The problem with growing for kids is that their taste buds are very sensitive. They will often eat only the best tasting fruit. Unfortunately, the best tasting fruit is often the hardest to grow. Commercially, plum is mainly grown in the deserts of the southwest because it is very susceptible to fungus. Apple is very susceptible to the curculio. Peach is a bit cold sensitive so NJ may be difficult. If you try to speed up growth and fruiting by watering and fertilizing it only makes fruit trees and vines even more susceptible to diseases and insects. Slow and steady is ideal. Another approach is to teach them about jams and jellies and instead grow the more disease resistant varieties. The most disease resistant are often the most nutritious, but not the best tasting. Jams and jellies helps to improve flavor. My favorites are: Grapes - Beta, Oberlin Noir, Marquette, Bluebell, Trollhaugen, Mars, America Apple - Liberty, Freedom Cherry - Evans / Bali, Surefire Apricot - Harglow, Jerseycot, Hunza Peach - Red Haven, Reliance Blackberry - Triple Crown, Doyle Of course St. Lawrence Nursery has some good grafted plums. And there are even some hardy exotics like honeyberry, raspberry, and current. Here is a link that might be useful: FRUIT

Hi Bruce, Thanks for all the suggestions! The right varieties of Avocados can grow here--you do see a lot fewer than in Southern California and I gather that fruit production can be a lot less reliable. Actually a guy was just telling me Saturday that there used to be a commercial orchard nearby (but closer to the Bay, so less frost). I haven't been able to confirm this. What I did find are articles about Avocado trees on the Stanford campus (they are about 12 miles away, with essentially identical climate). Obviously they have survived our coldest winters: http://trees.stanford.edu/ (follow link for fruit trees) "As one approaches the Inner Quad from Serra Mall, there is a shady grove left of Memorial Court with a grove of noble avocado trees known to generations of alumni. The ripe avocados that may be found from time to time often attract enterprising harvesters and with luck one may find windfalls. The sheltered courtyard situation has enabled the trees to thrive with occasional signs of frostbite on the glossy oval leaves, up to 10 by 4 inches in size. Two of the trees are thought to be 'Fuerte'; the others are Guatemalan." The trees I found in the nursery are expensive and I didn't find anything that looked like a dwarf except for the 'Don Gilogly' variety which has been pretty thoroughly trashed on forums like this. I looked for pomegranates with minimal seeds (I believe they exist...) and didn't find anything. I find it too much trouble to deal with inedible ones. There's one big difference between the deep South and California (besides moisture and summer heat) which can affect hardiness significantly. The warmer parts of the South are often a lot warmer on average at night (and day) than equivalent USDA zones in California. For example, Orlando on January 31 st: 72 F/ 50 F. San Jose: 58 F/ 40 F. I believe both are 9b. The plants in San Jose have experienced a lot of temps in the 30s all winter--yet frosts are rare. Occasionally it will dip below 32 for just a couple hours than right back up again. In Florida, of course, it tend to get cold when a huge cold front plunges South, and I think (?) temperatures can stay colder for longer. So although they technically get just as cold, some plants can adapt to gradual change (and constant colder temps), whereas some enjoy generally higher temps, yet the sudden change may do them in. Now how this applies to individual plants--citrus, avocado, etc. I don't have a clue. Certainly if one has sheltered locations, is willing to work at it, or has a source of cheap plants it's worth experimenting. Cheap plants: something I should have added--our local nursery is celebrating 60 years and having all sorts of unbelievable specials. On Saturday it was 60% of any one item (absolutely anything--say you had your eye on a $1500 fountain--now $600). I was in fact a bit boring and bought a Key (aka Mexican) Lime. I've always heard it's too cold here, the nursery says they're fine, but it's best to protect them when it gets particularly cold. It's a $16 experiment (usually $40) so even if it dies, no big loss. Our Bearss lime is about 10 years old and has never borne too much (it seems to be picking up this year). As far as I know it's never been seriously frost damaged. We replaced an old (yet small and very productive) Myer lemon here 2 or 3 years ago (it died). The new plant hasn't fruited heavily yet, although it did bloom heavily a few months ago. These bushes/trees perform so well here that it should soon. The 14th of next month is the nursery's day for 60% off all 2 gallon Bearss limes and Myer lemons. This day is a bit less flexible than the original anything goes 60% off day, and it will be hard to resist yet another Myer Lemon at $12 (normally $30). However...it turns out that a third spot just opened up (a bush just died). And the nursery is having another 60% off any one item at the end of its 60 day celebration (specials every day--I find it hard to imagine they're not going broke). So looks like I'll be buying something else--if not a tree, things like fertilizer and soil, peat, etc. will always be used. I like the suggestion of a peach tree. We used to have this miniature one about 10 feet from those spots where citrus are--it couldn't have been more than 3 feet tall. It bore extremely heavily every year. This is a suburban neighborhood, and the squirrels were gone initially. They are back in full force and I understand they love peaches. I mentioned that I have some rooted fig cuttings. This is a great fig growing area with no rain from May through September. I'm going to put one of those in the ground in the 3rd spot. It's an LSU purple, which comes heavily recommended as a vigorous plant with great fruit. It's generally grown in the South, but apparently most all figs are great here. It also has properties that should work well for a plant that will need to be heavily pruned--only a small breba crop (fruits off the previous year's wood) plus it's supposed to bear heavily off of new wood--I understand that people in colder climates whose trees have frozen back to the ground can get fruit. The cutting is smaller and younger than is ideal to put in the ground, but since I have two others I'm giving it a shot. So my remaining question is: what to buy at a nursery sale where I can pick any one item--anything--for 60% off? For anyone who has read through this incredibly long post--what would you buy?

Planting two of the same cultivar is equivalent to planting a single larger tree. If the cultivar is self-fertile (or partially self-fertile, as is the case with Gala) some fruit may be produced without the presence of a cross-pollenizer, but you will get much better results from an appropriate second cultivar. If there are crabapples or other apples in areas around your yard (like a vacant lot or in a neighbor's yard) that may also work to provide sufficient cross-pollination. Below is an example of an Apple Pollenizer Chart. Contrary to what its title claims, it does not discuss pollinators (bees, etc). Here is a link that might be useful: Random Example of an Apple Pollenizer Chart

Ada, I would have faith in anything Sooner Plant Farm grows as long as their own info on their website indicates it is cold-hardy to zones 6 and 7. Even though Sooner Plant farm ships nationally, I believe they started out growing for the Oklahoma market and then branched out as word spread about the quality of their plants. I've never seen or heard one single complaint about their plants or their customer service and that is rare nowadays. Google and look for reviews and you'll see that they have only postitive ones, or at least they did the last time I checked on them. As for S.S.E., the yearbook is the best entertainment in town. Who needs movies or DVDs or TV shows or music when you can read endlessly about heirloom varieties. I don't graft and have no intention of learning. There's only so many hours in a day, and I am already overcommitted. The best source of knowledge I know with regards to grafting is Scott. Well, Randy probably grafts too, but I am not sure. If you really want to learn about grafting, post a request for grafting info on its own thread so people can see it in the subject box, and I am sure that any experienced grafters we have here will respond. I've toyed with the idea of grafting tomato plants onto Maxifort root stock to see if I get improved disease-resistance or more vigorous plants, but there again, it comes down to how many hours there are in a day (not enough of them). Dawn