My father had an orchard on the back lot of this place where I now live. He had Montmorrency cherries, Red Haven peach, the special white Loring peach, Bartlett pear, Interlaken grapes, raspberries, strawberries, and a potted fig he brought in each winter. On a good year, I'd come and bring my own pressure cooker and Mother and I would can until our brains fell out. But not always a good year for the peaches here in SW Missouri, because with our weather you really can't depend on them. They decided plums were just too messy and abundant, so he cut those trees down. He did all this orchard work along with a full-time career. What energy that must have taken!

Roses -- the lovely Chrysler Imperial, Queen Elizabeth and climbing Don Juan are my favories, and they do well.

Welcome, Paige 27. Hope you'll be with us here often!
Sunny

First, welcome to the Ozarks and to the forum.

You made some good choices. They don't recommend sweet cherries, but I am trying one this year!

My cherry is either North Star or Montmorency and I don't have to spray or anything and always have tons to freeze.

In really bad years, even the Kieffer pear and Golden Delicious may be hit with fireblight....do some research on that. I had to prune half my pears and a couple of apple trees away. Another good pear is Seckel, a samll honey pear that is somewhat resistant to FB (mine wasn't).

Roses will be prey to Rose Rosette Disease that is caused by a microscopic mite....multiflora rose is a host plant.
I still keep a few roses but have lost many to this disease. About all you can do is shovel prune it once this happens. Another great rose is Aloha.

Welcome Paige27! It's hard to know where to start when you have a large yard but so fun to fill it up.
I have a rose on my wishlist that you might like. It's a Buck Rose which is recommended a lot for Missouri and supposed to be relatively disease free. It's called Earth Song and the description says it has large flowers.

I grew fruit trees years ago. I had no luck with plums or peaches, but I didn't spray for borers. I did have a green apple, sour cherry and pear for a number of years. The pear and sour cherry lasted the longest. I had the cherry for years; the pear died the year of the big flood in the Mississippi I think 1993. That year I also had water in my basement. I didn't spray to try to save it. I think if I had got it through that wet year it would have lived much longer. The trouble with pears for me was that I don't can and didn't use enough of them to warrant having them. The fallen fruit brought yellow jackets. The cherry tree was small and attractive; I think it was a natural dwarf. I forget the variety. The cherries were tart but I used to eat a few when I was out in the yard.