Well, I've only put in my peach tree this past spring, so no real info on reliability, but I did do a bunch of research on fruit trees first.

I don't think you'd have any trouble with hardiness, except for being limited to some of the hardier varieties of sweet cherry.

All of the stone fruit (peach/plum/cherry) are said to have trouble with diseases. But I'm not sure yet how much of this is a problem for a home grower....some of these problems seem to just reduce yield or cause blemishes that affect 'marketability'. I hear 'plum curcullio' can be a real problem though (for all of them, not just plums, I think)

Cherry trees, even the dwarf ones, grow much larger than a peach, so space is a consideration. Not sure about plums. Maybe in-between?

Pears have their own set of problems similar to what affects apples, if I remember correctly. For what its worth, an old pear tree that came with our house has been getting decimated by the winter moth caterpillars each spring.

'Redhaven' is the old standard peach variety; needs to be thinned after it sets fruit.
Was also looking into Black Gold or White Gold for a good sweet cherry for our area.

Around here, late frosts will sometimes zap the blooms, so little fruit those years. We are in a river valley, so more likely to have late spring frosts than on a higher slope.

IME there are a fair number of pest and disease issues, such as leaf curl on peach trees, deer, and insects that like fruit. I have decided that it's easier to just patronize local orchards, but if you do decide to raise your own, read up on pruning and prevention strategies, some of which, like kaolin (clay) sprays count as organic. The fake apples covered with sticky stuff are more likely to draw pests than the real apples, so reduce pests without toxics. Integrated pest management where you set traps for problem bugs and only spray when needed will reduce amounts of spraying. There are also several varieties of apples bred to be disease resistent, such as Jonafree.

Inlaws successfully grew small oval plums for many years without sprays, and pears seem more able to produce without extraordinary measures than some fruit.

Blueberries are fairly easy IME, though not trees.

Thanks for the input Sean. And Babs - thank you for mentioning the dreaded deer word. You'd think they would be foremost on my mind - seeing that I just spent $$$ to fence in my veggie garden partially due to deer damage. And I better check on that Copper Beech - that is one expensive tree and I doubt the warranty covers deer damage.

We already have blueberries. Winter moths think they are delicious. Since I do have a winter moth problem, I should definitely factor that into my decision. Better check if winter moth feasts on copper beech as well.

Do you have just one apple tree? If so, then that may be the reason that the fruit is unreliable. Apple trees need a pollinator. It may be worth planting another one to maximize your harvest and make it more reliable.

I have a sour cherry tree. The variety is Montmorency. It didn't produce for years and was very prone to fungal infections the first few years. However, it is now quite large and produces fruit in such large crops that even the birds can't eat all of it so I don't have to do anything special to protect the fruit. It's also doing a lot better now at avoiding disease.

You may want to consider a couple of Asian pear trees. They product heavily even when young.

The first decision you have to make is how much effort & pesticide you want to put into the project. All sorts of fruits *CAN* be grown in New England. If you want a sense of what is possible, go to Belkin Family Lookout Farm or Kimball Farm this Fall to pick apples. Anything they grow can be grown in your area. Apples, pears, and Asian Pears can all be grown in MetroWest. Or post on the "Fruits and Orchards" forums.

If you want a low maintenance or organic garden, your choices are a bit narrower. American Persimmon aren't such good producers but handle the cold better then the Asian variety. (And road salt if you are planting them by the road). The Liberty Apple and some of the older apple varieties are inferior producers but tougher and more resistant to blizzards and disease.

My parents live a bit South of you and planted a peach tree. It grew very well and fast with no maintenance. We got a couple years of fruit from it, but then a disease made the fruit go black most years after that.

Most of my experience is in ornamental shrubs that produce fruit mostly for wildlife, but which is edible for us to. (More as a novelty/amusement thing). Beach Plum is super-tough and easy to transplant but it's fruit is unreliable.

I also stick with local farms and 'imported' fruit, instead of growing my own, because I don't want to use pesticides. Maybe this seems illogical, since the fruit is sprayed anyway, but I'd rather someone else do the pest management so I can keep my garden organic.

There was a really good garden memoir called The $64 Tomato: How One Man Nearly Lost His Sanity, Spent a Fortune, and Endured an Existential Crisis in the Quest for the Perfect Garden - it's about a guy who went all out for growing fruits and vegetables organically. His experience with fruit, in particular, convinced me to stick with flowers and vegetables.

That said, good luck, and keep us posted!