The following notes are intended to show you the range of different fruit and nuts that can be grown in warm temperate areas, and how they might fit into a strategy of growing some food in either a suburban or peri-urban country garden.
Detailed notes and illustrations on pruning, culture, and local pests and diseases affecting the plants you have
sorted out from this list as possibly worth growing can be found in some of the excellent books on fruit and nut
growing in your local bookstore or library.

You can help our home food growing community of interest. E-mail me here if you can add to this information.Or write a page (save as a .html page and e-mail it). You are credited as author (or not, if you want) Write about a fruit in your climatic zone! All contributions welcomed!
Or just give me details on cultivars you have tried or know about, or corrections. Lots of information is lost in a mobile and changing society - help make this our permanent record! Or submit a link to relevant factual information. Come on, pull finger and contribute! Incredible as it may sound, there have been about 3 contributions and corrections in 3 years! If you don't put your knowledge here, it will be lost to the world. This is the most respected Hub on natural food on the internet, the best and most complete site on natural food. Write a fact sheet on what you know and I'll put it up!!!!

 Warm temperate areas are areas that are generally cold in winter, but while there are usually air frosts, it never snows. In the more oceanic influenced variations of this zone, citrus will fruit, but some of the most heat demanding citrus, such as the true grapefruit, will only be successful in the high heat, almost mediterranean variation of this broad climatic zone. Elevated, or seaside sites, may have only a few ground frosts in cold years, and no air frosts. In these microclimates some deciduous fruit cultivars will not have enough winter chilling, and selecting low chill cultivars is essential. There is a complex interplay between accumulated heat, wind effects, chilling, length of season, prescence or abscence of late frosts, and varietal differences that determines what can be grown in any one part of this broad zone. Local experience-seeing what your neighbours grow-is particularly important.
Indicator plants for warm temperate areas are-peaches, citrus, low chill stonefruit, feijoa, kiwifruit, casimiroa; tamarillo, avocado and banana in favored microclimates

Our choice of type of fruit tree, or even variety of apple or orange or whatever, is not infuenced only by our particular local climatic conditions. Soil, and overwhelmingly, soil drainage, is a vital factor. In general, stonefruit are least tolerant of clay soils (especially where there is a high water table), except that plums are much more tolerant than other stonefruit. Apples are more tolerant still of wet soils, and pears are the most tolerant. Paradoxically, clay soils need heavy mulching or irrigating in hot summers. Lack of water is one of the most important factors in reduced fruit yeild. Luckily, the home fruit gardener can overcome problems of both poor drainage and dry, sandy soil, by the same methods-using lots of organic soils amendments such as peat or compost, using raised beds, and selecting dwarf trees. The ultimate work around for poor soils is to grow dwarf trees in large containers.

When we chose which fruit trees to plant, we have to take into account our personal circumstances and preferences. How much space is available for fruit trees? Is it sunny or rather shady? Is my lifestyle too busy to put a lot of time into regular spraying and pruning? Do I take pride in doing the whole cultural programme well? Will this tree grow very big and shade views or damage paved areas or drains? What does it take to keep assorted varmints-opposums, crows, blackbirds, bullfinches, rats, voles rabbits, wandering children, etc away from the fruit (and bark), and realistically, am I likely to do what it takes? Will the tree start fruiting before I am likely to leave this address? What landscape values (form, blossom, fragrance, foliage, fruit color) does the tree have, and how important is that to me and my 'significant other'? Am I looking for particular health benefits in growing some of my own fruit, and if so, which fruits will deliver those benefits? Am I looking for particular connoisseur taste experiences in growing some of my own fruit, and am I willing to give up productivity if the best variety is poorly productive? 'Growing all my own fruit' is a dream, but an impractical dream even on the basis of there not being enough daylight hours in a week to accomplish such a task, so what are the best strategies-very early and very late varieties when market prices are high? Grow only the species such as Mayhaw or Casimiroa that never appear in the market? Grow a lot of one fruit very well and can/bottle it? A mixed strategy?

The answers to many of these questions is found in dwarf fruiting trees and in varieties that cannot (for a variety of reasons) be grown commercially. It's a delicious challenge, and a very personal one, because everyones situation and motivation is different
These notes are intended to help you decide how much of your food you would like to grow, now, or in the future.

United States Plant Hardiness Zones JJJJ This Agriculture Research Service map not only tells you which hardiness zone you are in, you can zoom in on any part of the map, or go to your individual state. State or zoom in maps also give you typical cold hardy plants, and align the cold hardiness information to a typical city.
http://www.ars-grin.gov/ars/Beltsville/na/hardzone/ushzmap.html?

ACTINIDIA-See 'Hardy Kiwifruit' and 'Kiwifruit'

ALMOND-See 'Nut, Almond'

ANNONA SPECIES
Growing  Wild Annona species JJJJ  from the Center for New Crops & Plant Products, at Purdue University Site, an extract from Julia Morton's Book 'Fruits of warm climates'. Discusses and describes Annona senegalensis, with a little on Annona montana. Also covers origin and distribution, uses. Concise, informative. 1 good photos of A. montana fruit
http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/wild_custard_apple_ars.html

APPLE-Malus sylvestris. The undisputed King of all fruit for the Urban food garden. Apples are reliable and heavy croppers (usually), and are a fruit that everyone likes. Most importantly, they start bearing very quickly-within 2-3 years of planting for the most dwarf apples, and within 4-5 years from planting for the semi-dwarfs (They will bear earlier than this, but it is best to pull the fruit off and encourage growth at first).The range of flavors is the most extensive and complex of any fruit, encompassing perfumed, anise, honeyed, spicy, and with a wide range and combination of sugar levels and acids. Many superbly flavored cultivars, such as 'Telstar' or 'Freyburg' won't stand shipping, or become too easily damaged if they are properly tree ripened, and so only the home gardener is  able to enjoy these taste sensations. Esaliered trees should be on a semi-dwarfing rootstock such as MM106. Small free standing bushes can be created by buying a tree grafted to a very dwarfing rootstocks such as MM9. These mini trees definitely need staking with the stake driven well into the ground at the time of planting. Dwarf trees, either espaliered against a wall or fence, or as small bushes, are the only game in town for the small garden of the urban Hominid. Varieties that bear on short 'spurs' are also desirable, as they are naturally smaller. Cordoning apples is not worth the effort unless they are varieties that spur freely, and are on a slightly more vigorous rootstock (such as MM106).
Apple blossom is a lovely sight, and the natural columnar spurring types such as 'Polka®' have a particularly valuable form for use in landscaping.
The two major problems are codling moth and bird damage. Moth can be confused by placing pheromone lures around, and birds can be netted out of the tree, or a variety of cunning and reasonably priced commercial bird scare devices can be tried. Some apples are subject to some quite damaging fungus diseases unless they are sprayed; however, there are disease resistant varieties, and most varieties will get by with indifferent attention to copper sprays so long as the trees get fertilised and mulched and watered in hot dry weather. Most of us move house so frequently that by the time a tree is perhaps bady affected, we will have moved anyway.
Conversely, remove badly diseased trees you may find in a property you move to and start with healthy new stock-but don't plant them in the same place as the old trees were removed from.
The kind of apple or apples should be decided by the purpose you have in mind-cooking or fresh eating-and what you like. Some like complex apples with high acid and high sugars, such as 'Cox's Orange', others like perfumed sweet apples with low acid, such as 'Gala'. In the flush of the season, apples are relatively cheap, so a good strategy is to grow an apple that is simply not available, and that has superb eating qualities. Paradoxically, even common commercial varieties can reveal extra sweetness and depth of flavour when they are allowed to hang on the tree longer than would be commercially feasible, and when their soil is amended with lots of organic material and flavor promoting materials such as seaweed and fish manure leaf sprays.
Virtually any soil will grow apples, but light or sandy soils need to be mulched and watered in summer, especially if the weak-rooted MM9 rootstock is being used. The trees need to be kept healthy with good nutrition, adequate sunshine, mulching to suppress weed competion, and summer watering.-an apple tree is said to need at least 20 healthy leaves to mature one fruit. It is advisable to keep pruning to a minimum, but any pruning that needs doing should be done in summer, even if you have to sacrifice a few fruit. Prune the newly grown summer laterals back to 3 or 4 leaves, cut vigorous shoots right back, and when necesary, shorten main branches to a downward pointing bud or spur. Take out the occasional larger branch when necessary to keep the tree open and uncrowded, and prune back some excessively long spurs. Some apples are 'tip bearers', and for these kinds, pruning all the laterals means few fruit next year! Prune them in winter. Only the strongest laterals should be pruned- to about 6 buds. The leaders should also be cut back by about a third. All in all, 'tip bearers' are not as well suited to the small garden. Spray with copper when half the leaves have fallen and in spring at bud burst. Winter pruned trees are much more likely to get a fairly serious disease called 'silverleaf' unless each cut is treated with a top quality wound sealing paste, or unless the tree had been vaccinated against the disease early in it's life. Some apples get into a pattern of bearing heavily every second year, with little or nothing in the in-between years. This 'biennial bearing is difficult to correct. Sometimes hand thinning the fruit when it is newly set will restore a more regular annual pattern.Thinning  gives better sized apples anyway. There is often a natural drop of small fruitlets, and once this has passed, it is a good idea to thin the apples to about 4inches/100mm apart.
Apples for cool summers and mild winters-Gravenstein, Akane, Chehalis, Liberty, Jonagold.
Disease resistant varieties-Belmac, Prima, Primevere, Priscella, Redfree, Jonafree, Liberty.
General apple culture.
Alphabetical list and description of apple cultivars.

