Apricots- a little difficult to get to fruit every year since they bloom so early.

Juneberry-easy, have to keep the birds away

Fig-not hardy, but easy to overwinter inside

Chestnut-American susceptible to chestnut blight, don't know if the hybrids are hardy enough.

For nut trees, I would suggest a butternut

Raspberries are easy. Blueberries, if you have or can make the right soil conditions, are pretty easy too.

Paw Paw, Persimmon, English Walnut, Almond probably not hardy enough.

I have several cherry bushes and trees that are very carefree and easy.
Also, although they are not on your list, good selections for MN would be currant or American Cranberry (bush).

According to the catalogs, English walnut is Z4, the rest are Z5. Hmm, with global warming, can we grow them here? I do have a peach tree and it has not die yet, not even any winter kill. First time this year thoyugh, the buds may not make it to bloom. Ginkgonut, do you have a butternut tree? How does the nut taste. I just look it up. In some areas, 90% are killed by canker disease. What blueberries are sweetest and hardiest here?

Dirtbert, are your cherries sweet? What varieties? We like sweet fresh fruits. Currants and cranberries are too sour.

I planted Manchurian Apricot 5 years ago and it is just now blooming for the first time. I haven't seen the fruit yet but suspect they are going to be small. This is not a very impressive plant.
Take a look at Crabapple, the winter bearing kind. They produce colorful blossoms and loads of fruit that provide color all winter long. And then provides food for migrating birds in Spring.

We have butternuts growing wild up at the lake cabin. The nuts taste good, but I don't really know what to compare them too. I heard about the canker problem, that could be an issue I guess.

It looks like my apricots may actually have a good year. Heavy flowering and fruit set looks good. The few I have gotten over the past few years have been quite tasty. They are moongold and sungold. You need both for cross-pollination.

Ginkgonut,what variety is your apricot? Is it too cold for apricot to set fruit here? I read that Manchurian apricot is hardy to Z2, but do not know if the fruits can ripen here. Also what sweet cherries are good here? Thanks!

Apricots like Moonpark need a pollinator, another apricot by a different name (not Moonpark). A Manchurian apricot will pollinate Moonpark, but I am not sure if it would pollinate itself. I don't think you'd have any problems with a Manchurian setting fruit in our short summers, but they are smaller, are reportedly do not taste as good. Moongold and Sungold are what I would recommend.

You'll have to keep the birds away from sour cherries too. Northstar and Meteor are the best for MN. I have grown both. Meteor is the larger of the two. I prefer Northstar. Very precocious. They are sour cherries, but are quite edible right of the tree.

I also grow Meader American persimmon. It does produce fruit, while most persimmon trees are either male or female. slow grower, very late to leaf out (buds are hardly swelling now). Fruit is most excellent and really does taste like plum jam. My tree is about 8 feet tall now and produces more than a hundred small fruits.

Cherry bushes are sweet, but quite small. I typically harvest them for making jellies and syrup.
Not sure yet on the cherry trees, as they were just planted last year. They did make it through the winter though.

Thanks, everyone. Looks like apple and raspberries are the best fruits to grow here. Too bad, I love fresh fruits and nuts, esp. tropical fruits, like persimmon, sweet sop, papaya, etc. Wish I can grow them. I though about trying a fig tree and roll them inside for the winter, but it is not worth it.

I started a project similar to this myself a few years back. It began when I read an article by Lee Reich (found here: http://www.audubonmagazine.org/audubonliving/audubonliving0801.html). While some of the plants he mentions are not able to be grown in our zone, there were some other references in the article that proved to be useful. Have you tried looking at your public library yet for books on this topic? Ours had quite a few - I was surprised!

Hazelnuts (corylus americanus) are native to MN. I planted some last year as bare root from one of the conservation districts. They are (were) doing well - the rabbits, etc really like them during the winter (my fault).

I think that there is *one* type of grape that can be grown here that is suitable for eating, rather than just wine production. Check on the U of MN's Extension web site. Speaking of that, their site does have info about fruit trees, grapes, and nuts as well I believe.

