Ed's Picks

Apple

Honeycrisp
This is a Top Taste-Test winner and a real performer in zone 3 to 8. What a flavor!!! But be careful, this variety does not do well in areas that have hot summers with low humidity.

Apple

Pink Lady
This is a Top Taste-Test winner and a very copious producer. This variety is the best fresh off the tree. Of course, the best never comes without a catch. If fireblight is a concern in your area, this variety may prove to be a disappointment. Say the word Fireblight and this variety gets it. If this is not a concern, all you need is late season heat and this variety will give you absolutely wonderful apples.

Apple

Akane
This is a real jewel and a great mid-season treat. Adaptable to zones 5 -9 and many climate conditions. I select this one because in its time slot, nothing compares. A smaller apple with big flavor, it is as consistent a producer as any variety under the most unfavorable conditions.

Apple

Ashmeads Kernel
This is one of the uglys that most would not choose because of looks. Boy, would they be wrong! Eat it fresh off the tree, juice it, bake it - one quickly realizes that this brown-skinned (russet) fruit is a swan under the skin. I personally find Ashmeads Kernel and a close second - the Hudsons Golden Gem - to be two of the finest-flavored apple varieties.

Apricots

Apricots can prove to be a marginal producer even in the best of climates. With this in mind, here are a few stand-out performers that are both dependable and great-tasting.

Goldcot
Without a doubt this variety has it for dependability. Never a taste test winner but is praised throughout the US as a great variety with great apricot flavor. I just can’t ignore success.

Apricots

Harcot
The jury is still out on this one for adaptability but for flavor there is no question: this is a great variety. It can take a little longer to come into bearing 2 to 4 years. The problem really gets worse in areas of lower chill. Harcot has a solid 800 hrs chill requirement and that is that. Beautiful red foliage in the spring makes Harcot an editable ornamental candidate.

Apricots

Tomcot
This is my personal favorite. It has been for years and still is today. Tomcot is another that is not a top taste test winner, but the reports throughout the nation can not be ignored. Tomcot is a Real Performer. So Early Season a variety that it has nothing to compare to. That makes this variety the best because it is always there. For many reasons I am not an apricot fan...I am a Tomcot fan.

Apricots

Autumn Glo
This is as late as apricots ripen (August) and as such is not for every location. Autumn Glo and the sister variety Earli-Autumn are both exceptionally flavored apricots that have the best qualities of the finest cots. The only catch is that the late ripening makes them only good in areas that have long, warm, late summers. Cool nights in September will work against you!

Cherries

I don’t think that I have ever had a bad sweet Cherry. This makes Cherries the most difficult to recommend, but here are some standouts...

Lapins
Also known as “Self-fruitful Bing”, this is a variety that works in so many ways. If there is only room for one tree, then this will fit well; great eating cherry and no pollinator needed. Have a variety that you love but lost the pollinator? No problem. Odds are the Lapins will do the job. It is a great pollinator for the Bing as well.

Cherries

Royal Rainier
This is a Cherry to get excited about. Yellow with red blush rainier type fruit that has the most intense cherry flavor, very sweet! The set on this variety is heavy hanging cherries almost like grape clusters. The size is great, the flavor is remarkable and the fruit set is tremendous. This has been a Taste Test favorite since the Zaigers introduced it. Royal Rainier does require a pollinator. Try one of the two other varieties I have recommended here.

Cherries

Utah Giant
This variety has been a top taste winner since Dave Wilson Nursery began doing blind tastings. It has always been in the top 3 or 4. A large black Cherry that is meaty and rich flavored. Utah Giant has all the great qualities of a taste-test favorite. It produces no doubled & requires a pollinator. Try either of the other 2 varieties or Bing, Rainier or Van.

Figs

I don’t have a lot to share in this category because figs are somewhat limited as to where they can be planted successfully. But I like the versatility of some of them.

Violette de Bordeaux
This is a dwarf tree with dark purple fruit that has great strawberry like flesh. The fruit size can be on the small to medium side but the awesome flavor is huge!

Figs

Excel
This is another of the cold hardy figs. With protection, this variety will set in zone 6. Of course there are groups of you that get fig-set in zone 5, but this one will take a little extra work. Yellow fruit with amber flesh, this is a tasty variety that resists splitting. Also reported to do well in a container.

Nectarine

This is another fruit type that can have problems in all but the most well-suited areas. Still, there are a number of varieties that seem to perform well in the more marginal areas. If you have been told that your area is marginal for Nectarines, try these varieties.