APRICOTPrunus armeniaca- Home grown apricots can be so sweet and flavorsome they find every unfilled cavity in your teeth! Tree ripened fruit of the most flavorsome cultivars are a connoisseur delight of the highest order. The main challenges are to keep birds away from them, and in warmer areas, to get good fruit set. They require less winter chilling than most peaches, but, paradoxically, often drop their buds following a warm winter and early spring. Equally, because they flower very early in Spring, the blossoms can be damaged in locations that tend to trap frost in pockets. Apricots really need reasonably free draining soil, unless they are grafted onto plum roostock. Many  varieties of apricot are self fertile. However, a pollenizer will increase production.
They are reasonably attractive in bloom, altho' not quite as showy as most peaches. As they bear fruit on short spurs, they don't need the regular fairly drastic yearly pruning that peaches and nectarines do. Most pruning can be done in summer, after fruiting, and is aimed at controlling size and form, removing old played out spurs and encouraging some new growth for future spurring.
Birds love apricots, and netting the tree is difficult, given it's size. This makes dwarf cultivars an interesting proposition. In addition, like all stone fruit, apricots are subject to 'silverleaf' fungus disease, and 'brown rot' of the fruit. Drier climates have far fewer problems with fungus than wetter areas, and are regarded as almost trouble free trees.
All in all, apricots are immensely rewarding, but because selecting the right variety for your local climatic conditions is of the highest importance, and the fruits have to be protected from varmints, apricots are best regarded as a must for those drier and cold enough but not too cold areas where apricots fruit well, but an uncertain bet in late frost prone, or humid, or very warm areas.
Blenheim-'Royal'. the medium large fruit are sweet but with good acid balance, and firm fleshed. Highly productive tree, and the fruit hold their shape well when canned/bottled.(US, UK, NZ) Blenheim is a moderate chill variety. A lovely photo of the fruit is on the Sierra Gold Nursery web site.
Jordanne-is a  very large, high-colored apricot with very good flavor, but it needs a pollenizer (US)
Newcastle-Small, round yellow skinned fruit with soft texture. The tree is large and vigorous, but is subject to disease, especially in humid areas. Newcastle is a low chill variety.(US, NZ)
Newcastle Early Seedling- said to be an improved 'Newcastle'-earlier, better adapted to warm, low chill areas.(NZ)
Sundrop- main commercial variety. Fantastic looking fruit, but not exactly tops in sweetness & flavor. (NZ)
Golden Amber-the fruit are large, fine grained, yellow fleshed, firm, with excellent flavor. The late season fruit have the advantage of ripening over an extended period.The trees are upright, vigorous, and highly productive.(US)
'Goldrich'(US), 'Perfection'(US), and 'Rival'(US)  need another variety to act as pollenizer. 'Rival' will pollenize all the others.
Goldstrike-exceptionally high colored flesh, very firm, and is acidic unless fully tree ripened. Needs a pollenizer.(US)
'Puget Gold'- the cv. best adapted to areas with cool summers mild winters where apricots are not generally successful (US)
Dwarf apricots- such as 'Moonglow'(US) and 'Sungold'(US), are both sweet, if not as richly flavored as standard cultivars, but both require a pollenizer. Which happens to be each other.
Lower chill apricots-in the very warmest parts of the warm temperate zone, even these may not suceed, or only in some years-'Blenheim'(USA, NZ), 'Katy Kot'(USA, NZ), 'Gold Kist' (USA), 'Newcastle'(USA, NZ), 'Newcastle Early Seedling'(NZ), 'Trevatt'(NZ).
Apricot cultivars in USA JJJJ Brief notes on the fruit  and tree characteristics (especially useful for identifying the chill requirements of various cultivars) of 11 cultivars of apricot for USA, from Sierra Gold Nurseries, California, website.
http://www.sierragoldtrees.com/html/apricot.htm

APRICOT-PLUM HYBRIDS These very exciting hybrids between the two species are mainly the work of Zaiger genetics in USA. Pluot® is a trademark name for varieties derived from complex interspecific hybrids between plum and apricots. Generally, a 'pluot®' is a cross between a plumcot (P. armeniaca x P. domestica) and a plum (P. domestica). Thus it usually has 75% plum genes and 25% apricot genes. Reflecting this, Pluots have smooth skin like a plum. As already mentioned, plumcots are a straight plum/apricot hybrid.  An aprium® is also a trademark name for varieties derived from crosses between  plumcots (P. armeniaca x P.domestica) and apricots (P. armeniaca).Because this results in 75% apricot genes and only 25% plum genes, the fruits are scantly covered in a very fine fuzz as are apricots.
One of the features of these hybrids is that they are very sweet, and have complex and excellent flavor.
Plants grafted on 'citation' rootstock are semi dwarfed. The only real drawback has been sorting out pollenizer for these very new fruits. 'Dapple Dandy' has been suggested as a pollenizer for some of them, and the ubiquitous 'Santa Rosa' for Dapple Dandy itself.
Dapple Dandy (Plumcot)-pale greenish yellow skin with distinctive red dots. The firm flesh is creamy white streaked with crimson, and is sweet and highly flavored. It is a very useful pollenizer for other apricot-plum hybrids.(US)
Flavorella (Plumcot) Early season.Flavorella is a medium sized, translucent golden yellow skinned fruit, with a slight red blush and very slight fuzz.It is firm, juicy, and with a very good flavor. The tree is spreading and a pollenizer is required.(US)
Flavor Delight (Aprium®)
Flavor King (Pluot®)-Late season.F.K. has large attractive fruit, with yellowy red sweet, perfumed flesh. The moderately spreading tree is mid to late season blooming, an advantage in areas prone to late spring frosts. A pollenizer is required.(US, NZ)
Flavor Queen (Pluot®)-Mid late season. F.Q. is medium to large sized, has yellow skin and sweet, juicy, yellow flesh of excellent flavor.The fruit hold well on the tree, a useful advantage for extending the season. F.Q. blooms early, so needs a pollenizer that also blooms early. (US)
Flavorich (Pluot®) Late season.The black fruit are large, with orange, sweet flesh of excellent flavor.The moderately spreading tree is mid to late season blooming, an advantage in areas prone to late spring frosts. A pollenizer is required.
Flavor Supreme (Pluot®)-red fleshed, early, and with better flavor than early red fleshed plums.(US)
Flor Ziran 'Black Apricot'-(Plumcot)-dark purple skin, tender, juicy, fine grained orange flesh somewhat suffused with red. The tree is vigorous.(US)
Plum Parfait (Plumcot)-Early season. The medium sized fruit are dark yellow heavily blushed with red, the flesh is dark yellow, streaked red at the freestone pit, and with very good flavor.The tree is naturally relatively small (3M/10 feet) and spreading. It has the twin advantages of being self fertile and low chill.(US)

ASIAN PEAR-Pyrus serotina 'Nashi', 'Misunashi', 'Apple Pear', 'Sand Pear', 'Water Pear'. These are fruit that look more or less like apples, but have somewhat pearlike flesh, are extremely juicy, with little acidity and moderate to high (depending on the variety) sweetness. Some cultivars have rather coarse and gritty flesh, hence the name 'Sand Pear'. These cultivars are now not much grown, for obvious reasons. They can be grown anywhere apples succeed and where there are no late spring frosts to damage the blossom. Like the European pear, they are suceptible to fireblight. Commercial Asian pears can be pretty tasteless. They flower a little later than stone fruit, and just before most European pears, altho' European pears whose flowering period overlaps will pollenize Asian pears.
Shinseiki (US, NZ) is usually recommended as the pollenizer for most cultivars. Early seaon fruit ripen in early to mid summer, mid season are mid summer to late summer, and late season ripen late summer to early autumn.
Shinsui (US, NZ) is early season, small to medium sized, russet brown, juicy, very sweet (often over 15% brix) and moderately gritty. The fruit only keep about 4 days at room temperature, and around 8 days in the fridge. Its best pollenizer is 'Nijisseiki', then 'Shinseiki' or 'Hosui'. The tree is extremely vigorous, and doesn't crop as heavily as some of the other varieties. It's virtue is it's earliness.
Kosui (US, NZ) is early, with greenish gold skin, medium sized, crisp, very sweet, very juicy and tender fleshed. Kosui seems to maintain it's sweetness over a wide range of growing conditions. Kosui can be cross pollenized by, and will pollenize, 'Nijiseiki' and 'Hosui', but it is poorly compatible with 'Shinsui' and vice versa.'Shinseiki' is also an effective pollenizer. It usually sets very heavy crops. Kosui has rather brittle branches, so it should not be planted in a very windy position. The tree is not too vogorous. Kosui is relatively suceptible to disease, and in humid areas it is inclined to have some degree of branch die back.
Hosui (US, NZ) is rather a medium to large golden brown mid season variety with prominent lenticels on the skin. It is highly flavored, sweet and juicy, except in areas with cool summers, when it tends to be acidic and with low sugars. The tree is vigorous, medium to large sized with willowy, drooping branches. It flowers heavily. It may need more winter chill than some parts of the warm temperate areas may provide. Hosui will store for months in the fridge. It has limited self fertility, but sets well with 'Nijisseikeiki', 'Shinseiki', and 'Shinsui'.
Shinseiki ('New Century') (US, NZ) is mature mid season, and is a medium sized yellow-green medium to large smooth skinned fruit.It is firm fleshed, crisp and juicy, but fairly mediocre flavored. The tree is upright and moderately vigorous. Pollenizer are 'Shinsui' and 'Kosui'. Shinseiki is a good pollenizer for other cultivars.
Nijisseiki ('Twentieth Century)(US, NZ)  is a late season variety. It is medium sized, yellow-green skinned, just sweet but rather flavorless. 'Kosui', 'Hosui', and 'Shinseiki' and 'Shinsui' will pollinize it. It is one of the most productive varieties of Asian pear. Like 'Hosui', it may need more winter chill than other varieties. The fruit can store for months in the fridge. The tree spurs well, and is easy to manage. Photoat Sierra Gold Nurseries site

Information on cultivars in USA JJJJ and their chilling requirements, in particular, can be found at the Sierra Gold Nurseries page
http://www.sierragoldtrees.com/html/Asian_Pear.htm

Fact sheet on Asian Pears in USA - JJJJ a very good overview of cultivars, disease resistance, varietal choice, zone hardiness, and general care.
http://www.doityourself.com/garden/fruits/asianpears.htm

ASIMINA Asimina triloba 'Papaw', 'Pawpaw', 'Asimoyer'. This relatively small (to about 6metres /20 feet) decidous North American tree is the solitary  temperate climate member of a family of  tropical and subtropical fruiting trees, the best known of which is the 'cherimoya' or 'custard apple'. The British, Australians, and New Zealanders call the tropical papaya fruit 'pawpaw'. The papaya is no relation whatever of Asimina. To avoid this cultural misunderstanding it is best to simply call this fruit 'Asimina'. The fruit are 75mm-125mm/3-5 inches long, green skinned, and carried in clusters of two to three vaguely stumpy banana shaped fruit. The smooth pulp is browny yellow to almost orange, depending on the variety, with a double row of smooth dark brown roughly lima bean sized seeds.The flavor is variable, according to the seed source, but in the best types it is tropical, intense, and sweet. The friuit are an excellent source of vitamin A and C, and it's  mineral content is as good or better than many common fruits such as apple, peach or grape. The fruit ripen in autumn, and is highly productive if the right pollinating insects are present This is definitely a tree to consider, but it does come with some difficulties. The fruit is highly desirable, it is unlikely to be commercially available because of it's short shelf life once ripe, the leaves are long, drooping, and elliptical, giving an almost tropical look, the tree is hardy once established, it does well in shade and tolerates sun; but it tends to send out numerous suckers, which while not vigorous-the tree is slow growing-are annoying. The tree must have some shade for the first 3 or four years of its life. Unless you have one of the few self fertile cultivars, you will need to plant two for cross pollination. In some areas, and in some countries, such as New Zealand, there seems to be an abscence of the correct pollinating insect-the trees flower well, but set few or no fruit.The very warmest parts of the warm temperate zone, where it starts to tip into almost subtropical, may not have enough winter cold to trigger flowering and subsequent fruiting. Planting grafted plants, or suckers from known varieties is a good idea, as the quality of the fruit is guarenteed. There are many different cultivars include 'Davis'-excellent flavor, large fruit, productive; 'Sunflower'-good flavor and size, partly self fertile; 'Well's Delight'-very large, excellent flavor.

