Mystearica, Larry gave you an excellent advice! First the job, then the house, after the trees. It can take a long time....

Larry just because you asked me in my zone 9b I have:
Green and red atemoya
Persimmon
Avocado
White peach
White nectarine
Yellow peach
Star fruit
Star apple
Tamarind
Red guava
Three fig varieties
Mangoes
Banana
Apple (does not do well in my garden)
White mulberry
Recently added another mulberry and pomegranate (thanks Barbie)
Citrus, tangerine, green and red lime, Meyer lemons, calamondin
Blackberries, blueberries

Silvia

I knew that I was forgetting something
Lychee
Pineapple
Surinami cherry
Jaboticaba (produce in 10 years)
Hybrid Pluot (not yet producing)

Hybrid Apricot and plum (not yet producing)

And I had a producing plum and loquat (took them out for various reasons)

My neighbor told me that I can pick his very abundant crop of peaches growing over my fence (you know the story,lol)

Silvia

WOW!!! Silvia that is amazing!!! You're amazing - of course you're probably a great gardener. I'm really excited! You have Citris, Stone and even Bananas/Mangoes/Bananas - and Pomegranates (OMG forgot I love those)!!! You also have Lychee - I had no idea they could grow in Florida - I tried them in Costa Rica and fell in love with them. So it is possible to have a good mix and variety of fruits. I'm assuming the stone fruit you have listed are the modified versions requiring lesser chilling hours?

If you don't mind me asking - how much square footage is your backyard? Do you have a picture of it? Would love to see how you managed it all

I am thinking of moving to the Sarasota/Bradenton (beautiful beaches) area or St. Lucia (beautiful atlantic breeze - yeah I have my head in the gutter) area and they both happen to be 9B so I'm excited!

Mystearica - thank you for your nice comments. I don't have a big place but what I have is enough for me to manage and grow what I like. Larry and other gardeners were at my house for a garden party, they can tell you it is small about 1/8 of an acre. It would be very hard to let you see all the fruit trees as a whole because they are all over scattered in the front, sides, back. I don't have the orchard look and yes about your questions they are low chill varieties.
Keep dreaming about your future place and one day you will be there. Do your research about jobs, places to go and if you take vacations to your possible destinations, you will get an idea if you like to live there.

Silvia

Yep I'll keep dreaming until it happens!! Then after my fruit trees - will go for fragrant plants/trees for my front yard (plumeria, gardenia etc etc). Sorry I am a dreamer. At least now I know it's possible - I kept reading multiple posts and reports and they sure put a damper on things... most can be summarized as follows:

-Floride is bad for growing trees b/c they have terrible soil +sand (which is confusing because many trees require good draining soil)

-Florida's humidity brings disease

-Citrus trees are going extinct because of Citrus Canker and other disease - it's next to impossible to grow them unless you're a professional

-Forget about Pineapples + Banana/Coconut Trees in Florida (I looked into one of your older posts and saw that you have an amazing fruiting banana tree)

-Mangoes require intense heat - only locations below Orlando can even grow them

-Stone Fruit, even low chill ones are next to impossible to grow in Florida

-Apples are tasteless in Florida

etc etc etc

It's great to read your previous post too because you mention you have trees all around house (in other words it's not a requirement to have a housing facing a certain direction - another complaint I read in another forum).

Now I'm looking forward to next year! I will be back in the future (I hope) to post on advice/tips on starting. Can't wait

Thanks again

I think you can safely disregard everything on that list above - except maybe apples - & I'm not entirely sure about that 1, since I have no experience. FWIW, pineapples were once a commercial crop in FL (I have several in pots , 2 are fruiting right now), my city is on the "Tree City" registry, I grow bananas, many of my neighbors grow mangoes, there are still plenty of dooryard citrus trees around, & lastly, I'm growing a native plum (Chickasaw) does that count as a stone fruit?

Here's a site w/ info on all kinds of flora that can be grown in our state - it's not called Florida for nothing:

http://www.floridata.com/

I live in Sarasota. Only been here for 2 1/2 years. Moved from NYC. I can tell you everything grows here. I'm still in shock. If you trim something and leave it on the ground it grows.

We plant Avocado, lemon, honeybell orange, mango, key lime, about 2 yrs ago. All are making fruit. (4 Avocado, 3 lemons, 3 oranges, one lonely mango, loads of key limes). Very surprised because they were just small plants. They are now quite large in just two years and all have some fruit on them. I had two Pineapple which had the most beautiful fruits and they both got taken by some wildlife. I'm still furious!

I haven't grown stone fruit because I grew those in NY and wanted tropical. I know people who have peach trees.

Sarasota seems to have the right climate. We don't get too cold and it is very sunny and warm most of the year.

Jane

I moved here in the Jax area from the Greater Cinti area a year ago and have been gardening for over 30 years. So gardening in FLnwas top on my list. I researched the climate, soil, humidity and plants to grow for close to six months before we moved here. Most of my research was done on Floridata, this forum and University of FL. This is my second gardening season here. Here is what I learned.

Location matters. You can grow almost anything in FL but not the same things in all FL. Gardening-wise the state is divided in three - north, central and south. Some things grow easily in the north but not so well in the middle or south and vise versa. And then again if you live by the ocean that makes a difference too even in the north. Beachside homes in the Jax area don't usually get the cold nights in winter that inland homes get. When my area in Middleburg had high 20s nights last winter the beaches didn't get below thirties and I live southwest of the beaches.

Soil matters. I came from heavy clay and now have heavy sand. Totally changed my watering habits. I also went from fertilizing monthly to weekly. Native plants do fine with native soil but I had to amend my vegetable and flower beds with topsoil and composted cow manure.

Varieties matter. You can grow most types of plants but you have to chose varieties that can take the kind of heat we have here and if you live in north FL the cold as well. The cold doesn't last long but it happens every year. Last winter we had three nights of 26-27 degrees. Even though it was up in the 60s in the daytime, unless they were given supplemental heat, tropical plants either died or died to the ground and came back this summer. My Satsuma tangerine, which is the citrus variety that can take the coldest temps and survive into the thirties, had to have protection during those nights. My fig and loquat trees did fine.

Heat matters. In northern KY we often had 90 degree days in July with high humidity. But the 90 degree heat there didn't feel as intense as it does here. The growing season is longer in FL than up north but it is divided rather than continuous. My vegetable gardening begins late February, takes a break July and August because of the brutal heat, then again January and February.

I suggest you give yourself some time after you move in FL to check things out in your area. Talk to other gardeners as they can tell you what works in your own microclimate. Visit reputable nurseries and ask lots of questions before choosing your trees and flowers. Taking a little time to make decisions will pay off in the end. My first growing season here was a disaster because what I learned in my research didn't always happen in practice.

You will love it down here. As a side note I harvested my first tomato April 30 - two weeks before I would be planting my tomato plants outside in KY!