Do you have space enough for a old fashioned grape arbor? Muscadine grapes, either the red or white should do well and they make fantasic jellies and wines. Build it over a bricked "patio" , put a couple of chairs, keep one side trimmed up and have yourself a lovely cool place to sit.

Maybe the folks on the Fruit and Orchard Forum could give you more info about the apples. I am thinking that you might have an insect problem there with both the peaches and apples unless you did a lot of spraying.

Here is a link that might be useful: Fruit trees

An arbor sounds like a wonderful idea. Thanks for suggestion.
I'll have to do some research on the trees.

Check out Bay Laurel Nursery's web site. They're in California & specialize in fruit trees with low winter chilling requirements for warm climates, which means the number of hours a year at 45F or less. (Those of us in zone 8 have relatively few hours of temps that cool, so the only fruit trees that will set fruit for us have low chilling requirement numbers.) Also, you can select from a variety of rootstocks, including one that is nematode resistant. I bought a nectarine and an apple tree 2 years ago and they're both growing well, & the apple tree has baby apples. It's way too early to decide if this experiment is a success but so far, so good!

. . . Allie

You're gonna need low-chill cultivars, like Anna, Dorset Golden, Beverly Hills. Classical Fruits, in Moulton may have some of these, or may be able to make some recommendations of other low-chill varieties.

Here is a link that might be useful: Classical Fruits Nursery

You might try Just Fruits and Exotics in Crawfordville, Fl just south of Tallahassee. They have a lot of fruits suited to the Gulf Coast - both decidous and citrus.

Can't seem to find the Classical Fruits website. Reckon I'll have to call. I'm always looking for a new source.

.....Alan.

Guess they've changed web addresses. Here's the new one

Here is a link that might be useful: Classical Fruits Nursery

It is not going to be easy to find fruit trees for this climate. I know, we have tried several kinds In Wilmington NC. (Apricot, Plum, European Prune, Peaches, nectarie, Figs, Persimmons, Sour Cherry) One problem with apples is low chilling requirement (most apples and cherries do require more chilling hours we have) but there are cultivars breeded matching this requirement. However, high humidity carries a lot of fungus, bacterial rot in coastal southeat. (E.G. Our Quince fruits - relative to apples and pears -get black or brown rot every year if we miss 1 or two spraying in June.
Peaches and nectarines do OK but you must spray.

So far we had no problem with figs and Japanese Persimmons. They bear fruit very soon after planted, and no fungus or bacterial diseas seems to attack them. Pomegranate is an other option though I do not know the name of cultivars which do well here. Boysenberries do well in our garden too.

It is true that California nurseries have excellent selection but our climate is so different from theirs that you should be careful what to order - Zone 8 on the East coast is not the same as Zone 8 in California.

Check out Georgia Hort. Extension website, they list cultivars for this climate as well.

Also check out tytyga.com Ty Ty advertises itself as a nursery tailored for the southeat and they have a lot of fruit trees; they prices ar not very high. I have not ordered from them so I have no idea re the quaity of their products. And, I agree, to check out North Florida fruit nurseries is a good idea.

I haven't ordered from the TyTy nursery either but they seem to be damned with regularity on the Plants By Mail site. Others report good luck with them, particularly if you go there in person. I've decided not to mail order from them but rather wait until I can get up there to deal face to face.

I think the server for the Classical Fruits Nursery site is having problems as I've tried to access it for the last three days using different machines in different locations and with both Netscape and Explorer. The site is there but other than background I can't get any graphics or text to load. Reckon I'll just call them and ask for a catalog.

If we don't get a late freeze to kill the blossoms it ought to be a good year for fruit as we're sure getting the chill hours in Gainesville, Florida this year! It's getting to be a regular habit to hustle those three citrus trees into the house everynight after I get home from work. Going to have to put some serious thought into cold protection when I plant them out. They may be "cold hardy" (as useful citrus goes) but it's dipped low enough to at least damage them a half-dozen times here already.

.....Alan.

Persimmons, quince, passionfruit, blueberries, figs, pomegranites, muscadines and scuppernongs, Ponderosa lemons(you'll have to protect them from freezing but they do very well here), calamondin oranges and my personal favorite, kumquats. The new varieties of kumquats are almost candy-like they're so sweet. I know tangerines, tangeloes and satsumas have been grown in this area for a long, long time.

Yes, Athagan, you are right, I should not have mentioned tyty, no personal experience on my part. And I also read Plant By Mail contributors' damning comments on tyty. BAD idea on my part, I MUST apologize.

On the other hand, Plant by Mail contributors gave high ratings to Stark brothers, ranking this company among the top 10. I DO have experience with Stark bro and it is the most diappointing. I ordered several fruit trees from Starks' because PBM contributors praised this company. Not one produced fruit in the last 6 years.
And, I am not alone, I find more and more people who have the same problem with Starks' fruit trees as I did. Trees grow but never flower (like my 6 yeasr old apricots, others have the same problems with other Stark fruits as well), or they flower but never fruit.

