Fruit trees (Denver, Westminster, Boulder: transplants, house, buy)

[csqui523]

I love fruit trees and always have some kind of tree wherever I live. I also like to plant vegetables. What I would like to find out is what type of fruits or vegetables can I plant in Denver? I am really annoyed right now, as the mango tree I planted when I first moved to the Cayman Islands is starting to bear for the first time, and I'm leaving!!! I am fairly certain a mango tree won't do very well in Denver . What kind of trees can I plant there?

[DomHPD]

this might help you out

Deciduous Trees - High Altitude Gardening - Denver Plants.com



google is your friend

[si33]

sorry to hear about the mango tree..let alone that you're having to leave such a place!!...
as for your question,..id probally go with fruit trees which flower later in the spring..cuz from what i have learned about denver springs is that it can be 70+ one day,and 35 with 3"of snow the next....by selecting varieties which are resistant to such extremes..you'll avoid the dissippointment of no fruit later in the year,when a tasty apple or a bowl of cherries makes for a perfect summer treat...
look around online...or talk to your local nurseryman...someone who knows their fruit trees...there are plenty adapted for the denver area...
another treat you might want to consider..blueberries..
plant em in a large pot,out on a patio,if you have one...definately beats the ones you'll come across at the stores....
as for the mangoes....wish i could grow em' here too.
as far as veggies..pretty much anything goes...just remember that denvers growing season is kindv shorter than other areas..other than that..you have alot of options.....good luck..

[Micktooth]

We have a peach tree and a cherry tree in our yard. Last year the peaches were plentiful and delicious.

[Katiana]

We don't have any fruit trees; they seem to require a lot of maintenance, e.g. spraying, etc. There are a lot of apple trees in our 'hood, also cherry trees, though I think the cherries are grown more for the blossoms. We chose a late-blooming crab apple for our front yard b/c of the conditions si33 referred to (it's purely decorative).

We garden. We've given up on sweet corn as here in Boulder Co there are lots of farm stands that can supply us with all the corn we can eat. We do love it! Some years you can grow long season stuff like tomatoes very well, other years, not so much. We've tried shorter season tomatoes, but they don't seem as good (or as large). Green beans do well, unless they get hit by hail, as ours did one summer. Some years we have enough to freeze and eat for Thanksgiving dinner, and we have a small garden.

We have a cat named Mango!

[si33]

just a quick note which i forgot to include in my op....
when deciding what to plant,whether fruit trees or flowers,take into account the micro climates of your property...
if your yard faces south,..more sun/heat..and the ground will thaw/warm faster in the springtime...
.....if it faces north,..it may tend to be cooler in the summer..and take longer to warm in the spring.....
if you get alot of wind...this may tend to dry things out
not so great for some fruit trees.....
on a slope??..cooler or warmer year round depending on which way it faces
in a canyon or valley-like area?..colder air drains out of..or collects in....
out here in calif. alot of people take their micro climate situations pretty seriously....perhaps because alot of nursery professionals here will ask you which one you live in..
back east...i noticed that when talking to most nursery specialists ..cold exposure and wind exposure seemed to be the biggest concerns...by the way...definately recomend ornamental crab apple trees(for flowers only)...wish theyd plant them more out here...

[denverian]

Originally Posted by pittnurse70

We don't have any fruit trees; they seem to require a lot of maintenance, e.g. spraying, etc. There are a lot of apple trees in our 'hood, also cherry trees, though I think the cherries are grown more for the blossoms. We chose a late-blooming crab apple for our front yard b/c of the conditions si33 referred to (it's purely decorative).

We garden. We've given up on sweet corn as here in Boulder Co there are lots of farm stands that can supply us with all the corn we can eat. We do love it! Some years you can grow long season stuff like tomatoes very well, other years, not so much. We've tried shorter season tomatoes, but they don't seem as good (or as large). Green beans do well, unless they get hit by hail, as ours did one summer. Some years we have enough to freeze and eat for Thanksgiving dinner, and we have a small garden.

We have a cat named Mango!

I started my tomato plants inside last year and in April started moving them outside on warm days, inside when too cold. So by the time I planted them in mid May, they were fairly big. I had several varieties and so many tomatoes in July and August that I was giving them away! I think I got my first tomato in June actually.

My neighbors have a good apple tree. Do plums grow here? Pears probably do. I grow banana trees too, but I have to cut them back to the stalk, dig them up and store the stalks in the basement for the winter. They actually go dormant, so in early April I'll stick them in pots in the house and start watering them to get them going, to be planted outside again by mid May. I've never seen another banana tree growing in Denver! I'm sure some other insane person does it though.

[love roses]

We had a peach tree when we lived there and it did great and we really didn't need to do much to maintain it.

[Katiana]

We have done all kinds of things with tomatoes in 27 yrs of living here. Actually, we didn't have a garden last year as we were moving our pool to make more garden room. But I digress. We have started early, used Wall O Waters, etc, etc, etc. We finally just started putting transplants we buy at a garden center out after the last frost and we get tomatoes as soon as we did with all our other methods.

We had an apricot tree that died. When we cut it down, it was full, and I mean full, of insects.

[Noahma]

Westminster had at one point in history been one of the largest apple growing areas in the country. Long gone now, but there are apple trees all over the place.