 Asimina - Pawpaw - JJJJ an excert from Purdue Universities' New Crop Proceedings (USA). The information is slanted to commercial potential, but it is rich in nformation on the botany, distribution, nutrtional content, propogation, varieties, and growing conditions for this fruit.
http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/proceedings1993/v2-505.html

Chemical compounds in Pawpaw JJ also from Purdue, the original research showing activity of a chemical in pawpaw (asimina triloba) against cancer cells. Note these were in laboratory test tubes only, not in living organisms, and the cancer killing effect also damaged mormal body cells, altho' to lesser degree.
http://www.purdue.edu/UNS/html4ever/9709.McLaughlin.pawpaw.html

AURORABERRY- Looks like a blackberry, it has large, firm black shiny fruit.  Flavour is very good, 'perfumy', clean taste, with none of the sulfur and bitter notes that boysenberries, for example have. It is blander than an olallieberry, and can be acidic if it isn't fully ripe. This is a fairly early bramble, as it ripens in early summer. It is a weaker plant than other brambles, which is an advantage in all areas except wet and humid areas where brambles are subject to disease. All brambles need to be tied up on wires, free standing, against a fence or a wall. This doesn't suit every situation, especially as they really need good sun to ripen the fruit and minimise disease. Not unaturally, thorned brambles such as this can be a nuisance in small spaces. Otherwise recommended.

AVOCADO-Persea amaericana A little more frost tender than citrus, and must have either very free draining soil, or on slow draining soils, large raised beds on a raised slope or hill with massive amounts of permanent organic compost mulch (at least 60cm/2 feet deep, but not piled against the trunk); must also have plenty of sun. Avocado need shelter from the worst wind. The trees are handsome, altho' in cool and wet winters they may get a bit of root rot and look a bit threadbare until warmer drier weather arrives.A deep organic mulch speeds their recovery. The young trees need to be covered against frost in the more frost prone parts of the warm temperate zone, but once they get a bit of size on they recover well from frost damage as long as the trees are were healthy in the first place. Avocadoes don't need spraying, and apart from providing vast organic mulch in poorer drained areas, only require regular fertilising and judicious pruning to regulate size. The only caveat is that a nasty fungal disease, 'Dothiorella canker', affects the trunks and/or fruits of avocadoes in the wetter coastal parts of California, and there is little that can be done about it.
The avocado is a large tree, and there are no truly dwarfing roostocks at this time, altho' there is one dwarf variety. Heavy cropping on trees such as 'Reed' and 'Fuerte', plus pruning, can keep the trees relatively small. But even the, you should allow for a 'footprint' of a circle of about 4M/13feet in diameter. The premier hominid food, and home grown can be richer in flavor than shop bought. A grafted tree in good conditions will commence fruiting in about the third year from planting out. In very warm areas the ripening dates may be a month before those listed below. In fact, avocadoes can often be picked earlier than the dates listed, and they will ripen satisfactorily, but they will be insipid, tastless, watery, and lacking richness.
Bacon-excellent pollinator variety for Hass & Reed, relatively cold hardy, good cropper, mid winter to spring fruiter, but mediocre to poor taste, and very vigorous and upright.
Fuerte-fruits in winter and carries through to the end of spring, very high quality fruit, without peer for its season. Small spreading tree (for an avocado), thin skin, can get splits and rots at the base, fruit set without a pollinator is very poor indeed. Hass will pollenize it and vice versa.
Hayes-Fruits from spring to mid summer, a bit earlier than Hass. Very high quality, slightly larger than Hass, thick skin makes it a bit harder to tell when its ripe. Skin colour change is the best guide.
Hass-Excellent quality, ripe from around mid spring to autumn. They are at their home grown best in summer, but commercially, large fruit are picked in winter and early spring and artificially ripened. The skin is pebbled, green turning black, and fairly thick. Starts cropping at an early age. Upright tree.
Reed-ready before Fuerte, from summer (best quality in late summer onward) to early winter but will store on the tree right through winter in some areas. Large round fruit, very high quality. Thick skinned, bit hard to decide when it is ready- stem end flicks off is best test. Reed kicks into fruiting at a fairly young age, and bears very heavily, and like Hass, is fairly upright. It is late flowering, so the flowers are unlikely to be damaged by spring frosts.
Wurtz-A good quality summer avocado, wurtz's main feature is that is only grows to about half the height of most avocadoes. It has weeping foliage, low vigor, and is sometimes promoted as a dwarf avocado.
Zutano-Ready from mid winter onward, poor quality fruit, and relatively thin skinned. It's virtues are that it is an upright tree, and it is relatively cold and wind tolerant.
Reed, Hass and Fuerte are probably the top selections for home garden avocadoes in the warm temperate zone. In very hot and
humid areas, it is best to go for thicker skinned varieties to avoid fungal diseases affecting the fruit

Avocado Fact Sheet. JJJJJ An excellent fact sheet (prints out to about 6 printer pages) at the Californian Rare fruit growers site, covering all aspects of growing avocadoes, plus notes on varieties. Written for USA conditions, but widely applicable.
http://www.crfg.org/pubs/ff/avocado.html

Avocado varieties  JJJJ A very good data set of 91 avocado varieties, mainly Guatemalan, Mexican and their hybrids, with very brief but complete descriptions of the fruit shape, size, peel, stone size, parentage etc, a fairly good picture of the fruit, and some brief advisory notes. Nicely done. From the University of California, USA
http://www.ucavo.ucr.edu/Avovarieties/Varietylist/Varlists.html.

BABACO Carica x heilbornii var. pentagona The babaco is supposed to be a sterile hybrid between two 'mountain papaya' species, Carica pubescens and C.stipulata. The fruits are lemony acidy tasting, very very soft, and extremely juicy. They have no sweetness whatever until about mid summer. At that stage, it is usually only the smaller fruits from the very top of the tree that are left. They are then fairly sweet, fragrant, and pleasant to eat. In the case of babaco, 'smaller' is a relative term. The smaller fruit are about the size of tropical papaya, but fruit can be 30cm/12 inches or more long. The fruit come into bearing the first year after planting, have quite a tropical aspect with their head of lobed leaves atop 2-3 long tall (2-3M/yds) trunks. The tree itself looks very dramatic when it is packed with the large green and yellow fruit. Like all mountain papaya, it is damaged by air frost, and in severe air frosts will be killed. Their shape makes them an ideal candidate for growing in the frost protected areas under the eaves of the house. They are relatively drought tolerant.

BANANA Musa acuminata and hybrids of M.acuminata x M.Balbisiana [= 'M.paradisiaca']. Bananas are a tropical herb, and it is stretching the limits of their range to fruit them in the warm temperate areas. But fruit they do, as long as their needs are met. But the plants are slower to produce, less robust, the flowers smaller, less bananas are set, and the most 'tropical blooded' (those with purplish or pinkish blushes to the leaf petioles) are either slow or unsuccessful. Variety selection is particularly important. The banana deserves to be popular for it's productivity in a small space, it's pleasing landscape qualities, and, of course, it's delicious fruit.The fact is that the banana is a warm weather plant. When the cold of winter comes on, it tends to yellow somewhat, and the leaves get pretty tatty. In a warm winter it looks pretty good, and ripens any green bunches that had developed over summer. In a cold winter a bad frost will severely injure the plant, but it will resprout from the ground when warm weather returns. Bananas only really suceed in the warmest part of the warm temperate zone, but if they are tucked under the eaves of the house, their range can be extended.
It is the ideal crop for the small space gardener, as it makes best use of vertical space, is not too large, crops quickly, and the fruit are concentrated in one place-making for easy bagging against pests.

There is a species, Musa basjoo, the Japanese Fibre Banana, being touted as " the world's cold hardiest banana. It is hardy planted in ground to -3 degrees F. and with protective mulching, down to -20 degrees F". It is from Southern Japan, and is usually grown or the fibre in the leaves, rather than the fruit. The fruit are small and seedy, but edible.

Musa basjoo culture An excellent page from a Canadian grower/nurseryman, complete with very good photos of the banana being grown - with protection - outside in British Columbia.
http://www.islandnet.com/~stgelais/HTML/Banana.htm

