I live in inland San Diego and have tried some fruit varieties that might have been marginal for my posted chill hours of around 300. I also grow known low chill varieties for perspective and also to make sure I get fruit! I have had some wonderful surprises such that these experiments have already paid off. Here is what I found this year:
March (strawberries) - earliglow strawberry had the best flavor and most reliable productivity. Sequoia was next. Charlotte tastes great in June but was watery in the winter.
April (blueberries) - Emerald produces by far the most blueberries of any variety, and they are large and flavorful. The plant itself is vigorous and large. Snowchaser is not just the earliest variety, it is really good. Southmoon is later season, a couple weeks later and is really good. Sweetcrisp is very good but not as productive. My recommendations would be to plant Snowchaser and Emerald as the main varieties and then have fun with testing others.
May (peaches and nectarines)- This was my first year getting fruit from early peaches/nectarines and I was surprised how good they are. We do get a lot of inland heat in May. I would definitely recommend trying these. I grow Flordaprince, which was loaded with fruit. I hope to try Desert Dawn nectarine and Desert Delight. If anyone else has recommendations, I would love to hear it.
May (apricots) - Nicole is a low chill apricot variety for me. I have grafts that are not even that big and I get fruit every year. It is the best early apricot I have ever had. This definitely belongs in your inland Southern California backyard if you like apricots because it comes at a time of the year where not much else is available.
May (cherries) - I did get fruit this year from Royal Lee, Royal Crimson, Minnie Royal, Lapins, and English Morello. However, my trees are young and I only got a few from each. They were good cherries and the flavor totally depends on when you pick it. I never liked Lapins but if you leave them on until dead ripe they are amazing. My favorite is Brooks and I did plant this to test it in future years. I am testing out other varieties, including Dukes. I have found it harder to keep cherries healthy but am doing better. Those that have succeeded best were planted very high on very good draining soil.
June (peaches and nectarines) - Tropic Snow was not as good as I expected but I have found young trees produce inferior fruit and so I will wait until next year. I don’t think I like white peaches as much. Snow Queen nectarine is amazing, very intense with balance of sweet and sharp. The bugs always get it and I have to cut around that. I am curious to hear what others recommend for early peaches and nectarines.
June (apricots) - Blenheim and its cousin (twin?) Tropic Gold fruit reliably and are amazing. There is some alternate bearing and there is some random chance involved. Heavy rains at peak bloom limited the crop this year. Tomcot does not work here, I get a couple fruits, and it is good, but you also have to leave the fruit on the tree well past peak color. It was clearly a commercial variety, made to go orange before it ripens. Bonny Royal apricot had a graft that fruited incredibly well. I think it is low chill but need to test future years. It is similar to Blenheim, often having more intense flavor. For some reason mine was not before Blenheim this year, but was a week later.
June (raspberries) - For me Prelude is earliest but not as productive. Boyne was amazing. It started cropping at the end of Blueberry season in late May and kept sending out new berries on fresh growth arising from last years canes. I would definitely choose Boyne over Prelude.
July (peaches and nectarines) - Midpride in early July was very good but not as good as I expected based on the reputation. August Pride in later July was better. Santa Barbara is a notch below both but I want to give it more time because I abused the tree with heavy pruning. But it seems less intense. It has a very scattered harvest, over an entire month. Double Delight nectarine is very good, but I had a light crop due to pruning. Red Baron peach did not fruit well, maybe it was the rain, and maybe it is just a young tree. In the future I also want to plant Kaweah.
July (apricots) - Alameda Hemskirke, Hemskirke, Moorpark, and Steindorf Blenheim all fruited but rather lightly, despite an initial promising fruit set on Moorpark. I suspect the high chill reputation for Moorpark and Hemskirke will play out but my trees and grafts are not totally mature enough. I had hopes for Steindorf Blenheim, the flavor is very good and if it is related to Blenheim it would be expected to produce here. I would love to find a great July apricot. Those fruits I do get in the warmth here exceed those grown at my parents’ house in the Santa Clara valley.
July (raspberries) - BP-1 started at the end of Boyne season and were good, but so far I have not gotten as many. The canes are young though. In the future I want to figure out a good July raspberry as a bridge to the August primocane varieties that do so well here (fall gold, heritage, etc). Jewel black raspberry is not good at all. Very dry and flavorless. Not sure if this is something I did wrong or if it just does not do well here.
July (plum) - Santa Rosa in early July and Laroda in late July. Both fruit reliably here. Both are very good. Laroda is not as tart and thus is good for fresh eating. Plums are very good cooked but my trees are young so I have not made plum crisp on my own trees.
Things still to come:
Oldmixon peach grafts set well, looking forward to trying those
Fairtime peach grafts also set very well
Broken Heart plum fruited surprisingly well, better than its high chill reputation
Flavor King pluot set a light crop on growth from recent years’ grafts
fall raspberry varieties
Let me know if anyone has inland So Cal experiences that would add to this, especially for August stone fruit since I need more of that.