OK by popular demand heres the stone fruits… these are my 2005-2015 or so annual logs combined together. They are generally in the order of ripening as that is the order I log things.
One thing I should mention is many of these are unusual types, I get excited about something different. I grew many flat peaches, honey peaches, red-fleshed peaches, white apricots, etc. Many of these unusual kinds I still like. Also many of these are heirlooms, they don’t produce as reliably as modern varieties but some have really unique and great flavors and I think its worth it. And, some modern varieties are just as good as the heirlooms. There are a great many modern peach varieties and I have grown relatively few of them.
Apricots
There are few “mainstream” apricots on this list and many white apricots. There were many obscure white apricot varieties and I decided to do a methodical search for a few good ones. The white apricots proved to be very stingy setters, but I now believe I just need to wait longer for them to fruit well. Some of them are now starting to fruit reliably after six years.
Early Blush - Very early (1st week of June) and a good fruit in all respects. Its not in the very best tasting group, but its definitely the best tasting fresh apricot I can pick in early June! A great apricot to have as the second or third variety. Adams County Nursery sells it.
Tomcot - This is overall my favorite apricot. It seems to come through frosts better than most, in spite of not being late on the bloom. It is relatively early so avoids the main rot season. The taste is very apricot-y, with a flavor like dried apricots - one of the best. It is not as juicy as some apricots but its not annoyingly dry either.
Nicole - This is a relatively new California cot. It is a good tasting cot, with good acids and flavor. Like many CA-bred cots however it is prone to spotting. Spotting causes many apricots including Nicole to not size up well. This one is probably headed for removal for me.
Robada - Very sweet fruits with an unusual flavor in the skin that I like a lot. There is a touch of astringency in the skin even at fully ripe, it adds to the flavor. They don’t have a lot of aroma however. They are not sizing up well due to high susc. to spotting in spite of sprays to prevent. Overall it is similar to Nicole in terms of spotting/sizing but a more unusual flavor and sweetness level. This tree is also probably headed for removal. In climates with fewer disease problems this is one of the best, but it is probably not for me.
NJ-21-107 - This was recently released by Rutgers/ACN. It is getting some brown rot shoot blight as well as a small amount of rot on some fruits. The taste is very good, Tomcot-like with a touch of Orangered thrown in. Overall this is a new “winner” apricot for the mid-atlantic, the brown rot is mostly under control in my minimal spray program and other than that its a winner on all counts. Available from ACN on their commercial list.
Harglow - It had much less flavor than Tomcot and also cracked some years. Removed ~2008.
Orangered - Fruits are large and blushed red. The taste is a mild liquid peach/apricot flavor. It is a very well-balanced and refreshing flavor. It is not as strong as Tomcot which tastes fresh more like the intense flavor of a dried apricot. I have had no significant problems with diseases, cracking, etc on it. Overall, this is becoming one of my favorite apricots. It is moderately susceptible to rot.
Sugar Pearls white - I was not particularly impressed with this variety; is not very sweet or flavorful. It is nothing like Zard or the other truly tasty white-fleshed apricots. Removed 2014.
Moniqui white - So far this is my best white apricot because it has been relatively productive. Unfortunately the tree got borers so recently it has not done well but I am hoping it will be back soon. Moniqui is excellent tasting, one of the best, and sets a very good load for me. The only downside is the fruits are on the small side. Fruitlets form early and it needs an early curculio spray which I often miss. Unlike the other heirloom white apricots this is a European variety, from Spain.
Helena - This is a new California-bred apricot. Like most of the CA bred ones, its looking like a bust in the east. It gets bad peach scab spotting in spite of heavy sprays I did on it. It dropped prematurely as well, but it will take a few years to see if it outgrows that. I did not get an optimal sample due to the dropping, but I did get some reasonable tasting fruit. Fruit are huge and have a nice strong flavor, with very orange crunchy flesh, but low in sugar. With the bad scab I expect this variety will get removed soon, life is too short to grow difficult varieties.
Puget Gold - This variety spots very badly for me. This would cause the fruits to runt out and not sweeten up well. Removed ~2008.
Seips White / Yakimene white - These two varieties I obtained from different sources under different names but they are very similar so I have grouped them together. They are also close to Spark’s Mammoth in description so they may in fact be that variety. It is a very large, tasty white apricot, with a mild honeyed flavor. The main problem I have had is very limited fruit set.
Zard white - This is an excellent tasting white apricot. It took quite a few years before it started setting regularly but has finally started to become productive. Fruits are small but excellent tasting; meaty and richly flavored. They are bird resistant with white coloring. Flesh is on the soft/mushy side. Zard is one of the few truly late-blooming apricots, it blooms a week or more later than the others.