The banana is a water loving plant, and thrives with plentiful water in dry spells and reglar fertilising. However, as long as it is fairly well mulched, it will still fruit with less than adequate water, albeit the fruit may be smaller and less well filled. Bananas are also greedy feeders-they have to be, considering the weight of fruit that is regularly removed from the clump. Spring growth is crucial. Good growth in the early months makes for larger and better bunches. The point is to keep the clump well watered and fertilised at this time, using a complete garden fertiliser that has a bit extra potash/potassium in it, as bananas need quite a bit of this element for its fruit. Regular light liming may be needed on acid soils. In order to keep the resources of the clump concentrated on fruiting plants, it is best to allow two plants to fruit and have two replacements coming on. Remove all other suckers that develop.
The naming and identification of banana varieties can be challenging.
The Bluefield/Gros Michel bananas are the bananas of commerce grown in South America and the Phillipines, and grow very tall-up to 18 ft/5.5m. Being so tall, they are subject to blowing over when they are carrying their very heavy (to 100lb/45kg) bunches, unless propped up.From planting to harvest is about 15 months in this cultivar. Poorly adapted to the warm temperate zone, not recommended.
Williams/Mons Mari/Giant Cavendish is a giant mutation of the cultivar 'Dwarf Cavendish/Chinese'. It is 6½ -13ft/2-4m high, the fruit are similar to 'Gros Michel', and they are ready about 12 months from planting. Both 'Blufield' and 'Williams' are suceptible to the very damaging 'Panama disease' (Fusarium wilt). Fruits as well as any, but it's height makes it suceptible to wind damage, and it is one of the poorer performing cultivars in warm temperate areas. Not recommended.
Dwarf Cavendish/Dwarf Chinese/Chinese  a common variety in home gardens because of it's relatively small size (8ft/2.5m) and tolerance to a wide range of conditions, including cool.The bananas are essentially the same as 'Williams'. Suceptible to Panama disease. Needs warmer temperatures than the warm temperate zone can provide.Not recommended.
Dwarf Orinoco-Relatively cold tolerant fairly reliable bearer with quite large ( 6 inch/150mm), very sweet, angular, bright yellow, astringency free, soft fruit with a rather distinct tough central 'core'. In cooler years the fruit can be rather thin, with dense flesh and moderate sweetness, but they are never astringent. Worth a place in a collection.
Sucrier/Pisang Mas/Honey, as it's name suggests, is a very sweet banana; it has small fruit, thin skin, yellowy flesh, and small bunches (up to 28½lb/13kg). The plants are 8-11½ft/2.5-3.5m high, and prefer light shade. Planting to harvest is about 11 months under subtropical conditions. Unfortuneately, this cultivar is not well adapted to cooler temperatures. Not recommended.
Lady Finger/Pome/Brazilian is relatively drought hardy, wind resistant, fast growing, is up to 16ft /5m high, and has short, slightly angular (not plump) fruit which (because it has a little acidity as well as sugar) has a rich true banana flavour, in bunches up to 66lbs/30kg. It has a tendency to have some undeveloped fruit in the bunch. It is suceptible to Panama disease.Planting to harvest is about 14 months under subtropical conditions-longer in warm temperate conditions. Because this variety is both tall and slow to come into fruit when grown in warm temperate areas, it must be regarded as a 'maybe', in spite of it's exceptionally good flavor.
Sugar/Silk/Apple/Hua Moa-10 to15 feet/3-4.5m high, the banana are short and plump, very thin skinned, inclined to split and to tear off and fall when it is very ripe, very white fleshed, dense, sweet, without flouriness or sliminess, but astringent when it isn't fully ripe. It is highly suceptible to Panama disease. It bears fairly reliably in warm temperate areas, and in spite of splitting, it's superior flavor and reliable productivity makes it a recommendation.
Mysore/Misi Luki is up to 15ft/4.5m high, a vigorous plant with purpley pink midribs somewhat tolerant of drought and poor soils, with very tightly packed cylindrical bunches up to 77lb/35kg of slightly yellowish fleshed pleasantly sweet/acid balanced, short and fat attractive bright yellow 'bottle necked' fruit. It is known for the fruit to hold well on the bunch, even at full ripeness.This cultivar is the main commercial banana of India. It is suceptible to Panama disease.
Red Dacca is interesting because the tall (to 18ft/5.5m) bear average sized bunches of large, plump bananas that are washed purply pink when ripe. Planting to harvest is about 18 months for this cultivar under subtropical conditions. It is suceptible to Panama disease. Not recommended.
Pisang Rajah is an important variety in Malaysia and Indonesia.It grows up to 15ft/4.5m, and takes about 16 months from planting to harvesting the up to 55lb/25kg bunches of medium sized sweet bananas. It is relatively tolerant to wind and cooler conditions.
Blue Java is so called beacuse the bunches of immature fruit are covered in a waxy bloom which gives them a blue-green caste. The plants grow to 13ft/4m, planting to harvest is about 14 months under subtropical conditions. The fruit has particularly long stalks, are slightly angular, and have white flesh. Suceptible to Panama disease. Fruits poorly in warm temperate areas, not recommended. Ducasse/Pisang Awak-is a particularly vigorous and hardy banana. It grows up to 16½ft/5m high, and has up to 77lb/35kg bunches of tightly packed, small bananas with a light wax bloom. Harvest is about 17 months after planting in subtropical conditions. This is the most important banana of Thailand. Suceptible to Panama disease.(note: it is somewhat fertile, and if it is pollinated it may have hard, black seeds inside). In spite of the seeds, worth trying.
Goldfinger-released in 1989 this banana was bred in Honduras specifically for the less favorable conditions of subtropical areas, so is definitley worth a try.

Banana varieties JJJJ About 28 edible varieties are briefly described, with a photo of the plant or the fruit or flower, in the 'stokestropicals' catalogue pages
http://www.stokestropicals.com/ekart/catalog.asp?action=displayCategory&cid=2

Banana varieties and planting instructions JJJJ About 26 edible varieties are tabularly described with a photo of the fruit in the 'Aloha Tropicals' catalogue
http://www.alohatropicals.com/musaf.html

Banana cultivar photos JJJfrom the University of Hawaii, around 15 cultivars in the archive, plus other pictures of the plant and flower
http://www.ifas.ufl.edu/~imaguire/BANANAARCHIVE.HTM

The best one to grow may simply be your friends or neighbours. If you come across a banana you like, or it's owner recommends, simply get a spade and dig out a sucker. With plenty of water in the hot weather,  applying fertiliser regularly , and starting with big healthy suckers it is possible to cut your first bunch within two years of planting. Once a clump is established, there will virtually always be one or two stems fruiting. Once fruited, the stem never flowers again, and needs to be cut down. It makes good mulch for the clump.

Banana sap dripping from a freshly cut stem or fruit stalk will stain clothes, so be careful. Cut the bunch when the first few fruits show the first sign of color (bunches can be cut when the fruit are green but the fruit must be 'plump' to have good flavor when they ripen up). They will ripen up very quickly once hung up inside in a warm, light place, and have very good flavor. Winter maturing bunches - fairly typical for bananas in the warm temperate zone - take as much as three weeks longer to ripen if they are stored in a cool dark place, and their flavor is often very poor.

BLACK CURRANT- see 'Currants'

BLACK SAPOTE Diospyros digyna- 'Chocolate Pudding Tree', 'Black Persimmon'. A handsome tree with dark green leathery leaves against black barked branchlets. Plants will flower and set fruit if they are grown in warm, totally frost protected situations, or if the winter has been unseasonably warm. The fruit are supposed to be about the size of a very large apple, but under warm temperate conditions they are much smaller, possibly due to poor pollination, and may only be the size of a plum. In the warm temperate area they remain a collectors item, rather than a useful cropping plant. Black spotes are a relative of the persimmon, and the flesh is similar in texture to a soft ripe persimmon fruit- rather jelly like and soft. The flesh is chocolate colored, and some claim it has the appearance and the texture of chocolate pudding. The taste is moderately sweet, with no great depth of flavor. The fruit retain their green color, but soften when ripe, and should then be picked and left to become very soft before eating. Trees can bear as early as three years from planting under the most ideal conditions. Flowering is in autumn, and fruit size and mature in late winter /early spring. Given a large pot, these plants make a handsome patio plant.
There is a picture of the fruit at the 'Garden of delight ' web site

BLACKBERRIES Rubus ursinus-The thorny wild blackberry has the most exquisite sweetness and floral flavor. It is invasive, spreading, trailing, painfully thorny and unattractive. The cultivated blackberry usually has stout, usually semi erect, easily managed canes that can be trained to a fence or wall, very attractive large flowers, is non-invasive, and nearly all are mainly or entirely thornless; but the fruit, while much larger than it's wild progenitor, very often lack sweetness and flavor. Black berries start into bearing virtually the year after they are planted. Like most brambles, they are bird magnets, and realistically, have to be netted.One of the advantages of the blackberry is that tolerates partial shade. They are reasonable easy to grow, tolerating most soils, altho sandy soils will have to be heavily mulched to keep it moist. In wet and humid areas it can be subject to fungal diseases. Erect growing varieties have the best disease resistance. pruning is easy, immediately after harvest simply remove the canes that have just fruited and cut out any new canes that seem weak. Keep only about 8 new canes a plant. They can then be tied in tiers along your wires or tied against a wall in a fan shape. In the summer the new canes do need to have their ends cut off at about 2.4M/8 feet, to promote flowering laterals for the following spring. These laterals can have excessive length pruned off (down to about 30cm/12inches) in winter to make them easier to net, if you want. With many brambles-especially vigorous trailing types like boysenberry-it is a good idea to pick up the new canes as they grow over spring and early summer and temporararily tie them to a wire to keep them off the ground and stop tip rooting. With erect and stout caned blackberries this is not really necessary. Blackberries need little fertilser beyond some nitrogen.
Waldo-is very early, crops reasonably, has very good flavor, and is not too vigorous, but is thorny.(UK)
Ashton cross-is mid season, heavy cropping, very good flavor, but thorny.
Loch Ness-early to mid season, heavy cropping, desirable semi-erect habit thornless traits, flavor good (for a thornless).(UK)
Thornfree-late fruiting, very productive, poor tasting fruit, subject to fungal disease in wet and humid areas. (US, NZ)
Other erect blackberries include Darrow, Cherokee, Cheyenne, Comanche, and  Shawnee (US)

BramblesJJJ - variety notes on boysenberry, youngberry, and other hybrid berries available to the home gardener. It includes new hybrids that the home gardener is unlikey to see. Commercially oriented, and rather brief, but some good pictures of the fruit
http://www.hortnet.co.nz/industry/berryfed/bvd/bvd2.htm

Blackberries and brambles in USA, Oregon. JJJ A page briefly discussing aboout 12 blackberries and hybrids, plus a short discussion on the pros and cons of several pruning systems, including 'alternate year bearing'. For commercial growers, but good home garden facts are in there
http://berrygrape.orst.edu/fruitgrowing/berrycrops/blackberry.htm