So it is very difficult to rate a company well - especially in case of fruit trees. I found several postings at PBM web indicating that customers are happy because the trees grow. I wonder how many will fruit?

I'm a TyTy basher, have had BAD experiences with them - but they were also 'learning experiences'.
I'll never order from them again - or from any nursery that is two or more zones 'warmer' than my own again - it just won't work to receive bareroot transplants, well into the process of leafing out, in mid-February in KY. They're doomed to failure. Results might be better for folks in zones 8, 9, or warmer.

Stark's? I've never been very impressed with the quality of plants I've gotten from them, for the prices they charge, and it bugs me the way they take so many known cultivars and rename them 'Starking this' and 'Starkilicious that'.
On the other hand, Micimacko, apricots are tough to grow in most areas of the eastern US - they tend to break dormancy too early, bloom, and get nuked by frosts/freezes(and I'm not even talking about late/freak frosts!) - I've totally given up on apricots, as well as my Japanese hybrid plums - they make an occasional fruit, but 9 years out of 10, they'll be a total bust.

The Japanese have developed a sweet kumquat and limequat that are very suitable for our area. Available at nurserys in the Spring. Tiny limes: Everbearing. The sweet kumquat makes a crop for midwinter.

I was ver ysuccesful with satsumas and lemon (Myer).
I live in the Mobile, Al. area. Satsumas are more frost resistaqnt than lemon.
If the temperature drops below say, 22F for several hours they will loose some leaves but will recover.
Temperaturews below 20F for several hours are deadly unless you protect the tree (cover with burlap and electric heqt (bulbs) below.
Even if you lose the tree , ifthe stump was protected above the graft area (say with leaves or, dirt) a new tree will grow in a hurry as teh roots system is well established.

I live just north of Pensacola and have had great success with Anna and Dorsett Golden apples. They're available at Lowes and most area nurseries. I just have two trees and both are dwarf. They bore the first year I planted them. There have been a few years where they bore bushels and bushels of fruit and I canned jelly, froze lots and gave away lots. Most years though I just get enough to eat and freeze. Asian pears and Pineapple pears do very well here, also high bush blueberries, mulberrys, blackberries, muscadine grapes,figs. I've not had a lot of luck with peaches. Am just starting to try my hand with Japanese persimmons and satsumas.

I know this is really old but I have a few things to add in case someone else moseys on in here, via a search or whatever. Hopefully with this they'll find what they're looking for.

Most of the links in the above posts no longer work. Not all, but most.

I'm not sure anything in Virginia Beach (or in California) would be a good idea for the tropical coastal region (some probably, most probably not). There is a tremendous climate difference from those two. Just a couple of years ago Mobile beat out Houston for the most humid place in the United States. The high humidity and heavy rains here make this place very, VERY different than Virginia and California.

There most certainly is a lot of information at the Alabama Extension (ACES) site, the problem is finding it. Their site stinks as far as organization goes.
Their entire set of documents related to fruit:
http://www.aces.edu/home-garden/lawn-garden/veg-fruit-nuts/index.php#Fruit

All of the documents listed above are available for free. When you select an article, it will tell you how much it is to buy it in THEIR print. Then there will be two links below that, with icons. One is for the PDF version which would require special (free) software on your computer such Adobe Acrobat or Foxit (which is much better). The second link is for HTML which is where you can view it online. The PDF version is the best quality.

There are varieties that do well in Alabama and just like the documents above, the problem is finding them; the trees themselves I mean.
ACES list of varieties to use: http://www.aces.edu/pubs/docs/A/ANR-0053-F/index2.tmpl
PDF: http://www.aces.edu/pubs/docs/A/ANR-0053-F/ANR-0053-F.pdf

As you can see, Mobile County varies greatly. Once you know your chilling hours, then you can go from there.

I hope this helps anyone who happens to hop in here.

Check out Chestnut Hill tree farm nursery. They specialize in selling fruit trees for the Gulf Coast that tend do well in zones 8-10.

http://www.chestnuthilltreefarm.com

Check out Petals From the Past in Jemison, AL. They have a fantastic variety of fruit trees that are ideally suited to your area. They are extremely knowledgeable and friendly. They also hold seminars throughout the year, so look at the calendar on their website. I highly recommend a visit if you're passing through - it's a short way off of I-65 and we'll worth the trip!

Kiwi grows like a weed on steroids but it needs a support. You also need a male and female plant. Honestly, I had to rip mine out because they grew so vigorously. But if you have the space..., and they are not encroaching on your neighbors, why not?! Also, you could grow loquats (the tree is evergreen), jus' not sure what they do with their fruits. Good luck!

loquat, pomegranate, mulberry, figs, strawberry guava, pineapple guava (Feijoa)...

"ice cream" banana... excellent taste, cold hardy for zone 9

stay away from TyTy nursery !!! ive read LOTS of bad reports.