You could also try gooseberries - I saw someone selling them on Craigslist. Oh and rhubarb too.

We have a plum tree and a mulberry tree (purple-fruiting type) in our yard that produce fruit.

Some other fruits to consider:
* Lowbush blueberry/Vaccinium angustifolium
* Wild Strawberry/Fragaria virginiana
* Woodland Strawberry/Fragaria vesca
* Velvet Leaf Blueberry/Vaccinium myrtilloides
* Serviceberry or Juneberry/Amelanchier laevis
* Pin Cherry/Prunus pennsylvanica
* Wild Black Cherry/Prunus serotina
* Choke Cherry/Prunus virginiana
* Wild Raisin/Viburnum cassinoides

Not sure what type of soil you have, but that will make a difference for some of these plants. Also, some of the fruits are more suitable for jam - not to eat plain :)

Dragonfly Gardens (WI) has these plants. I have not been there yet, but plan to pick up most/all of my plants from them a little bit later this month.
Hope this helps. It's a fun project - hope you enjoy it :)

I have Moongold and Sungold Apricots and this is their best year ever. Now I have to find a way to stop the squirrels from eating all the fruit. I think these make nice ornamentals even in the years they don't produce a lot of fruit.

I had a fig tree for years and it is very easy to overwinter inside. I put it in the root cellar in the basement where it stays cool all winter and then brought it out the sun porch around early April. It produced fruit every year. Citrus fruits are another worth trying and overwintering inside. I have had the best luck with Bearss Lime and Nagami Kumquat.

We also have Moongold and Sungold apricot trees that I planted about 8 or 9 years ago. They have done very well. These were developed by the U. of M. and first released in 1960 I think. I think they are derived at least in part from Manchurian apricots. They are very hardy, and nice trees. But they bloom very early.

If you read the book "Growing Fruit in the Upper Midwest", which is now available online, it says that apricots will produce fruit in Minnesota only about one year in four because late Spring frosts will often kill the flowers. I suspect this might be the case for many parts of the state, but we live in Minneapolis only 3 or 4 miles from downtown, so it is not uncommon for outlying areas to have frosts when we do not.

Foolishly, I've lost track of which tree is which. One of them is more upright with narrower leaves, reddish new growth, nice Fall color, and blooms very slightly earlier (but overlapping with the other tree), and ripens its fruit a week or more earlier than the other tree.

The other tree has rounder leaves, a more spreading growth form, and ripens fruit later.

The first tree to ripen, the prettier tree (when young, reminded me a bit of birch trees in its leaf shape and growth form) has been less vigorous, I think because it has too much root competition from grass and other plants undeneath it. It has not produced as much fruit - at least one year I think this was due to a late frost that hit its flowers but not so much the other slightly later-blooming tree's flowers) - but probably this is mostly just because it has not been as vigorous as described above. I was able to make two batches of jam from this tree this year. Jam from this tree tastes a bit like plum jam to me.

The other tree that ripens later (the last fruit is ripening right now in fact) has been an extremely heavy bearer some years. Its first REALLY big crop was two years ago, following a decent crop the year before that. Two years ago I picked at least 40 pounds of fruit, and at least as much fell on the ground. Last year something weird happened (odd temperature changes in late winter maybe???) and most of the flower buds did not open (that has only happened once in the time we have had these trees), so we had, literally, something like 10 or 20 apricots total.

This year thought the crop is enormous, even bigger than two years ago I think. Both this year, and two years ago, the brances have been so weighed down with fruit (on the tree that ripens last) that it is difficult to walk under this tree that has been pruned so that normally we can walk under it easily. There has been a LOT of fruit.

Neither of these trees produce apricots that I particularly like eating fresh all that much. I guess the flavor of the first tree is better for fresh eating, but I find that a larger proportion of the fruit has insects.

The tree that ripens second produces fruit that is absolutely FANTASTIC for making jam, especially if it is picked and cooked slightly underripe. The jam I'm making (15 batches so far - a total of about 7 gallons of trimmed, pitted fruit prior to cooking) is really really good. Nice color, fantastic flavor, wonderful texture.