BLUEBERRY Vaccinium ashei, V. australe, V.corymbosum-Fresh blueberries of the most flavorsome varieties are a delightful experience; run of the mill varieties are not worth bothering with. But-birds love blueberries-they must be netted, or you will get very little. In addition, they are rigorously demanding in soil type-either it is a naturally highly acidic soil, or the soil will have to be extensively amended with peat, acidifying agents such as sulfur, and/or acidifying plant material such as pine needles added as a mulch. Alternatively, container mixes for acid loving plants can be used. Blueberries have a fibrous root system, and will not tolerate the soil drying out. Conversely, the soil needs to be reasonably well drained. Heavy incorporations of peat to either sandy soil or to heavy soil will help fix drying out in the one case, and poor aeration and drainage in the other.
There are two main types of blueberry-'highbush', V.australe and V.corymbosum; and 'rabbiteye', V.ashei.
The highbush types grow to about 1.8M/6 feet, and are entirely self fertile. They need some winter chill, and fruit poorly in the warmest parts of the warm temperate zone. The fruit mature from early to mid summer.
Rabbiteye types are taller plants, are more tolerant of heavier and less acid soils, need less winter chill to flower well, and tolerate heat and drought better than the highbush types. Their fruit follows on the highbush types, maturing from around mid through to late summer. These are the types best adapted to the warmer parts of warm temperate areas. On the minus side, they are self infertile, so two varieties are needed for cross pollination, the berries are a little smaller, and the flesh texture perhaps a little grainy.
Providing it's somewhat exacting requirements are met, you can expect light crops from your bush in the first few years, building to around 2.25kg/5lbs by the fifth year, and 4 or 5 kgs/approx.10lb when the bush is mature. Pruning is not needed for the first 3 or 4 years, and is simple, a matter of removing about a quarter of the very oldest stems every year. Blueberries have variable autumn colors, depending on the cultivar. Some are yellow, some orange, and some red.Those with the strongest autumn colors have strong landscape value. Blueberries flower early in spring (don't plant them in a frost pocket or you won't get fruit), and the pendant white tubular flowers are very pretty.
Highbush Blueberry Varieties-
Earliblue-Early season. Large berries and good autumn color, rather low yeilds.(US, UK, NZ)
Bluecrop-Early season. Large berries, highly productive, orange and red autumn colors.(US, UK, NZ)
Nui-Early season. Large berries, moderately productive, very large fruit, good flavor, sometimes has a bonus light autumn crop.(NZ)
Stanley-Early to mid season. Medium sized berry, moderate yeilds, excellent flavor.(US, UK, NZ)
Berkley-Mid season. open and spreading bush. Very productive of very large berries. Relatively high chill requirement.(US, UK, NZ)
Herbert-Late season. Smaller bush, heavy cropper, very large fruit, one of the best tasting blueberries, unremarkable autumn colors.(US, UK, NZ)
Colville-late season. Large fruit on a productive, vigorous bush. Holds it's fruit well without dropping them near maturity.(US, UK, NZ)
Rabbiteye Blueberry Varietie-
Climax-performs well in warm areas, producing heavy yeilds of good sized fruit.(US, NZ)
Delite-Mid season. Very vigorous (more than 2M/6ft 6inches), high yeilding and very good flavor.(US, NZ)
Walker-Mid season. In good years it is a particulalry sweet blueberry.(US, NZ)
Woodard-Mid to late season. The medium sized rather spreading bushes are particularly well adapted to the warmer areas. Woodard is large (for a rabbiteye, anyway), light blue, and has good flavor. (US, NZ)

Blueberry - the Highbush blueberry JJJ A good one page overview based on an Oregon State University Extension publication - soil and climate requirements, description of the plant, what yield to expect, general care.
http://berrygrape.orst.edu/fruitgrowing/berrycrops/blueberry.htm

Blueberry varieties in New Zealand JJJJThis page at the NZ BerryFed site describes 7 or so mainly NZ bred varieties of blueberries available to commercial growers in New Zealand. There is also good basic cultural information, and photos of some of the fruits. Only a very limited range of berry fruit varieties are available to home gardeners in New Zealand, so many of those mentioned may be unobtainable.
http://www.hortnet.co.nz/industry/berryfed/bvd/bvd4.htm

Blueberry growing in Canada JJJJ Written by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Affairs for home gardeners, this page covers all the relevant details of home garden blueberry growing chiefly for highbush and cold climate conditions, but with much useful general cultural information. The information on soils, fertilizer, varieties, water, is all relevant to the warm temperate area.
http://www.gov.on.ca/OMAFRA/english/crops/facts/98-081.htm

Blueberry nutritional requirements JJJ Written by  The Hort and Food Research Institute of New Zealand Ltd, this useful page covers the nutrient requirements, what sort of fertilisers are useful, nutrient disorders, and how to correct them. Commercially oriented, but still good for the home garden.
http://www.hortnet.co.nz/publications/guides/fertmanual/blue.htm

Blueberry pruning JJJJ The principles behind pruning blueberries and the practices for new and older bushes neatly explained in this Oregon State University Extension web page.
http://osu.orst.edu/dept/infonet/guides/blueberr/pruning.htm

Low chill blueberries in Australia J This link is included if you are looking for low chill varieties in Oz. There is no cultural or varietal ionfo as such, but they are key importers of Florida low chill types.
http://www.possumpages.com.au/blueberry/index.htm

BOYSENBERRY The boysenberry is a raspberry-blackberry hybrid with 'Himalayan Giant' blackberry being one parent. The boysenberry is acid, but sweetens if left to darken and become plump and turgid, at which point they fall off the vine at a gentle pull. However, boysenvberries still have a very slight bitter and sulfurous  note even when fully ripe. They start fruiting in very early  summer and have a short picking season. The thornless variety is the best one to grow-altho it should properly be described as 'semi-thornless'. One of the virtues of the boysenberry is that it is drought tolerant, relative to other berry fruit, and thrives on lighter free draining soils, where others fail. The boysenberry tolerates a wide range of soils. Boysenberries are not usually found in the marketplace as they are very soft when ripe, so if you want to eat fresh fruit you will have to grow them yourself. Boysenberries need a wire or fence to grow on, they need to be sprayed against fungus diseases unless you have a fairly dry climate, and they must be netted against birds if you are to harvest fully vine ripened fruit. Pruning is as for blackberry.

BramblesJJJ - variety notes on boysenberry, youngberry, and other hybrid berries available to the home gardener. It includes new hybrids that the home gardener is unlikey to see. Commercially oriented, and rather brief, but some good pictures of the fruit
http://www.hortnet.co.nz/industry/berryfed/bvd/bvd2.htm

CARISSACarissa macrocarpa 'Natal Plum' A very useful plant for the home food garden, because the small bushy and thorny shrub has attractive fragrant white flowers, won't form massive roots that can damage paved areas, and because it will remain fruitful even when trimmed to fit into a narrow space, such as a border. The small roundish fruit are about an inch/2.5cm wide and a bit more long. They are bright red streaked with a darker red ground color. The fruit are variable, but most are mild, somewhat sweet, sometimes slightly astringent, with small seeds in the centre and exude a harmless latex when cut. They have about the same vitamin C content as an orange.

CASANASolanum (Cyphomandra) casana This plant is straight out of the wilds of the Andes and has never been selected or improved in any way.Casana is a  single stemmed tree ( a close relative of the tamarillo) with a small canopy of very large hairy heart shaped leaves at about 2.4M/8 feet. Large numbers of pointed oval 75mm/3 inch dull yellow fruit are carried in small bunches along the branches. The fruit are variable, according to the seed source, some are seedy, with strong 'off flavors' and rather dry pulp, others are moderately sweet, delicately perfumed flavored but with a slightly 'tinny' backtaste, and with juicy pulp. The best are pleasant to eat as a fresh fruit. The plants are dramatic looking when they have conditions they like.  The soil must be well drained, as they are very intolerant of poor drainage. The plants are damaged by frost. It is only suited to the warmer parts of the warm temperate zone. It has the unique distinction of not just growing well in moderate shade, but of growing best in moderate shade, such as the shady side of the house. It is a greedy feeder on organic matter, and requires constant, even moisture. The plants will fruit in the second year if grown well, but are short lived-about 6 years at best. Casana will grow well in cold conditions but not frosty conditions. It is unlikely to do well in areas with very high summer temperatures (it is from the high Andean mist forests).

Casana in New ZealandJJJ Brief fact sheet on casana culture
http://www.edible.co.nz/casana/casana.htm

CASIMIROA Casimiroa edulis- 'Ice cream fruit'. Related to citrus, but the fruit flesh is smooth and fibreless and more akin to avocado flesh without the oiliness. The fruit are variable, from about apple size upwards, very sweet, and with very large citrus-like 'pips' inside. There is anything from one to five of these very large seeds in the fruit. Some cultivars are slightly bitter just under the skin, and some have a particularly rich almost 'butterscotch' flavor. The fruit are nutritious, with good levels of vitamins A and C. The fruit are rarely available commercially, because the fruit just don't keep. The skin is very thin, and on a very ripe fruit it will virtually rub off. The flesh is very easily bruised when it is ripe. This fruit is quite unique in it's combination of sweetness (15-20% sugars), unusual texture, and good flavor. The deseeded fruit freeze well, and make a most excellent smoothee milkshake. Freezing is a useful device, because they fruit in autumn (some extend into winter), and well grown trees produce prodigous amounts of fruit, which can create a mess if you can't eat or give them away fast enough.  Less frost hardy than citrus. Casimiroas must have adequate water in summer to prevent fruit drop  Any reasonably well drained soil will grow casimiroas. The tree tends to make rather long droopy lank growth, but this can be cut back closer to the trunk to encourage branching, and tipping soft new growth regularly makes a much more compact and branchy tree as well. Prune them after fruiting. They make a rather large tree (some will grow to 10M/33 feet or more across), and the strong roots can lift pavers and block drains if they are planted too close to the house. They are about the same size as avocado tree. The chief problem is bird damage, but this can largely be avoided by picking the fruit when firm when birds don't trouble them. Picking the right time to harvest the fruit takes some experience. Sometimes there is a slight shift to a yellowish tone to the normally green fruit. Picked too soon, and the fruit take several weeks to soften, and are rubbery and inedible. Picked at the correct time and the fruit should soften in 2-5 days and be fantastic. Some varieties of casimiroa are smaller than others, but no attention has been paid to selecting dwarfing roostocks for these trees, altho' it would almost certainly be possible to do so.
Pike-a small, well branched, almost weeping tree, Pike is well suited to the home garden because of it's compact size
Fernie-another naturally small tree (around 3M/10feet after 10 years) with good flavored fruit and often only 1 seed.
Lomita-quite large fruit, the tree remains relatively small, the fruit have good flavor, and, unusually, will store for up to 2 weeks off the tree.
Mac's Golden-the fruit are large, the flesh yellow and with a particularly rich flavor.
Reinikie Commercial-particularly good sweetness and flavor, R.C. has yellow flesh and yellow skin when ripe, so it is easier to judge when to pick it, apart from anything else. It may need warmer temperatures at flowering than other cultivars.

