I recently had to cut down my mature front-yard beech tree that provided shade, wildlife habitat, and a bit of privacy. I’m looking for something to plant next to the stump as a replacement. I’m in Canadian zone 6B, winter lows tend to be around -22C/-7F, with a cool delayed spring, warm summer, and mild autumn. Growing season is about 160 days.
I’m thinking of a Nikita’s Gift persimmon, as they are quite ornamental throughout the year, but I’d like some opinions before making a decision. Is it viable to plant a fruit/nut tree in place of a typical ‘yard’ tree or should I go for something more traditional?
I have all of my fruit trees in the front yard here in suburbia, corner lot and 20+ trees does that to you. In the end its your yard and I think fruit trees can have some gorgeous forms, though if you want to go for ornamentalness you may need to forsake soooome fruiting capabilities since pruning can slightly differ.
I try and do a mix of understory and tall trees. But most of my tall trees are not fruit trees, aside from one black walnut.
The viability depends on how big you want it and where you live. One of the most common landscape trees in Central Florida is loquats for example, but thats obviously not going to work for you. Mangoes and avocadoes (and longans and sapodillas) are a more common sight than magnolias in front yards in South Florida. Again, more tropical examples, but fruit trees as shade/canopy/landscape trees do work, you just need to find the type of tree for your area.
The big things to look at are:
Does it get big enough for your purposes?
Is it prone to disease that can kill or make it look ugly in the growing season?
Does it grow in your area?
Is it ornamental enough for you?
Does your HOA or city care?
If Nikata’s Gift checks all those boxes, then theres no reason not to grow it as a centerpiece tree.
I see nothing wrong with a fruit tree as a “yard” tree. In fact, when I was growing up, my next door neighbors had a persimmon tree in their front yard. They just grew wild around there and there was nothing abnormal about it. In my front yard, we had a crabapple. Sure, we grew it for the spring bloom, but an edible apple would have accomplished the same goal, plus fruit.
Personally, I would lean towards something faster growing if the goal is shade. A good pear would be plenty shady in a decade or less. Bottom line, plant what you like. I doubt many people would even notice (or care, for that matter.)
Thanks all for the validation to grow more edibles, I’m liking the idea of either a persimmon, a nut tree, or an apple or pear. Mulberry sounds great except it’ll be next to a driveway and walking path. And I haven’t ruled out something native, I can always make space elsewhere for my Nikita’s Gift. Luckily my beech quit several months before Spring planting time, so I’ve got some time to mull it over.