Harko
This is a BIGGY, it has the highest score for a Nectarine in the 15 years Dave Wilson has been doing taste tests. This is a good eater with a very rich, traditional Nectarine flavor. I like this fruit because of its adaptability. This Canadian Nectarine has some cold adaptation included. Good in Idaho and Utah and there are some good reports from the east coast. It will need all the care that any peach needs, so be prepared to spray. This one is worth the effort.

Nectarine

Juneglo
Not only a taste test winner but one of my personal favorites. Juneglo has been one of the better backyard Nectarines for zone 6 -7 and some zone 5b on a stretch. Early season late bloomer is the key here. Don’t think for a second that this one lacks flavor, oh boy! it's a tasty nectarine.

Nectarine

Arctic Blaze
A white fleshed nectarine of exceptional merit. This is not the most adaptable, but where nectarines do well, this is close to the finest piece of fruit one can grow. Very low in acid, but just enough to make the flavor perfect. Sooooo sweet...but not too. It has been recommended for some marginal areas (zone 7 for instance...) but not by me. It is large, juicy and eats well firm-to-soft ripe - this fruit has a long harvest - maybe 3 weeks.

Peach

Peaches are where Dave Wilson Nursery shines. Personally I don’t think that we offer a bad peach, but I will admit that some are better than others. I could almost choose a favorite for every 2 weeks during the growing season. This makes Peaches the perfect candidate for 3 or 4 in one hole, because there are so many great choices.

Indian Free
This is one of the highest rated fruits ever tested at Dave Wilson Nursery. Not pretty - and needs a pollinator - but all that is just what one deals with to get this incredibly fine tasting fruit. Not your average flavor either: I swear it has plum in it but no one has tested it as yet. Oh!, did I mention that it is highly peach leaf curl resistant? Indian Free needs good heat in the late season so this is not a variety for the coast or areas that cool fast in the late summer.

Peach

June Pride
Year after year at Dave Wilson Nursery this is the variety that we all look forward to. This early season fruit has rich flavor and the longest hang-time of any peach I know. I have picked it over 4 weeks during the summer. It just continues to get better and better. This is a variety that does fine in zones 6-9 but is a good candidate for testing in zone 5.

Peach

O’Henry
If you don’t know this one pay close attention. O’Henry saw it beginnings in the commercial markets. But the Home Garden guys at Dave Wilson Nursery just left it on the tree a little longer back in the early 80’s. What they discovered was a large, superb-flavored, firm-fleshed fruit. This is one of the best late-season peaches. A very dependable bearer that sets a great crop most every year. I see O’Henry planted everywhere that peaches do well.

Peach

Snow Beauty
Did someone say large size? Well...Snow Beauty is a big fruit. It has red skin & white flesh, plus a big size and a big flavor. It's also a big winner and another of the highest-scoring fruits ever tested at Dave Wilson Nursery's blind tastings. Ripening in mid season, Snow Beauty comes in with some of the heavy hitters of fruit, but stands out for its unique sweet flavor. It appears to be performing well in zone 5-6 trials.

Peach

Suncrest
Epitaph for a Peach by David Mas Masumoto, reintroduced us all to this jewel of a peach. Read the book while you eat the peach! Savor the experience - this fruit is as elegant as Masumoto says it is. A late bloomer and good frost hardiness has given this fruit great reports even from zone 5a. Suncrest is worth planting wherever peaches are grown.

Peach

White Lady
The best tasting of the white peaches for colder climates. A #1 taste test winner in 1998, it has been popular with roadside-stand growers for years. This is a great low-acid high-sugar white peach that will perform well in zone 5b.

Pears

I like lots of Pears. To pick favorites is difficult. The biggest problem for the average home gardener is disease resistance and, of course, great flavor. With that in mind, let me share a few that have these important qualities.

Harrow Delight
This has been a Dave Wilson in-house favorite since we first sampled it. Harrow produces a Bartlett-like fruit without the Bartlett susceptibility to fireblight. Smooth flesh - and I think it has better flavor than Bartlett. A heavy producer at a young age, needs a pollinator like Bartlett, Bosc, D’Anjou and Moonglo.

Pears

Warren
This may be the most under-appreciated fruit I know. Warren has great flavor,smooth flesh, and is very fireblight resistant. With a juicy, buttery flavor, this variety just lacks good word-of-mouth or hand-to-mouth advertising.

Asian Pears

Another tough category for me. I can’t recommend disease resistant varieties because I have not found an Asian pear that tastes good that doesn’t get fireblight. However! In most tastings that include Asian Pears, one variety of Asian Pear is usually placed in the top 10. It is scored high for its fine flavor and wonderful aftertaste.

