Hi All~

I want to plant a few fruit trees (Varieties that I am unable to plant here in southern California) and I am uncertain of which ones would be best suited for the area.

We own a house in Vancouver, Wa and my mom lives in Camas, Wa. I plan on taking over both yards..heehee. Both places are in zone 8B and are both near the Columbia River Gorge (Camas more so than Vancouver). The chill is around 2000 hours.

The weather is rainy and cool throughout most of the year. I am not sure on the frost dates but from memory of living there more than half of my life I would guess late March early April and November sometime. Do not get much snow, a couple inches every now then which quickly melts away. Temps usually stay 45/38 throughout the winter with the occasional freeze. Summer usually starts after the 4th of July and are pretty mild with a couple of weeks in the high 90's in August. It does tend to be humid when it first starts to heat up. The ground literally starts to steam. :)

Hope that gives you enough info on the growing conditions.

I am looking to grow CHERRIES (num num num), European Plums and of COURSE Apples (Mom wants... go figure). I am not sure if it worth the effort to try and grow Peaches.

I would be looking for the best suited trees because spraying would be limited due to having to depend on family to handle that (I just want to be there to eat all the CHERRIES & Plums...hehe). I love the Rainier cherries so would be nice if I can plant a few of those.

Our tastes buds are high sweet high tart (If that even makes sense)

Ground structure in pretty well draining soil. Mom has a lot of sand rock after about 12-18". The other location has a little heavier soil but still okay drainage.

Thanks for all your time and help.

Jennifer