CHERIMOYA- Annona cherimola A South American small tree that bears medium to very large bluntly heart shaped green fruit from mid winter to spring (depending on variety). The flesh is soft, cream or white, juicy, very sweet and complexly flavored. It is without a doubt one of the most delicious fruits there are. It has numerous bean sized smooth shiny black/brown seeds embedded in the flesh. Trees and fruit are damaged by air frosts, but not ground frosts. More tender than the casimiroa.The tree is small, amenable to severe pruning, and can be relatively easily espaliered. The trees are happy in light shade. The trees can also be grown as a large bush by repeatedly cutting back the vigorous summer shoots and stripping the tops of the pruned branches of their leaves (the leaf buds are unusual in that they are hidden underneath the leaf stalk, which has to be removed to allow the bud to grow out). However, this may have to be done regularly over summer, as the trees are vigorous growers-and some cultivars, such as 'Bronceada', are very vigorous. Cherimoyas are attractive trees in full growth over summer, with quite large large leaves. However, they lose their leaves progressively over springtime, at which time they look quite tatty. If the trees are pruned, they become quite spreading, and as the wood is brittle, subject to branch breakage. The worst pests are thrips insects causing an unsightly silvering on the leaves, and wood boring/girdling insects, which seem to be attracted to cherimoyas in particular. They need good drainage, and like avocado, are subject to rootrot. A thick organic mulch helps in marginal soils. The fruit are easily damaged by frost, the skin becoming blackened and splitting. They also sunburn easily. The trees are self fruitful, but often set poorly due to the lack of the correct pollinating insect. Fruit set and size is increased dramatically if you can be bothered hand pollinating the rather insignificant greeny bronze flowers. Most people use a childs paintbrush to do the work.
 A grafted tree should start fruiting within 2 or 3 years of planting out. Any grafted tree will have lovely fruit. Some cultivars have smoother flesh than others, or have a slightly resinous taste, or the flesh is whiter-but the difference is between 'delightful' and 'fantastic', so it doesn't matter. Cherimoyas are picked while still firm-usually when the green skin takes on a very slight yellowish tinge. They will be ripen in the fruit bowl about 4 days from picking.
Bronceada-extremely vigorous trees that must be pruned or their branches tend to break. The fruit are very large, and of fine flavor.(NZ)
Burton's Favorite-a medium sized fruit with pure white very smooth flesh and superb flavor (NZ)
Pierce-vigorous tree, sets very good quality fruit without hand pollination.(US)

Cherimoya fact sheet JJJJJ An outstanding review of everything you need to know about growing cherimoya in the home garden, at the California Rare Fruits growers Organisation site. Covers botany, culture, brief notes on 16 varieties, further reading, and more. Written for Californian conditions, but widely applicable. Highly recommended.
http://www.crfg.org/pubs/ff/cherimoya.html

CERIMAN Monstera deliciosa
Growing Ceriman - from the Center for New Crops & Plant Products, at Purdue University Site, an extract from Julia Morton's Book 'Fruits of warm climates'. Covers Description, Origin and Distribution, varieties, suitable climates and soils, propagation, culture, harvesting, pests and diseases and more. Concise, informative. 3 good photos of fruit
http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/ceriman.html

CHERRYPrunus avium-. Bird theft is problematical, but cherries are easy care and can be very productive of premium taste treats. Large trees. Usually need two to tango. In some areas, they are suceptible to brown rot, which badly damages the fruit. In humid, maritime areas, cracking after rain can be a big problem, most particularly in the firmer varieties, rather than the softer types. Because cherries mature early in the fruit season, they can also be damaged by hail. Sweet cherries need about 1000 hours of winter chilling.'Bing', 'Lambert', and 'Napoleon' have the longest chilling requirement, and are not suited to the wtz as a consequence. Stella-somewhat self fertile, and probably better adapted to warmer areas than most temperate cultivars. Birds are a real problem, and until a reliable dwarfing rootstock is found, the best the home gardener can do is to grow cherries trained as a fan against a wall, and then net them. This requires a high degree of skill, effort, and dedication. So most of us will either chose another fruit, or enjoy the blossoms without high expectations of beating the birds to the fruit. Tangshe -self fertile, fruits very well in warm areas, fruit are pleasant but not as good as temperate cultivars. With the exception of 'Stella' and 'Compact Stella', all sweet cherries need a pollinator to bear well. The 'Stellas' seem well to flower quite well in thee warmer parts of the wtz. Generally, dark colored varieties will pollenize dark varieties, and light colored varieties  pollenize  light varieties. Sour (pie) cherries bloom later than sweet cherries and bear heavily without a pollinator. For cool summers and mild winter areas, try Van, Angela, Hardy Giant, Emperor Francis

Cherry cultivars in USA JJJJ Brief notes on the fruit and tree characteristics (especially chill requirements, critical for fruiting in warm temperate areas) of 15 cultivars of cherry for USA, from Sierra Gold Nurseries, California, website. Includes a photo of the 'Bing' cultivar.

CHESTNUT- see 'Nut, Chestnut'

CHILEAN CRANBERRY- (Myrtus ugni)- highly recommended - knee high little shrub that bears heaps of sweet, resinous, aromatic fruit, about blueberry size or less. Nothing quite like it, a late summer treat. Frost hardy, easy to grow, productive. It is never found in the markets and is probably chock full of health promoting substances.

CultureJJJ A brief fact sheet on the Chilean cranberry, which this nursery insists on calling the Chilean 'guava'
http://www.edible.co.nz/myrtus/Guavachilean.htm

CHINESE PEAR- see 'Asian Pear'

CITRUS- listed under their fruit type, e.g.'grapefruit', 'kumquat', 'lemon', 'lemonade', 'lime', 'orange', 'mandarin', 'tangelo', 'tangor' etc.

CHOKECHERRY-Aronia sp. A native of northeast USA, this small deciduous shrub is grown commercially in Northern Europe for the health giving (supposedly) properties of the mild and pleasant, somewhat blueberry like berries. The foliage is very ornamental in autumn. Unusual and hard to find, if you are a health freak, this is an easy grow plant. Requires two for cross pollination and berry set.

Berries and autumn foliage JJJ are beautifully illustrated at this page on the Cornell University site. http://www.fvs.cornell.edu/Faculty/php/MarvinPritts/Ornamentals/page8.htm

CRANBERRY- Vaccinium macrocarpon These small wiry stemmed bog plants live in an acid peaty soil and produce oval approximately grape sized sour red fruit. The soil should be prepared as for blueberries but  even more acidic organic and wetter. This  can be arranged by digging a hole and lining it with plastic to create an artificial bog. Fill the lined hole with peat or a mixture of peat and lime free soil, and plant your cranberry in that. Mulch heavily with peat. You should obtain a yield from a well grown bed of about 0.5kg per square metre/1 Ib per square yard. Cranberries don't need pruning, but their rambling wiry stems may need cutting back every now and then. Cranberries keep very well in the refrigerator- up to two months-so the fruit can be progressively stored as they ripen over summer. Cranberries form a low mat, and so can be incorporated in borders or raised gardens, and to that extent are well suited to small space gardening. Their delicate little pink spring flowers are charming, and the fruit attractive, they require no pollinator, seem to fruit satisfactorily in warm temperate areas (although their may be cultivar differences), and seem to be unaffected by pests and diseases. The only question that remains is why grow the acid little devils, when you can buy canned cranberries and cranberry juice quite cheaply?

Cranberry fact sheet JJJJJ An outstanding simple, clear, fact sheet aimed at growing cranberries in a home garden situation. It covers cultivars, soil, making a bed, flowering, fruiting, fertilising and more, and has five nice photos illustrating the creation of your own cranberry bed. Written for USA conditions, but applicable to all temperate areas.
http://www.cranberrycreations.com./info.html

Cranberry history JJAn entertaining history of cranberry cultivation since European colonisation of NorthAmerica. A good basic paragraph on cranberry culture included.
http://www.burlco.lib.nj.us/pinelands/cranber.htm

Cranberry photos JJ Some nice photos of the fruit (and the lingon berry) are at this page at the Cornell University siet (slow load).
http://www.fvs.cornell.edu/Faculty/php/MarvinPritts/Ornamentals/page11.htm

CURRANTS- Easy to grow, packed full of vitamins, don't take up much space- as long as pollination is good and you throw a net over to keep the birds off, you'll get heaps.
Black currant (Ribes nigrum)-There is quite a lot going for the black currant. It is a 'natural tonic in a berry' due to it's high vitamin content, it is more tolerant of wet soil than most other berry fruit, they are more adaptable to soil acidity, the bushes are small, they bear heavily in suitable climates (4.5kg /IOlb is normal for a healthy well grown bush), they come into bearing within two years of planting, they are not as attractive to birds as other berry fruit such as raspberries, and they are easy to prune (cut off a third of the shoots every winter at about 50mm/2 inches from the soil level-the oldest shoots). On the down side, they are early bloomers, and therefore subject to damage in frost pockets, they are not particularly attractive looking plants, the fruit are only sweet enough to eat as a fresh fruit if they are planted in ther full sun. They can be affected by a serious disease called 'reversion disease', but this is just bad luck. In the warmest part of the warm temperate areas black currants will usually fail to fruit through lack of winter chill.
BlackcurrantJJJJ   This page at the BerryFed site describes 6 or so varieties of black currants available to commercial growers in New Zealand. Only a very limited range of berry fruit varieties are available to home gardeners in New Zealand, so many of those mentioned may be unobtainable.
White currant (R.sylvestre)-uncommon, similar to the black, but not! (black, that is). The comments under 'Red Currants' applies equally to white currants.
Red currant (R.rubrum)-the best selection for warmer areas, with cvs. such as 'Amgot' producing mightily. Red currants produce a lot of fruit (4.5kg /IOlb is normal for a healthy well grown bush), and unlike blackcurrants, can be pruned into particular shapes, such as cordons (yeilding around 0.5-1kg/1-2lb) or fans. Red currants are not subject to reversion disease. Red currants are easy to prune-in winter cut laterals back to one bud to encourage fruiting spurs, and cut out branches that have been fruiting for three years or so to allow a continuing growth of younger branches. The long 'strigs' of bright red shiny little fruit is attractive in itself, and fan or cordoned bushes have architectural landscape value.

Photo of black, red, and white currant fruit JJ together - the citation refers to a page on the Cornell University site
http://www.fvs.cornell.edu/Faculty/php/MarvinPritts/Ornamentals/page10.htm

DATE - A Mediterranean climate palm, altho' it will grow well in the warmer parts of the warm temperate zone - without fruiting. Takes two to tango, not really a proposition for the size of plant and leangth of time to fruiting.

Growing Dates - JJJJ from the Center for New Crops & Plant Products, at Purdue University Site, an extract from Julia Morton's Book 'Fruits of warm climates'. Covers Description, Origin and Distribution, varieties, suitable climates and soils, propagation, culture, harvesting, pests and diseases and more. Concise, informative. 4 good photos of fruit and the palm.
http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/Date.html

ELDERBERRY Sambucus canadensis- These stemmy bushes produce heaps of small black berries with a slightly soapy taste, whose main use seems to be to feed the birds. The big panicles of creamy ethereal flowers are very attractive in spring. The shrub/bushes have a habit of sending up suckers further out from the base of the plant, especially if the roots are cut at any time.

