year and this year I'm pinching new growth to about 3-4 leaves. In the one guide I found that mentioned a length, it recommended 5 inch spurs, which seems like it would be too thick for my spacing (2 feet between trees, should be about 16-2/3" sides on my diamonds). I did lose one tree over the winter--my Stayman's Winesap. Luckily, a local farm store had some semi-dwarf Stayman in stock. The replacement was about 6 feet tall and on who-knows-what rootstock. I pulled the original tree and potted the M7 rootstock, which was surprisingly small, and toyed with the idea of attempting a graft from the 4 feet I lopped off of the new tree. I didn't get around to it, but it was in full bloom and I doubt i'd have gotten it to take on the 4 inches of M7 I had left. The new tree had nice roots and I fretted over lopping off all that greenery after it had just spent so much energy blooming, but it is finally pushing some nice strong leaves a couple weeks later. (sorry it's sideways) I also need to remedy a pear that has been trained slightly too vertical. It was pushing buds on the top half of the branches, but the lower halves were bare. Just with a little re-tying to the wire frame, it has started pushing a few leaf buds. I'll be trying some spreaders on it soon to push it a little further. It's just left of the central tree in front of the thick part of the asparagus behind the row. A few holes here and there, but I may get a few fruits this year and I think it will be taking shape nicely by this fall. Anyone else with espalier updates? I'd also really appreciate tips on how you handle pruning your spurs (length, thinning fruit, renovating spurs, etc.).

I would grow a gooseberry or currant. They are a bush and can be fan pruned. They will fruit less in the shade but will produce tasty fruits. My favorite is the Poorman gooseberry. It is not very productive in the shade but the taste is excellent when left to hang to be a dull purple. Pawpaws are one other option, they are natural shade trees. The production will be limited in the shade but I am fine with limited production since I can't eat too many of them. I tried several other fruits in the shade and did not get good results. Scott

I am so excited I found this topic. So before I even read the rest of the terrific replies to the original post I'm leaving my story here. I bought my home two years ago which included a beautiful old apple tree in the back yard. Well, the property got divided (a very long and sad story) and I lost the apple tree to the neighbor who made a very big deal of harvesting the apples this year. She only harvested them when I was home and available to see her doing it. Argggghhhh.... so I then ran across articles on espaliering apple trees. I have seen people who use them along walkways and as dividers, etc. I am thrilled and plan on using this technique to divide my backyard from my pond area with a 4-5 foot high espaliered apples. I also plan to use them as a divider between my front yard and hers a span of about 20 feet or so. It should look gorgeous. I have to rub her nose in it somehow, LOL. Now... I have seen several different techniques. Some people use wire and some use a wood trellis effect. Is one more effective than the other? I'm thinking I probably want two trees to span the area of about 15 feet in the backyard. Would that be enough or should I use 3 trees? Do I plant the trees now, in fall, or wait until Spring? So many questions and so many answers to find. Next, of course is the type of apple I want. Now, I'm off to read the rest of this thread... thanks way in advance....Jim