Is there anything better than taking a bite into a soft, juicy, sweet peach on a hot summer day? Utahns’ love this sweet fruit, with many orchards spread across the entire state. In fact, there’s even a town known as Fruita located in central Utah due to its historically adequate water and long growing season in that region. Besides peaches, there’s an assortment of other fruits that thrive in Utah, including plums, apples, pears, and cherries that are pretty popular in the Utah climate. Here are some healthy fruit trees you can grow in Utah.
Fruit trees Utah: Plums
These are among the most low-maintenance healthy fruits trees that you can quickly grow in your orchard, unlike other fruit trees like the apple tree, which, although appealing, occupies massive acre plots; plum trees usually remain more compact. However, plums aren’t self-pollinating, and you will therefore need to plant two trees if you need them to bear fruits.
Why should you Cultivate Plums in Utah?
Plums thrive in the heat: Although most fruits usually tolerate heat, these trees flourish in it. Ideally, it is an early-summer tree that proliferates and produces more plum fruits during spring and warmer winter.
Disease & Insect proof: These trees are exceptionally hardy. Ideally, unlike all other fruit trees listed here, these fruits are resistant against nearly all conditions and insects, rendering them the ideal fruit to cultivate in Utah.
Ideal for relatively small spaces: Pears, cherries, and apple trees grow relatively large, meaning you need a substantial area for proper growth. However, with plum trees, you needn’t worry about such plum trees since they generally don’t grow beyond a height of 8-10 ft. and 6-8 ft. width.
Pears
The pear tree is a stunning choice to grow in Utah since it is resistant to many insects and diseases compared to other fruits. Like the plum trees, you must have two in your garden for the tree to generate good fruits, and pear trees usually take relatively longer to fully develop-approximately three years. However, once they are firmly rooted and sprouted, these trees produce lovely, delicious fruits for a rather long time.
Why should you plant Pears in Utah?
Besides being disease and insect resistant, here are some reasons that make pear trees a suitable option to grow in Utah
Heat-resistant: these trees are not only fantastic for their cold-hardy characteristic but also flourish in high heat, humidity, and drought conditions. This makes them ideal for planting anywhere, regardless of the extremity of sunlight exposure.
Cold Hardy tree: the pear trees are other hardy fruit trees and can survive the cold Utah weather. Ideally, they complement traditional apple trees, blooming early and subsequently bearing fruit in early summer.
Fruit trees Utah: Cherry
Once they blossom, the cherry trees are a remarkably stunning plant, giving you a bonus. Essentially, cherry trees are usually planted in either twos or three, although there are currently some self-pollinating dwarf cherries, gradually growing in popularity. A cherry tree is an easy maintenance tree and offers both a stunning appeal and shade in your turf or yard.
Why should you plant Cherry in Utah?
All-weather tree: The cherry tree is a hardy fruit that flourishes in cold and heat conditions. This makes it an all-weather plant that you can enjoy across all seasons.
Abundant harvest: Cherries usually produce the greatest harvest of all trees, as mentioned above. Although cherry trees don’t usually grow as high as some trees on this list, they can often produce up to 50 pounds in a single season!
Peaches
These are arguably the most popular fruit trees in Utah, particularly the distinctive Elberta variety. Most peach trees are uniquely self-pollinating, although there are several exceptions. You can prune the peach trees to remain relatively smaller and suitable for any garden size.
Why should you cultivate Peaches in Utah?
Flourish in extreme heat: when it comes to peaches, the hotter the weather, the better! Yes, unlike cherries, pears, plum, and apple trees,
peaches can flourish under sweltering conditions.
Quick Growing: of all the fruit mentioned above, peaches are by far the fastest-growing plants. In fact, most peaches will produce fruits within 1-2 years of planting.
Citrus Trees
The citrus tree is an ideal fruit tree to grow in Utah since they are all-weather trees and offer a natural vitamin C source. With an assortment to pick from, they are an ideal plant.
What’s more, they come in multiple varieties meaning you are spoilt for choice on what to grow. Some of the options to grow here include lemons like grapefruit and oranges.
Why should you grow Citrus in Utah?
Variety: Citrus fruits come in multiple varieties meaning you are spoilt for choice on what to grow. Some of the common fruits are lemons, grapefruit, and oranges.
All-season fruit: This is an ideal fruit tree to grow in Utah since they are all-weather trees and can thrive in nearly all weather conditions, whether cold or extremely hot.
Apple trees
Another stunning choice to grow in Utah is the Apple fruit tree. This tree grows vertically either on trellis or walls, a growth that makes them ideal for small spaces and backyards. Furthermore, they produce fruits throughout the year.
The only drawback is that Apple trees require a lot of pruning. Nonetheless, considering they only need small spaces to flourish, it’s worth all the added work.
Why should you grow Apples in Utah?
Cold Hardy Plants: these trees flourish in the cooler fall and cold spring seasons. Additionally, unlike other mentioned trees, apples and their flowers thrive even in frost or snow seasons in the spring.
Ease of Cultivation: an apple tree is perhaps the easiest tree fruit to plant. Ideally, they don’t require fertilizers or constant watering and can thrive in all soils, only needing relatively little pruning efforts.
Conclusion
In the end, there’s just something with being able to pick fruit off a tree in your backyard. Utah is known for many things, but fruit growing is quickly becoming a popular hobby, and these few options are among the ideal fruits to grow. While some trees usually take a substantial garden space, others can be pruned to smaller sizes to adapt to your home garden.
If you live in Utah and want to plant some fruit trees but are worried about the small size of your garden, these few fruit trees are among the best healthy fruit trees you can grow and enjoy abundant produce.
Good luck!