Any tree that goes dormant in the winter is going to do fine. So anything like plum, peach, fig, apple should be ok--just look for a fruit and cultivar that works in your local area. Zone 9 covers quite a range of fruit trees. Find out what your local chill hours are and go from there. Check the Dave Wilson tree nursery site for different cultivars. They are wholesale only, but they have a lot of information on their site and you can get your local garden center to order for you from them.

I have the same sort of area, and as long as the plant gets sufficient sun during the main growing season, it takes full winter shade without a problem.

Although plum and peach do go dormant in the winter their growth habits make them poor choices to espalier. Apple is an excellent choice. They easily train in any shape you require. Pear is also a good choice. My first choice however is fig.

Plum and peach can be fan-trained onto a two dimensional plane if not a formal espalier shape. No one has yet mentioned grapes some of which would love the heat (consider the reflected heat from the fence in your choice, some apples will go mealy with too much heat). There is a website with great photos of many kinds of espalier fruit trees including white sapotes, mangoes and other "exotic" subtropicals - do a search for espalier, Australia. All the trees are in a huge cage to keep the birds and critters out.

wow, an espaliered mango? so rockin'!!! what's the name of the site please? i'm totally curious.

Wondering how to purchase 2 year old espalier apple trees in California? Any websites I can contact?

Raintree sells espaliers, link below.

And FYI Deborah, Gardenweb is a public site that comes up in Google searches, so unless you LOVE Spam, it's not a good idea to put an e-mail address in your signature, because dataminers will snap your e-mail up. On the Gardenweb My Page, you can allow others to e-mail you, and that will hide your e-mail from the spammers but allow Gardenweb people to contact you.

Carla in Sac

Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.raintreenursery.com/catalog/producttype.cfm?producttype=ESPA

Dave Wilson Nursery is a whole saler of high quality espaliered fruit tree. You can contact any local nursery that carries Dave Wilson trees and they will get you anything from the DW catalog. Go to the website I linked below and click on "By Variety: Find it for me". And then choose the variery of espaliered apple tree you want. You will see the list of nurseries that have the tree. Good luck.

Here is a link that might be useful: Link to Dave Wilson Espaliered Tree finder