I've grown Halls Hardy for many years. Beautiful tree, but the nuts are very hard to shell, and, as a peach almond hybrid, they contain cyanide and need to be boiled and leached out before use. I have some other true almonds that are growing, but no crop yet.

These two look promising. May have to order them myself. I got some nursery stock from Jung 2 years ago, and was really pleasantly surprised at the quality.

If you can grow peaches, you should be able to grow these.

The only problem with any nut is squirrel competition. Live trap and removal or destruction is the best practical control where I live, since it's a "no discharge of a firearm allowed" community.

I bought those Ukrainian almonds around 2006, not as hardy as northern peaches.
-15F they seemed alright, they did alright through couple average winters with no topkill. But when had a -21F, they were all gone. Think peach is used as rootstock, so that's what I have now from the growing rootstocks. Zone 5 is too broad, I would say borderline 5/6 would be the lowest hardiness zone for them.

lkz5ia, did you ever get any edible almonds? If so, were they any good? I've heard that the Hall's Hardy variety will grow in the lower zones, but it's a bitter almond... hard shell, and you have to boil them before eating since they contain a mild poison.

no, they didn't get to that flowering and fruiting stage before getting killed off. Think I might try again next year and grow it in a pot. Hopefully it would produce nuts under those conditions, and just plant the nuts without worrying about grafted product. I'd imagine if they are like peaches, that they would come fairly true to seed possibly?

I have bought two ukrainian almond trees and planted them here in northern Utah (zone 5). One lived, one died. The one that lived is doing as well as my peach trees. It has survived more than two winters. It is not as fast growing as the hardy almond that I cut down. (bitter nuts and dangerous for my grandchildren) But, it is producing almonds and they taste good, like almonds should. It is a soft shell like the storebought variety, slightly different shape and a little smaller, but very good. I look forward to heavier harvests as this tree grows larger. It seems to be doing well. I plan to buy another tree when they become available.

Cindy, One Green World has Bounty, Oracle and Nikita's Pride Ukrainian almonds available right now. I will be planting a Bounty and a Nikita's Pride as soon as they arrive in a month or so. Thank you for your comment on the flavor. I was wondering about that.

Cindy, One Green World has Bounty and Nikita's Pride Ukrainian Almonds. I am planting both of those in Pleasant Grove Utah and am hoping for the best. Thanks for the comment on their flavor!