In our yard the trees have insects in a lot of the fruit, but the more fruit on a given tree it seems the lower the proportion of fruit with insects. I think they are probably apple maggots (or something similar) as well as plum curculio, but I'm really just guessing here. The tree with the many many pounds of fruit this year has an insect larva in maybe one fruit out of 5 or 10 this year. Sometimes there are more insects than this. These insect larvae sometimes make a given fruit unseable, but normally you can just trim off the damaged/inhabited portion of a fruit and use the rest for jam making. We don't spray our trees, obviously, but we still get LOTS of good fruit (after timming and pitting) for jam making.

According to bailey's website, sungold is the later ripening tree.

My experience is the same as your, and enormous crop the on the later tree and a small on the earlier tree.

Here are a couple pictures of my Sungold and Moongold apricots. Both have a few fruits this year. Very few of the flower buds actually opened this spring and we had a cool, mild, late spring with no heavy frosts after things started growing.

The Sungold is really a very pretty apricot. The fruits were 1 1/4-1 1/2" in size and had a great flavor. Picked everything after taking the picture as they were starting to fall off.

The Moongold is a bit later and the apricots are a bit smaller--about 1" in size currently.

If you're interested in growing chestnuts, I would highly recommend Oikos Tree Crops' blight-resistant hybrid chestnut varieties. I planted 3 in 2008 that overwintered just fine in central MN and are putting on VERY vigorous growth this summer.

Leftwood, how long did it take your Meader persimmon to reach 8 ft and begin to fruit? Do you have any trouble getting the fruit to fully ripen before winter sets in? Also, is Meader the seedless variety of persimmon? Thanks.

long time since I've posted anything here, but I've been slowly working on an edible landscape and have several fruits growing.

I've planted the typical Apple (harlson and honeycrisp), Cherry (northern), along with raspberries and blackberries.

I decided to try some non-typical berries this year as well.

I've done Golden Buffalo Current (Ribes odoratum) The flowers give off a wonderful slight clove fragrance. It grows mostly as a bush about 6-8' in height and ~4' width. You'll need to cover with netting to keep any of the berries I think as the birds sure seem to gobble them. Let dry on the bush for current raisins. Very tasty (at least the ones I've managed to snag ;) This is also hardy to zone 2.

Sunberry- Solanum Burbankii
I've heard many say that this is a pretty flavorless berry, and many mistake it for being related to the huckleberry. The fruit is nearly black when ripe and tastes something like blueberries off the bush but not nearly as sweet. I got this because it is a heavy producer with hundreds of fruits per plant. It is really only good when baked or made into jams. Very tasty jams too ;) Nice thing is the plant only grows to about 24" and is like I said covered in hundreds of fruits. Very easy to grow and here it is grown as an annual.

May8, you may be able to plant more than just raspberry and apple. I have a tart cherry (meteor) that does very well and requires almost no care. The cherries are tart but quite usable in pies and jams, or raw if the birds let them ripen really well.

I also have a Mount Royal plum that does very well and produces profusely with very sweet fruit.

There are quite a few local types of berries that work. I have an Autumn Brilliance serviceberry and a Saskatoon (Regent) serviceberry. Both bear nice tasting little berries you can eat with cereal.

You can also do black mulberry (found this growing wild in some places in MN) and feed your family and all the neighborhood birds and then some :)

Elderberry and blackberry both work here. And let's not forget about the U of Minnesota's grape introductions. I have a Frontenac grape vine that produces well every year and doesn't even require mulching for winter. It produces smaller black grapes that are good for juicing.

Last but not least, you can grow passion fruit vines here! You just need to make sure to mulch the vine very well until late May. Some people do a layer of styrofoam under the mulch for more protection. Mine grew from 4 inches to over 8 feet so far this season alone and has over 15 flower buds on it. If you want it to make fruit, choose a variant that is easy to pollinate or you may have to pollinate them by hand.

