hello I will have two fruit trees I will be willing to trade. one is a pear I don't know the name but I can look it up it is from Stark Bros. nursery it has a white pear and a red pear on the same tree. and a peach Georgia White is the name also from Stark Bros. the prob will be shipping would be a lot. I can trim them after they are dorment(late oct. early nov.) but they will still be over 5'tall. if you know anyone that will be traveling through IL.(we are on the west central border of IL and MO) this winter I can pot them and put them in the garage after they are dorment. let me know michelle

" I'm not sure if it would do well in my area or if peaches in general do well here." Peaches do fine in KC. There are 6 peach or peach/apple orchards in the KC area, including my own. If you get out in the stretch between Lexington and Waverly MO area (along the river) there are a lot more peach orchards. I've not grown the columnar peaches, but have no reason to believe they would perform differently than traditional peaches (other than their shape). Same thing with ornamental peach trees. With the right variety, regular fruiting peach trees can be just as beautiful during bloom as ornamental peaches, so unless you don't like the fruit, there's no reason to opt for an ornamental. The big key to growing peaches in our area is to plant the peach in a raised planting (like the top of a mound). The mound must be sufficiently large (ideally large enough to accompany the root spread of a mature tree, but you can get by with a smaller mound). Another thing that's necessary is to keep a large mulch ring around the tree (wooded mulches are ideal). Peach trees generally (but not always) decline fairly rapidly in this area if they aren't planted in a mound, and they won't thrive if grass is allowed to grow under the tree. Additionally, you will need to spray for peach leaf curl. It only requires one spray per year here, but without it peach trees become weakened making them susceptible to premature decline in this area. You'll also likely need to spray your tree with insecticide if you want to avoid wormy fruit. Peaches are excellent fresh picked off the tree, do very well here, and are rewarding to grow, they just take a little work.

One way to know if a site is relatively warm (has a longer growing season with fewer killing frosts) is to look for land in mid-fall when you can compare how far along native trees are towards dormancy. Best fruit growing areas are often known in the East and will already have established orchards. People have been growing fruit here for 300 years but you might luck out, I guess, and discover your own tiny "banana belt". As far as productivity- of course you will be able to grow a wider range of varieties in a 6 than a 5 and some would yield more with a longer season- at least over time. But your question really seems to be can you find a Z6 in regions that are predominantly 5. I think it's the leeward (southeast) side of large bodies of water that have moderated temps as in far upstate NY, not far from Buffalo and areas like Lake Geneva. Also along rivers such as the Hudson Valley and running up the Housatonic in CT. Some of the fruit you listed, like cold-hardy figs and Jap persimmons aren't going to work for you, even in a Z6 without protection.

I would recommend a redbud tree. They are SO beautiful, and no fruit to pick up. With the serviceberry, though, the fruits are small and indeed eaten by birds so those work well, too, although they aren't as pretty. How big do you want the tree to grow to in the end? Lilacs get pretty big and are almost tree size eventually. We have a magnolia tree that has gorgeous blooms in the spring, I am in SE WI, so it is something hardy up here. I've had flowering crab, also gorgeous, if you can find one that doesn't have fruit somehow. I would say off the top of my head that the landscaping company might rip you off, probably cheaper to just find a local nursery and pay them to plant the tree than have a middleman. Marcia