For a short time in January and February we offer deciduous fruit trees “bareroot”. Bareroot season is necessarily brief; because the trees are dormant, they can be sold without containers at considerably lower prices. There is more than just a price advantage, too. Bareroot plants adjust to native soils more easily than container plants do. The only real disadvantage with a bareroot tree is that it requires immediate attention. Plan to get your fruit tree in the ground the day you take it home.
Apples, figs, persimmons, and plums produce reliably throughout the Bay Area. Apricots, nectarines, peaches, and pluots can perform well in microclimates that maximize winter chill and summer heat. Winter chill is an inexact science, especially in a climate as variable as ours, so don’t necessarily be daunted by the numbers. For best results locate all fruit trees in open, sunny places in the garden. Consider the possibility of mixing fruit trees into an existing landscape as we did with a Fuji apple in the demonstration garden. If garden space is limited try more than one variety in a single planting hole.
You have exactly one chance to create a small, manageable fruit tree—at planting time. Summer pruning techniques make it easy to keep fruit trees down to manageable garden size. Attend one of our winter fruit tree pruning workshops to find out more.