ElderberriesJJJJ The Ontario Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Affairs has a very good fact sheet on all aspects of growing elderberries in the home garden, including a photo of the fruit. The pest and disease aspect is particularly strongly covered (North American pests and diseases). While written for a temperate climate, the basic facts are equally applicable to warm temeprate areas.
http://www.gov.on.ca/OMAFRA/english/crops/facts/95-005.htm

ElderberryJJJ brief but useful home garden notes from Michigan State University
http://www.msue.msu.edu/msue/imp/mod03/01701556.html

Elder fruit and flowers JJ are featured in two first rate photos on this page at the Cornell University site
http://www.fvs.cornell.edu/Faculty/php/MarvinPritts/Ornamentals/page12.htm

FEIJOA Acca seillowiana- At least as frost hardy as citrus, perhaps more so. Clippable into a hedge or standard, excellent grey backdrop plant, superb fruit in Autumn, fairly frost tolerant. Every garden should have two. Two, because apart from 'Unique', they require cross pollination. Feijoas are harvested in late autumn and early winter - a time when fruit buyers don't have a lot of choice, as stonefruit is finished and local citrus hasn't really started. The fruit are juicy sweet, excellent flavor, great eating fresh, and can be canned/bottled. They don't travel or store well, so home garden fruit are far superior. Some fruit sold in stores lack sufficient pulp cavity, and have very thick skin. Such varieties can be avoided by growing your own. Grafted or cutting grown plants will bear within three years, given good care. Seedlings take 5 years or more. Feijoaas are useful because they will bear well even in partial shade.
Unique- Early, self fertile, and productive,  this is a feijoa of choice for the small space garden, even altho' the flavor is unexceptional. NZ
Coolidge-said to be self fertile, small fruit. US
Andre-said to be self fertile US
Gemini-Very nice flavor. It is sweet, with little acid. The overall rating is very good. The fruit are mostly very odd looking-longish, with a funny bulbous protuberance at the blossom end.NZ
Apollo -Very good flavor, a nice sugar acid balance, this variety rates as one of the best. The fruit are longish, somewhat torpedo shaped, as if they are not properly filled out at the stem end. Some, presumably better pollinated, are well filled out and oval.NZ

FIG Ficus carica- The perfect fig- soft, sweet, sticky, flavorsome- comes from fruit almost fully tree ripened (picked a day or two before perfection & allowed to fully ripen indoors). Some fig trees can be pruned hard to keep them nettable and very small. Birds are a major problem, so the tree must be netted, or individual fruits bagged, if you are to get any fruit. Many varieties of fig have been introduced into the United States and Australiasia over the years since colonisation. Most were inferior, a few are stunning. Because figs don't handle or store well, they are difficult to market commercially. Therefore the home gardener has the advantage of chosing any variety, no matter how soft, and maturing it on the tree to the point of perfection. Figs ripen in late summer/autumn. Some varieties have an early ('Breba') crop, followed by a crop in late summer. In mild summer areas the breba crop may be all that matures. Pruning to keep the tree small often cuts off the breba crop anyway. Apart from the birds, the biggest challenge with figs is pruning them hard enough to keep the size down without losing too much fruiting wood, and dealing to the inevitable basal suckering. Figs won't tolerate waterlogging, and lengthy drying out of the soil causes the fruit to drop or become dry.
Nomenclature of figs is muddled. Some cultivars have been mis-named, or re-named. Rely on a knowledgeable nurseryperson  to sell you a fig adapted to your area, or take a cutting from a local high quality tree. The easiest care figs are the common fig varieties. One group of figs-'Smyrna' figs- only fruits if it is pollinated by a tiny wasp carrying pollen from another special kind of fig, the inedible 'Caprifig'. This makes fruiting for this type uncertain in a home garden situation, so cultivars from the smyrna group are best avoided.In wet and humid areas it is common for figs to ferment on the tree because water gets in the 'eye' at the base of the fruit. In these ares it is wise to seek out a variety with a closed eye
Brown Turkey- large, squat, transluscentie-amber flesh, greenish brown with a basal purple blush. Not a great deal of flavor in cool conditions, but very good when the season is warm. Has the important advantage of being able to be pruned very hard (US NZ AU)
Celeste-'Malta', 'Celestial'. One of the earliest figs, ready about mid summer onward, celeste is small, purplish brown, covered in a heavy bloom, has a closed eye, and is very sweet. Well adapted to moderate summer areas.(US NZ)
Excel-'Kadota hybrid'. A  roundish medium sized yellowish green skinned fig with amber flesh with a rich, sweet flavor.Needs summer heat.(US)
Black mission-a purplish black fig with pink flesh, B.M. is medium to large, pear shaped, and has a breba crop in early summer followed by an early autumn crop if there is enough heat.(US)

Figs -JJJJNotes on the history of figs, their botany, brief notes on 40 different varieties, how to grow them, how to propogate them, diseases, nurseries that sell figs, and extensive reading bibliography, creted by the North American Fruit Explorers Organisation (NAFEX).
http://www.nafex.org/figs.htm

Fig FAQJJJJAnother gem from Ray Givan's website. This FAQ is written for USA conditions, but is universally applicable. It covers everything the average person wants to know about growing figs, general care, varieties, container figs, overwintering, pests and diseases and more.
http://home.planters.net/~thegivans/faq.html

Fig varieties, green and yellow skin JJJJ Ray Givan describes 28 varieties of green or yellow skinned figs, with 13 photographs of fruits.
http://home.planters.net/~thegivans/id-light.html

Fig varieties, dark skinned JJJJ RayGivan describes 24 varieties of dark skinned figs, with 24 photographs of fruits.
http://home.planters.net/~thegivans/id-dark.html

Fig varietiesJJJ Ray Givan's fig website is devoted primarily to fig varieties in USA, their identification, nomenclature and history. It is very detailed in this aspect, and really suited most to the fig enthusiast.
http://home.planters.net/~thegivans/id-figs.html

GOOSEBERRY Ribes uva-crispa. Gooseberies are usually an acid fruit (although when fully bush ripened some are very mild and good eating out of hand), and usually used for pies (originally they were used in sauces served with goose-the acidity was a counterpoint to the fattiness of the goose). The berries can be green, greenish yellow, yellow, pink, or red, smooth or with fine hairs. Gooseberries don't fruit very well in warm temperate areas, as there is often not enough cold to fulfill their winter chilling needs. Some varieties need less chilling than others, so fruiting is possible, especially at the cooler end of the warm temperate zone spectrum. You are also dealing with a very thorny plant (There are a few varieties with greatly reduced thorniness). Grown as a bush (preferably on a single stem), the plant it about 5feet/1.5m high and wide. Gooseberries  will grow well on most soils, provided they are not too wet, and there is plenty of organic matter incorporated in the soil. Gooseberries need a lot of potassium, so the fertiliser you use should be high in 'potash', or give additional potassium in winter ( about 1oz/square yard; 34gms/square metre) Fruit laden branches can break if  grown in a windy situation, so they either need a bit of shelter, or grow them as cordons. Single cordons can be grown 12 inches/30cm apart. The birds will eat your gooseberries unless you drape a net over the plants as they ripen. In temperate areas, bushes yeild about  8lb/3.5kg  and will keep fruiting for 20 years or more; a single cordon yeilds about I-21b/0.5- 1 kg . Expect less and some poor fruiting years in the warm temperate zone.In late summer prune all the laterals back to about 5 leaves, but don't prune the leaders. In winter cut the main leaders in half at an inward pointing bud or lateral (this helps overcome the gooseberries tendency to droop) 'Glendale', a vigorous red fruited form, is better adapted to warmer areas than most.

Photo ofvarioys gooseberry fruit  JJ - the citation refers to a page on the Cornell University site
http://www.fvs.cornell.edu/Faculty/php/MarvinPritts/Ornamentals/page10.htm
 

The muscadine grape in the home garden JJJJJ An excellent bulletin from the University of Georgia covering absolutely everything the home gardener needs to grow muscadines, from trellising, to  varietal notes, to pests and diseases (in USA).

American wild grape species JJJ Information on wild USA grapes, mainly from the botanical and winemaking point of view. Interesting.

Grape CultivarsJJJJ A list of 134 grape varieties in tabular form, organised to inform on specific attributes such as disease resistance, primary use, and other facets of interest to the home gardener.

Grape pruning in temperate areas - JJJJ while really an excellent page on pruning grapes in areas subject to spring freeze, written by the Michigan State University Department of Horticulture, it's coverage of the 'Geneva curtain' and 'Hudson River umbrella' modified cordon pruning systems is of interest, as is its general discussion of the principles of pruning grapes..
http://www.msue.msu.edu/vanburen/e-1935.htm

Diseases of grapes in Michigan State JJJJJ While these are the 8 commonest diseases of Michigan State, powdery and downy mildew are present in all grape growing countries. This very good fact sheet describes the symptoms, goes thru' the life cycle, and outlines the methods of control. Not only are there links to good photos of the disease symptoms, there is also a table of the disease resistance of some grapes, including 4 common table varieties. From Michigan State University Extension.
USA http://www.msue.msu.edu/vanburen/e-1732.htm

GRAPEFRUIT Citrus grandis- Grapefruit need more heat than oranges, and they generally don't perform well in the warm temperate zone except for the very hot long summer areas. Grapefruit are available almost year round from the supermarkets, so there seems little point for trying to grow grapefruit out of the hot climatic areas that they do so well in. The rootstock that the grapefruit is grafted onto has an influence on the trees resistance to virus diseases, root damaging nematodes, overthick skin, and poor soil conditions such as high calcium levels, or poor drainage. Your nurseryperson should be able to guide you to select the best roostock for your local area. Provide adequate water in dry spells, feed them a little and regularly, and you will harvest very good fruit.

GUAVA Psidium guajava 'Tropical Guava' - The small tree comes into bearing within a few years of planting out, it has an attractive trunk and leaves, there are purple leafed forms, it is trimmable, it makes a good hedge, and the flowers are quite attractive. It is hardy, and undemanding as to soil.There is a wide variety of fruit shapes and sizes to chose from when selecting a guava variety. The best are the large, yellow skinned, pink fleshed fruit. They are all an excellent source of vitamin C, with a minimum of 40mg/100grams of fruit, and a lot of variation up from this baseline according to the variety. Guavas must have heat, and a fairly mild, if not hot, winter. This makes them a worthwhile fruiting propostion only in the very warmest and most frost protected parts of the warm temperate zone.  Fruit in the merely warm parts of the wtz are resinous, never color well, and lack sugar. Varieties available include Hong Kong Pink, Philippine White, Pear, Mexican Cream, Ruby, Indian Red, and many others.
Philippine-yellow skin, white, soft flesh, sweet. Medium/large fruit.
Mexican Cream-bright yellow skin, cream, soft flesh. Large pear shaped fruit.
Ruby-X -Green skin,  with pink, soft, flesh. Medium sized fruit.
Thai Maroon-Deep maroon skin, deep maroon flesh. The tree has purple leaves. Medium/large fruit.
 Guava, tropical - JJJ a very good one page synopsis of the culture and nutritional benefits of guavas, from Fort Valley State University, Georgia, USA . Includes a photo.