I know how you feel - I used to live in a warmer place where my parents had all kinds of yummy goodness growing in the yard. Don't give up hope! Let me know if you find other kinds I may not be aware of.

Thank you every one for your help. Shame on me, I was all exited about planting some fruits and nuts in the spring, but then I got busy and really did not feel like digging large holes. It may be too late to do anything now. May be next year. I would really like some fruit/nut trees or bushes. If you have shootings or seedlings, I have lots of raspberry, strawberry and other plants to trade. By the way, Lakefarm, I am glad that we can grow passion fruit vines here. What other tropical fruits can we grow here? Any of them can propagate from cuttings, seeds, etc. It would be nice to share them because some of them are very expensive. By the way, winter protection is important for tender plants. My wild peach tree finally had a die back this last winter, because I did not protect it. It was OK all these years when I covered the bottom 2-3 ft with leaves inside a short fence about 3 ft in diameter, and uncover it after the weather turned warm.

I was royally disappointed when I learned I can't do peach and apricot here. Hopefully the U of M will introduce some cultivars soon. I don't know of any tropical fruit that is hardy in Minnesota other than Passion Fruit (not quite hardy). Of course, you always have the option of growing whatever you want in pots and bringing it inside for the winter, but that doesn't qualify as "care free". I'm starting to contemplate getting one of those indoor bright planting lights so I can expand my options for growing things..

Don't be fooled I have been growing peaches for 20 years, the variety is Reliance, also sweet cherries are possible a little hit or miss that variety is Compact Stella , both of these I aquired from Millers Nusery as bare root and both are self pollinating, the problem with the peach is the life is short 5-6 years, what I do is plant repalacement every 3 years, also sweet seedless grapes will grow here, Millers also has them but the variety. escapes me at the moment. Also the Contender Peach should do fine in Zone 4.

I'm trying to figure out the best fruit trees to plant in my backyard in Minneapolis. Besides a dwarf honeycrisp, I'm considering plum, cherry, apricot, peach, & crabapple.

Here are the features I'm looking for:
* showy flowers in the spring
* doesn't get too big (small backyard)
* self-pollinating preferably so I don't need 2 of each
* good tasting fruit, maybe even right off the tree?
* maybe a crabapple with fruit I could collect to make wine

What are you favorites? Which ones have been most reliable and good to eat? Thanks!

I think the apricots are very ornamental and fairly reliable in town. One caveat, as I have a small yard in town, is the squirrels and chipmunks love them. They eat the seed and drop the flesh on the ground. If I don't pick it up, the whole backyard smells like rotting fruit. I would also consider a Serviceberry, if you can figure out a way to keep the birds away.

I know the picture was posted some time ago, but Kristen- that is a wild plum tree (and a big one at that!).
I have several smaller trees. They seem to put on fruit every other year. It is wonderful for making jams, jellies, (and my favorite) syrup for pancakes or french toast.
Most years I harvest, wash up the fruit and freeze it. Then make my goodies when it is too cold out to garden during the winter months.

Dianeg, a Northstar Cherry, mentioned earlier on the thread, sounds like exactly what you are looking for. We had one at our old place in Mpls and loved it.

Since you mentioned pawpaws, I thought I'd let you know I have a Sunflower pawpaw sapling purchased from Burnt Ridge Nursery and planted in Spring 2010 that survived this past winter in perfect shape. All I did to baby it was put a few bales of straw around it for added insulation in the fall. I know one winter doesn't prove beyond a doubt that it is winter hardy this far north, but so far it's looking really good.

Anyone tried a medlar?

Rick

I tried a medlar from Burnt Ridge Nursery in the spring of 2010. Their website claims it's hardy to -35F, but mine died back this past winter at only -20F. It's since resprouted from ~3" up on the trunk and growing strongly, so we'll see how it handles this winter. I'd love to have it succeed just for the flowers alone.

Oddly enough, my Meader persimmon that was planted from that tree order also died back hard despite tons of growth the first summer in the ground. It's been a tough year for fruit trees.

@kristin_flower Did you ever find out what this fruit is?