What Makes Fruit Trees Special?

Fruit trees, unlike other plants in your garden, don't come and go as seasons change. They don't just look pretty for a few short weeks and then fade into the back ground. Fruit trees are a permanent feature that demands your time and attention for a good portion of the year. The effort that they require is repaid in full at harvest time. Fruit all comes at once, further demanding your attention, which, if managed responsibly will extend your enjoyment and satisfaction into the winter.

As spring draws closer, bulbs and other perennials will begin emerging from their dormant state and prepare for their annual show. Each one with a unique color, texture, or shape. There is a reason it was planted in your garden. It's entire life is centered around a few short weeks of color. If planned correctly, your perennials will climax at different times throughout your growing season. Helleborus, followed by Tulips, Basket of Gold, and so on until the fall Asters are nipped by frost. Some perennials, like Coreopsis will continue to bloom for months if they are regularly dead headed. Heuchera, grown for it's beautiful foliage, will provide your garden with an assortment of color for the entire season, but even these will wither away and vanish in the cold until they reemerge next spring.

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Annuals, are grown for their ability to bloom continually, as long as the weather stays warm, but need rich soils and lots of water. These too will do best with a regular dead heading. These needy plants will pay for themselves in color, but won't return after the first frost.

Ornamental woody trees and shrubs, similar to perennials, have a place in the garden, but they too will put on a big show for a few weeks and then stand silently as structural elements to the overall design. Ninebark, Spiraea, and Variegated Dogwoods can be spaced throughout the garden to add a variety of colored foliage, but they will eventually lose their leaves and patiently await another season.

Unlike other plants in your garden, fruit trees will require your attention for a good portion of the year. From pruning, to pest control, to harvest and preservation, there is always something to do with your fruit trees. Even when nothing is happening in the garden, that plum jelly will remind you of that beautiful asset in your backyard. 

A fruit tree is not something that you can just pick up at a local garden center like a packet of seeds and expect a bushel of peaches in 90 days. They come small and relatively unproductive. Once planted they will need structural pruning for several years before you receive anything worth bragging about. With time, patience, and lots of hard work, your fruit tree will be a beautiful and productive part of your landscape.

In the winter, a well pruned fruit tree can be a beautiful silhouette in the snow. In the spring, it's blossoms will out perform most ornamental plants. When the fruit sets, your tree will show promise of a bountiful harvest, and then the day will finally come. With filled bags and baskets full of fruit you won't even notice anything else in the garden. It all comes at once, so after the harvest the real work begins. You will eat your fill and then bottle, freeze, or dry the rest so that it can be enjoyed all winter long.

When you look longingly into your garden in the winter, your fruit tree will be the first thing to receive your attention. It's time to start pruning and the whole process starts again. It might just be my opinion, but fruit trees are the best part of any garden.

Thanks for Reading! If you would like to learn more about the care and pruning of fruit trees, please browse our 100+ fruit tree articles here, join our Backyard Fruit Growers Facebook Group, and take our free Fruit Tree Pruning Course. Also, please subscribe to our Fruit Pruning YouTube Channel.