GUAVA, CATTLEY, RED Psidium Cattleianum 'Red guava', 'Strawberry guava' 'Purple guava'- A very useful plant for the home food garden, because it is a small bushy tree and won't form massive roots that can damage paved areas, and because it will remain fruitful even when trimmed to fit into a narrow space, such as a border. The trees are self fruitful, the small creamy flowers while not showy are not unattractive, it is cold hardy and relatively drought tolerant. Cattley Guavas will start fruiting about the second year of planting out. Each about 8 gram berry contains more than 3.2 mg vitamin C. The fruit are about grapesized, sweet, slightly resinous and aromatic. Fully ripe fruit turn deep purple, and soon drop from the bush. The bushes are exceedingly productive, and become handsome upright small trees. They require little pruning, and can be shaped for convenience. The fruit are usually ripe in autumn.

GUAVA, CATTLEY, YELLOW Psidium Cattleianum var.lucidum 'Yellow guava'- A shrubby tree, often smaller than the cattley guava, with similar, but deep yellow fruit. Like the red cattley guava, a very useful plant for the home food garden, because it is a small bushy tree and won't form massive roots that can damage paved areas, and because it will remain fruitful even when trimmed to fit into a narrow space, such as a border. And like the red cattley, as rich a source of vitamin C. The flavor is similar, altho perhaps not as complex. Fruiting is as for the red cattley guava.

Yellow guava fact sheet.  JJ A brief fact sheet on yellow guava growing, with a very nice photo of the fruit. The fruit are described as 'large' - more accurately, they are 'relatively large', as small fruited 'Cattley' type guavas go.
http://www.edible.co.nz/psidium/Guavayellocherry.htm

GUAVA, COSTA RICAN Psidium friedrichsthalianum 'Cos guava'- A rather frost and cold tender species of guava with samll acid fruit that performs very poorly in even the warmest parts of warm temperate areas. Strictly for collectors.

HARDY KIWIFRUIT-Actinidia arguta, A.kolomikta, A.melanadra, A.purpurea, A.eriantha and others. 'Tara berries', 'Baby kiwifruit'. There have been many different 'wild', unimproved but still edible, species of kiwifruit introduced to the West from China and Russia over the last fifteen years or so, altho' suprisingly, very few are available. They vary in edibility from 'famine-only food' to very nice, with most species being very nice-sweet, sometimes fragrant,  usually soft green fleshed, and pleasant. A.eriantha has astounding levels of vitamin C, but unfortueatley is unpalatable, being peppery tasting. However, most species have very good levels of vitamin C. Some species are very cold hardy and thus recommended for temperate areas, but paradoxically, some (especially A.arguta) have exceptionally good bud break in spring-better, in fact, than their much larger warm temperate cousin the 'kiwi', and so are very successful in this climatic area. The vines are remarably free of disease, and the green fruit seem to be ignored by birds-presumably on the basis that they look unripe. Their fruit is generally from cherry to about large grape size, depending on species, variety, and how well pollinated the flower was. The fruit are completely smooth, and the skin is edible, unlike the commercial 'kiwi'. The fruit of A.arguta is sometimes marketed, but is still not readily available. These vines need reasonable drainage and wires to grow along or a pergola to grow over. They do need to be pruned every year, and A.arguta, in particular, becomes a dense mass if it isn't dealt to. Pruning is easy, pruning back to two buds at the base of the current seasons growth when the plant is dormant. A few cultivars are self fertile, but others must have a male plant for pollination (the sexes are on different plants). The fruit of self fertile varieties are larger in the prescence of a pollinator.
A.kolomikta-'Kishmish'. Does best in light shade, which makes it a particularly valuable plant. After about 4 years, the leaves of some plants may develop a natural purple and cream leaf variagation, which is quite attractive. The A.kolomikta cultivar  'Ananasaya' ('pineapple') comes into bearing early and bears very well.
Actinidia arguta-'Bowerberry', and is sometimes called the 'Tara berry'; and this latter name may well end up as the generic name for all the small fruited hardy kiwifruit species. The fruit are one of the largest of the Tara berries.  The vines are vigorous, and prefer full sun, altho' they will tolerate some shade, and is very widely adapted altho' it is not regarded as being as freeze tolerant as A.kolomikta. Allow about 3-5M/10-16 feet for the vines to run on. The vine can be tipped and summer pruned to keep it in bounds.'Issai' (US CAN) is said to be self fertile, precocious, and late ripening, 'Noel' is said to be particulaly large and productive (NZ), 'Geneva'(CAN) is early maturing

Actinidia arguta x actinidia species- 'Red Princess' (CAN) is a delicate looking, highly ornamental vine which bears green fruit with a reddish blush and reddish tinge to the flesh. The fruit drop readily as they approach maturity, which is a useful attribute for the home gardener. 'MSU' (CAN) has exceptionally large fruit (2-3 inches/50-75mm long) and is slower to come into bearing than most and not as productive. 'Ken's Red' (NZ CAN) is very similar to an arguta fruit, but with a red blush and dull reddish flesh.

? A. chinensis - 'Jia' This is from seed from China, grown at the Pacific Agri-Research Centre at British Columbia, in Canada. It appears to be A. chinensis; but in New Zealand A. chinesis are considered prone to late frost damage, so this variety may be a breakthrough for areas prone to occaissional late frost. More information is needed.

Kiwifruit Enthusiasts Journal - this is a journal devoted to kiwi fruit species. Volume 6, displayed at the NAFEX kiwifruit interest group page, has a very good photograph of a group of Actinidia species fruits, including fruit of A.arguta, A.eriantha, A.melanandra, and others

Yellow Kiwifruit in British Columbia, Canada JJJJ A page on 'Jia' a ? Actinidia chinensis, yellow fleshed variety.

Hardy Kiwifruit Fact Sheet JJJJ California Rare Fruit Growers very good review of all the hardy kiwi species and cultivars and their culture.

Hardy Kiwifruit varieties JJJJ A page with general information on adaptation and culture, then brief to good notes on four species and 19 cultivars of hardy kiwi. From Tripplebrook Farm in USA, which sells plants of the varieties described. Particulalry useful for cultivars of the Russian   A. kolomikta.

Photo-Hardy kiwifruit hybrids JJJJ A lovely photograph of hybrids between Actinidia arguta and various other hardy kiwifruit at North Americas main arguta commercial research site.

Actinidia Arguta in Canada  JJJ A page on the general requirements for arguta and other hardy kiwi in Canada, with details on structures, varieties, and commercial properties. From the Pacific Agri - Food Research Centre of Canada. Commercially oriented, but useful. Good photos of several cultivars.

Actinidia deliciosa history and culture JJJJ Tremendous amounts of information on the introduction of the kiwifruit to the West. It includes sound climatic, cultural, soil, propogation, and pollination details. The notes on Chinese cultivars are predominantly for the yellow fleshed, smooth skinned, closely related species Actinidia chinensis.

HILDABERRY Across between the tayberry and the boysenberry. Early season. The berry is very large, red, and the flavor has been described as 'good', whatever that means. The plants are thorny and vigorous. We have found no other details on this bramble, but suppose it is grown the same way as a blackberry

JABOTICABA Myciaria cauliflora- This is a small tree which bears grape sized purplish black fruit directly on the trunk and large branches. The fruit are juicy and similar to grapes in taste. The tree is very slow growing indeed, and may take many years to start bearing. In the warm temperate areas it normally has one heavy crop a year, in late autumn/early winter. In warmer conditions, the jaboticaba may fruit twice a year. The small leafed trees are not unattractive-altho' the foliage has a tendency to yellowing if nutrient status is wrong or the tree stressed-and it takes up very little room. Set against this is the very long time to bearing (8-25 years in the case of seedlings) and the fact that even when it does flower, if conditions are cool, humid and wet, the tree may fail to set any fruit. Better to buy grapes. A fruit for collectors only.
More detailed information can be found in the California Rare Fruit Growers (Inc)  very good fact sheet at:   http://www.crfg.org/pubs/ff/jaboticaba.html

JAPANESE RAISIN TREE Hovenia dulcis- A fast growing handsome and graceful small to medium tree; bears strange nibblie fruiting bodies on the tips of the branches, which when partly dry, taste for all the world like raisins! Weird. Quite good autumn colours. Quite a good landscape tree, but the fruit have novelty value only really. Most people taste them, find them acceptable, but don't bother with them again.

JUJUBE Zizyphus jujuba - Chinese Date, Red date
This small open, spiny, rather knarled looking deciduous shrub or small tree produces 30mm/1¼" long fleshy oblong to almost round fruit that can be eaten fresh, when they are crisp, slightly sweet (altho' fruit have 20% sugars, 16% are reducing sugars), with no acidity (acidity levels are around 4-5 %, not enough to give a marked acid note) or marked flavor, but it is usually boiled in sugar and dried. The green fruit turn a mahogony brown when ripe. It does well in hot dry areas, and fruits poorly if at all in cool summer areas. The trees are very cold tolerant, and the insignificant yellowish green  flowers appear in late spring, and so are not troubled by frost. They must have free draining soil, altho' they have the virtue of tolerating some salinity and alkalinity. The trees are self fertile and highly productive in climates that suit them. The fruits ripen in autumn. Perhaps their greatest claim to fame is that they are an exceptional source of vitamin C - tree ripened fruit have analysed out at from 500 - 560 mg of vitamin C per 100 gram of flesh. This is one of the most outstanding amounts of any fruit. No wonder the Chinese value this fruit so highly!
Li- Large fruit. Small tree- around 4.5M/15'.
Lang- Large fruit, a little smaller than Li and ripens a  month later.
Unless you are keen to have a 'health fruit' in your yard, the lack of marked flavor may not appeal. Try to find some fresh fruit to taste - if you find the fairly neutral flavor appealing, they are well worth growing.
More detailed information can be found in the California Rare Fruit Growers (Inc)  very good fact sheet at:  http://www.crfg.org/pubs/ff/jujube.html