Look at Bonanza dwarf peach. Shows up on TAMU hosted recommendations for both north central Texas and Harris county. Ours is an attractive small (~ 6ft tall) tree that bears nearly full-size peaches... which the local squirrels and opossums unfortunately love just as they sweeten. It is growing in 7.7 pH clay with good drainage (hilltop), so should do fine for you if you can offer enough slope that the roots won't stay saturated for any significant length of time.

Seen chilling hour requirements listed for this in the 250 to 450 range; local nursery/grower should be able to tell you which end of the range is more accurate. Suspect even 400 should usually be okay except for the most southern portions of the county, though am pretty sure it requires much less.

There's a brief description somewhere in this Harris County MGA 2014 Fruit and Citrus spring catalog.

Edit: ... and, yes, they are self-fertile.

Hi bostedo,

Thanks for suggestion. Just a quick question, does the Bonanza dwarf peach pollinate itself or it needs another peach tree to pollinate like the case of apples ?

Yes, they self pollinate - my edit to answer that on previous post must have hit after you read it.

After more thought, am almost positive that the chilling hours are tagged at much closer to 250 on the trees sold around here. One TAMU article refers to "Bonanza II" which might imply the broad chilling hours range could be due to two lines of Bonanza. Just something to confirm if buying. At 300 hours or less, should be a great option for Houston in well draining sites.

Thanks a lot bostedo for the info. I found in our area nursery that have dwarf Bonanza peach plants on sale. I will get one next week.

If it were me I would just get a red baron or mid pride peach tree on nemaguard or lovell rootstock. If you wanted to grow in a container the Bonanza would be a good choice. The Bonanza only grows to a height of 6 feet from what I have read.

Just remember, a dwarf tree is one with low vigor, with less margin for error. Do not get a peach tree on Citation, a semi dwarf rootstock. I had three and they all had very low vigor that had many disease problems. Two died within 2 years and the third I had to put in a container to keep it alive. It has grown about 18 inches in two years. The rest of the peaches usually grows 4 to 6 feet. You can prune to keep the size smaller.

With any peach tree you are probably going to have to spray for plum curculio( worm) and brown rot (fungus). I dont think the clay will be a problem as long as it does not stay saturated. You may also have to spray with dormant oil in the winter for scale.

In case you are still considering Jujube I wouldn't recommend it because it suckers so badly. Perhaps there is a variety that doesn't sucker, but if not strong sprouts will come up from the mother tree 10 or 15 feet away. It might not start doing it for 5 years, but once it does there is no stopping it. Just saying ....

In San Antonio Oriental persimmons have delicious fruits and are easy to grow plants that require no spraying.

Hi garybeaumont_gw and reselee,

Thanks to both of you for the information, appreciated. After hearing from you, I decided not to plant Jujube. Let me think about red baron peach also besides the bonanza dwarf.

Peaches, plums and jujubes do very well here in heavy clay soil. I think it depends on the variety. The biggest concern in clay is that during long wet spells, they may 'drown' if they are not well established and also, they seem to take longer to mature in heavy clay. I have several varieties of peaches but Desert Gold is my favorite so far and has delicious peaches. Shiro Plum is one of my best plums. The jujube tree we had at another property never put up suckers so I agree that it must be the variety.

Finally, I got Desert Gold and Tropic Snow White peach plants in Nemagard rootstocks. Both look healthy and are about 4ft tall in 5gal containers. There were Mid Pride and Red Baron plants, unfortunately both were in Citation rootstocks, so decided not to buy.

Like garybeaumont writes, I also read elsewhere that Citation rootstocks are less vigor and prone to root attacks. So decided not to buy the Mid Pride and Red Barons.

I have a sweet sunny spot for one of them but have to find a spot of the second one. How much sun do they need, how close can they be planted ?

They like full sun and I planted mine 20 feet apart but even a bit farther might be better if you have the room. They could be planted closer but might need extra watering in dry spells once they mature, and they may not produce as well or get as large when planted too close together. You will love the Desert Gold Peaches, they are delicious right off the tree or even canned. I have a Red Baron but it is still young but they are known to do great here in my area and also have great tasting peaches.

MIne vary but if you are going to keep them a medium size tree with pruning 12 foot apart seems to do well. I have some planted 10 feet apart and I think when they get older it might be a little close. I have them on raised beds. One of the reasons most guides show 20 or 30 feet apart is so they can maintain the area between the trees with small tractors.

Some guides will show even closer spacing up to 6 feet apart but you will run into air circulation problems. Without good air circulation you get more brown rot. Dryer areas (California) can get by with close spacing but not areas that get more than 20 inches of rain.

They like full sunlight but can handle only 6 to 8 hours. Remember that the amount of light they get will change as the seasons change. They do best with morning light so the foliage will dry faster.

Methley plum does well for me on black clay. Smaller but very sweet and tasty fruits. Pretty tree too. Low chill hours and self pollinating. The Japanese Fuyu persimmon is also a good choice. Also self fruitful and a tough tree. Easy to grow and the sweet non astringent fruits can be eaten as soon as the turn yellow. The redder they turn the sweeter they are.