Hosui

High-scoring in taste tests: perhaps the tastiest Asian pear. Large, juicy, sweet, flavorful, refreshing, crisp like an apple. Brownish-orange russeted skin. Ripens early to mid-August in Central CA. Pollinated by Shinko, Chojuro, Bartlett, or 20th Century.

Plums

This is my favorite category of fruit. I have many favorites and feel the plum is the most under appreciated fruit. This fruit is all about Home Grown. There has not been a decent plum in the produce markets for years. Black and Red is how they are described in the produce market. Plums are not about color but have everything to do with time of the year, great flavor and a name to identify it all. So you know what is good and what is eckkk.

Emerald Beaut
The king of all plum varieties is Green!! Don’t think for a second that green cannot mean the best tasting plum that has ever been offered. Blindfolded taste tests show Emerald Beaut to be the best piece of fruit available today. Sweet? You bet! On a brix/sugar reading taken on 10/23/06, a reading of 29 brix was indicated (Thompson Seedless grapes are picked at 22-24 brix). This is very high, and better yet, Emerald Beaut has a long harvest. Where most plums begin tasting their best at 18 brix, the Emerald Beaut has been at 18 brix since 8/20/06. A quality that is unmatched is that time Emerald Beaut remains firm and crunchy throughout. It requires a pollinator. Beauty, Burgundy, Late Santa Rosa, and any other late blooming plum should work.

Plums

Laroda
Another personal favorite, Laroda never disappoints me. If your tastes are complex and you like fruit that challenges your pallet, Laroda is the 1st choice. Dark purple skin with amber flesh and red radiating into the flesh. As far as the area where this one grows well, zones 6-9 - and after that is anyone’s guess since this variety get little planting. Requires a pollinator: Santa Rosa, Burgundy or Nubiana.

Plums

Superior
There is no plum that can come close to Superior for unique flavor. Don’t even think about comparing this to anything…… it doesn’t exist. A very cold hardy variety, maybe the hardiest of all the Japanese plum varieties. This may be due to the fact that it is not only a Japanese plum. It is a crossed with an American plum which most likely gives it better adaptation. Zone 5a is home for this incredible tasting variety. Don’t discount it! It will do fine anywhere that plums grow well. Sorry! you low chill folks: this one is not for you.

Plums

Green Gage (Bavays)
Another green fruit that is the top in its category. Bavays Green Gage is not large, not pretty, not popular, but oh! it's good. Fresh off the tree, cooked or dried, it is the European plum to which all others may be compared. A small fruit that packs in the rich, sweet flavor. This variety will make all the cold country folks happy: the colder the climate, the better this variety does. A great zone 5a choice and it could go to 4b.

Pluot®

Wow!! Is the only word to describe the Pluot®. Each with its own distinct flavor as sweet and tasty as the best apricots or plums ever offered, but together in one fruit. Still, this outstanding category of fruit has its challenges. Most of the varieties offered so far have not proven too successful in any but the best apricot-growing areas. This means that what stands out to me are the ones that have performed well in the greatest number of zones. Of course, these are the ones that have the most outstanding flavor as well.

Dapple Dandy
A fruit with many qualities and adaptation as well as a top taste winner on numerous panels. It has the great unique Plum-Apricot flavor so distinct with other Pluots®. Dapple Dandy also has the distinction of being a good pollinator for most of the other varieties of Pluot®. For this, it's a very important variety. Dapple Dandy is also proven to set in zone 5-9. However! Be careful: if it gets a crop setback one year, Dapple Dandy will overset the following season with devastating results. This means that it will need to be aggressively thinned every year.

Pluot®

Flavor King
And it is the King!! Blindfold a person, put them in a room, and cut open a Flavor King Pluot® and the taster would have no problem identifying it. The whole room fills with a sweet, flowery bouquet. One bite and it turns to a flavor-spray with Plum, mango, port wine and apricot overtones. (I love that wine talk) This variety has proven successful in zone 5-9. But beware! Rain during bloom with this and other Pluot® varieties can spell disaster.

Pluot®

Flavor Grenade
With explosive flavor and one of the longest hang-times of any fruit I know. That is, if you can let it stay on the tree that long! In some years, I have harvested Flavor Grenade after Halloween. The fruit still has a distinctive crunch and the flavor is sweet as honey. Good reports are beginning to come in from zone 5 areas that have good late-summer heat. Remember! Flavor Grenade is a late-season variety, and in some cold-country areas it will be an early-September fruit. Those who can grow Flavor Grenade successfully are in for a late-season treat that will leave you looking forward to the end of next summer.