![]() ![]() Most fruit trees that grow well in cold climates are deciduous, an evolutionary adaptation to protect sensitive plant tissue from cold winters. If you live in an area that gets frost in winter, there’s still a wide choice of suitable fruit trees. ![]() So the following selections are based on the three general climate types found in Australia. The choice of what fruit tree is limited not only by your fruit preference - why grow a fruit you don’t want to eat? - but especially by climate. With restricted room, more thought is needed to select suitable trees for your soil and climate. While those with large properties can easily establish orchards, this is not possible for most urban gardeners, who have limitations on space. With the recent interest in growing vegetables, it seems appropriate to encourage the planting of fruit trees in our gardens again. ![]() Cheap motor transport saw the arrival of cheaply available fruit in shops, and changing fashions in garden design saw patios, swimming pools and garages take up valuable backyard space. These plants began to disappear with the take-up of the motor car. Historical records tell us that from European settlement until the middle of the last century, Australian gardens, like the French, often included several fruit trees. With the exception of a lemon or banana growing near the back fence, few Australian suburban backyards include fruit trees. While the trees in the warm climate gardens of Vietnam were very different from those in temperate France, the use of productive trees, such as mango, citrus and pawpaw, indicated that growing food at home was an important part of Asian culture. Several years later, during a trip to Vietnam, I discovered a similar use of fruit trees grown around homes. Looking over several walls and fences, I was fascinated by how many gardens were planted with fruit trees, especially ornamental ones such as cherry, plum, apple and pear. A decade ago, during a summer holiday in France, I was walking through a village in the Loire valley and, being horticulturally nosy, I became engrossed with what was being grown in the back gardens. ![]()
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