Fruit Trees for the Low Desert: Creating a Desert Orchard

The University of Arizona’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences has an entire list of fruit trees that can grow well in the Low Desert. These low desert trees have been able to perform in these mild winter conditions and produce some tasty crops.

Berries

Rosborough blackberries, Tioga strawberries, and Chandler strawberries are all good performers. Rosborough blackberries work in many soil and environment conditions. Tioga strawberries have large and firm berries while the Chandler strawberries are large and sweet.

Nuts

Two almond tree varieties that work well in the Low Desert are Garden Prince Genetic Dwarf and the Nonpareil Almond. The Garden Prince variety is on a dwarf tree with soft shells and sweet nuts. The Nonpareil almond has been the number 1 variety of almonds commercialized today.

For pecan trees, Choctaw and Sioux varieties are ones to plant. The Choctaw variety has a vigorous growth with thin shells. The Sioux tree has a slower production with small or medium size pecans.

Quince and Kiwi

Kiwi fruit varieties include the Vincent Female (which needs pollination from a Tomari Male variety). Quince trees include the Pineapple Quince variety which is self-fruiting with large and tart quince. It is also quite profuse in its fruiting.

Apples

Apple trees include the Beverly Hills and Fuji varieties. The Beverly Hills is self-fruiting and will have a pale yellow color. The Fuji is a sweet apple with a dull red-orange color. Fuji apples were introduced in to the USA via Japan.

There are more apple varieties for the Low Desert, if you are interested.

Pears

Keiffer is a variety of pear that works in the Low Desert area. It does well for canning and cooking and has a coarse texture. For an Asian pear, the Shinseiki pears do well. They are sweet and crisp with bright yellow skins. The Shinseiki is also self-fruiting.

Peaches

Two varieties of peaches that work well are Tropic Sweet and Tropic Snow. Tropic Sweet is self-fruiting and has yellow fruit that are freestone. Tropic Snow has red-blushed white fruit and is freestone.

There are more peach varieties for the Low Desert, if you’re interested.

There are many more fruit tree varieties than are listed here in the listing highlighted above. For those living in the Low Desert region, fruit trees and orchards can indeed be part of your gardening plan. Choosing the right fruit designed to grow there is key to less hassle and maintenance.