It’s Fruit Tree Sale Season!

Here are all the 2020 fruit tree sales I’m aware of so far. I came up with the list with help from our good friend Angela Chandler from the Garden Academy. If we’ve missed any, please send me an email or call the GardenLine show this weekend.

Don’t worry if you can’t find a tree you’re seeking at these events. Many good independent garden centers and mom-and-pop nurseries in our area carry a variety of fruit trees nearly year-round, so maybe you’ll find yours there. But the advantage of buying at these annual sales is an assurance that you’ll select from only the right trees for this area. Plus, you’ll find experts to answer your fruit tree questions – something you’ll never find at a big-box store or mass merchandiser.

If you’ve never attended one of these sales, here’s some advice:

Get there early – before they open - and stand in line if necessary.
Don’t arrive late, or the specific fruit you want will likely be sold out.
If a sale offers classes, get your butt in a seat … you’ll essentially wind up first in line.
Don’t be in a hurry to plant anything until we are absolutely done with freezing weather. Keep listening to GardenLine … I’ll give you the green light.

If you’re new to GardenLine or this area, you may be wondering why we make such a big deal about these sales. It’s because, along the Gulf Coast, you need to plant only the right varieties of stone fruit trees, and they need to have had the correct number of chill hours. And for citrus, you’ll need sufficiently hardy trees that can handle our various freezes.

Frankly, the biggest difficulty people have in growing fruit in our area is picking the right trees for the climate. If you just stumble into a big-box store that sells anything and everything in fruit trees, you could end up with an Alberta peach or a Red Delicious apple. You’re familiar with those names, right? And, hey, they’re fruit trees! But neither of those will succeed here because they won’t get enough chill hours. Sadly, many potential fruit growers buy the wrong trees and lose interest because of early failures.