I can’t report a lot on experience as I’ve just planted my orchard, but since I’m in 7b east coast, I have come up with this list of what I’ve planted as what seems to work here or nearby. Only a few should be experimental, I wanted to start with what was most likely to work first since so much in this area can suffer from rot.
Apple : Gold Rush, Gala, Hooples Antique Gold
Pear (asian) : Korean Giant
Pear (euro) : Magness
Peach : Nectar, Autumn Rose, Winblo, Indian Red, Carolina Belle
Nectarine : Fantasia (though mine is coming with fuzz, not sure if it’s correct)
Plum (japanese) : Satsuma, Weeping Santa Rosa
Cherry (sweet) : White Gold
Cherry (sour) : Juliet
Grape: Reliance
Pawpaw : All Peterson, Maria’s Joy, Halvin (any should work, establishing young grafted trees anywhere is challenging)
Persimmon (non-astringent) : Early Jiro
Fig : Chicago Hardy / Ronde de Bordeaux / Desert King / Black Mission (so far, Desert King has been the best cold tolerance, all have come back though)
Blueberry : Climax, Ochlockonee, Powder Blue, Brightwell, Vernon, Climax, Premier, Tifblue (Any Rabbiteye should work reliably)
Raspberry : Fall Gold, Black (can’t remember variety, got lost)
Blackberry : Prime-ark Freedom (though mine has thorns so must be something else)
Strawberry : Earliglo, Seascape, Albion (all doing very well, but planning to add more)
Feijoa: Nikita (planted near house on South side)
Melons: Everything! But the best cantaloupes for me seem to be F1 hybrids, they are much more resistant to the rain growing on the ground than heirlooms. Watermelon for me has been great, but there are probably better places in the country to grow them, I’m still happy.
So far, I’m getting lots of strawberries and blackberries this year, and quite a few peaches. Peaches I have bagged each with fruit socks, will see what happens there. Raspberry seems OK but attracts lots of pests, they eat the flower buds and the fruit.
Pawpaws I had hoped for much better results, I’ve gotten mine from England’s, but unfortunately they sent the first batch to the wrong address, so they sat in the box for a weekend. The replaced a couple with shipping paid, but those trees, only half have leafed out. My tiny tree from OGW has done the best in my opinion. I would like though to plant seedlings directly in the patch and graft over them myself for the future.
Super reliable fruit for this area seems to be: Blueberries, strawberries, blackberries and supposedly Pawpaw, Persimmon and Jujube based on my visits to another guy’s more established garden. Lots of things seem to work here experimentally including Fig, Kiwi, Feijoa and probably a lot more with a little extra care/placement. For example the friend I visited had both field grown Feijoa and ones up against his house, the ones near his house flowered and fruited every year, whereas the others don’t die, but rarely fruit.
Last, stone fruits and apples from reports seem like they can work, but late freezes can always kill things off. This year we had a couple close to freezing nights, but must not have done too much damage. Other years I can see where I may not get stone fruits.