Peche de Nancy white - This is a tasty white apricot but I found it very susceptible to rots and other diseases on the fruits. Removed ~2009.
Canadian White Blenheim (Zard?) white - This apricot seemed pretty much identical to Zard in all dimensions: the unusual late bloom, fruit ripening, size, taste, etc. The variety name came into being due to a scion mix-up and it in fact it could be Zard. I took it out since I needed more space and it seems like I already “had” this variety. Removed ~2008.
Shalah white - Larger than Zard, very sweet, excellent flavor. I would say it is similar to but a notch above Zard for flavor and texture. It has not been productive but hopefully the productivity will kick in eventually.
Lasgerdi Mashaad white - Light, delicate and sweet. A different flavor dimension compared to Zard/Shalah but also excellent. Similar cropping issues as with Shalah.
Afghanistan white - This variety is very similar to the Seips/Yakimene but with smaller fruits. Like them it has been a very poor setter for me. I am still hoping it will kick into production one of these years.
Shekar Pareh plumcot - This is an “aprium”, its a plum/apricot hybrid that tastes very much 50-50 plum-apricot. For some reason it is always sold as an apricot, but its fairly obvious from its leaves, growth habit, and fruit that it is an aprium. It took several years to get productive but eventually settled into very good production. It needs heavy shoot thinning. The tree is also far too vigorous and requires a lot of summer pruning and shoot thinning. I have had dropping problems so have been harvesting earlier, when they are pleasant tasting but lower in sugars and more sour. Later fruits are more like apricot, more sweet, but too late and they get mushy. Overall I don’t think the fruit like my climate, they don’t complete ripening and start turning to mush when they should be completing their ripening. In a more dry climate they may ripen well. The fruits are very disease and crack resistant, they always look nice in spite of the minimal spraying I do. They are only moderately susceptible to brown rot. Overall, a very interesting and unusual fruit that doesn’t quite make it in my climate. Removed 2013.
Hesse plumcot - This is also an “aprium” as far as taste; it looks like a fuzzy purple plum but has bright orange flesh and tastes like a nice combination of plum/apricot flavors. The flesh is intensely orange; the combination of strongly purple exterior and strongly orange interior is very striking. I have had problems with early dropping some years; it is not yet clear how long-term reliable it will be for me. It is smaller than Spring Satin and with more orangish flesh. It needs to hang a VERY long time after it changes color, it is very easy to pick this one far too early. The Shekar Pareh has been having similar early drop / needs to hang late issues so it may be a pattern in these hybrids. I had no problems with diseases etc on the fruits. A few more years are needed to evaluate this unusual fruit but its looking pretty interesting. Arboreum is the only source I know of.
Paiwand (Hunza type) - Hunza apricots are from the Pakistan mountains, they are a major agricultural crop in that area. Paiwand is similar to Tomcot but sweeter and slightly better flavor (smoother?). Unfortunately it sets little, drops a lot all season long, and is highly prone to brown rot shoot blight. The fruit are also very small. I cut this tree down but changed my mind and decided to let it grow back because I learned I needed to be more patient with some apricot types to get reliable production from them. I am hoping this Hunza apricot will eventually produce well for me. But given the brown rot shoot blight problems it is a bit of a long shot.
Habiju/Khakas (Hunza types) - I never got any fruit on these. Khakis was removed but I am letting Habiju grow back from its stump.
Sukphany white - the usual low set high drop on a white apricot. This guy was particularly prone to dropping and was good but no big standout on flavor. Removed 2013.
Plums
Spring Satin plumcot - Very good, aromatic flesh and similar to Flavor Supreme in flavor - a great super-early plum! I classify this as a plum because besides the bit of fuzz on the skin and the earliness its a plum in every other respect. Don’t let it overset, they can get bland. Also the fruits need to hang a long time for full flavor.
Earli Magic - this is a very good plum, my earliest and excellent taste. Very much a mainstream plum flavor wise, tart and plummy. Somewhat prone to rot.
AU Roadside - Ok but not great flavor compared to other plums I am growing. Its better than a store plum but not up to backyard orchard standards (at least in my climate). Scheduled for removal.
Flavor Supreme - These plums have amazing sugars, much sweeter than others. But, the tree is one of my worst setters, its 12 years old and hardly sets any fruits at all. I am going to start hand-pollinating to see if I can increase the fruit set .
Purple Heart - These plums hang purple a long time before softening - it makes it hard to keep all the critters off of them. I did not thin enough, the fruits want to be large so it needs more thinning than Satsuma. The taste is very similar to Satsuma, not exactly all the same flavors but many common ones and every bit as good as Satsuma. Good as an earlier, larger, just as reliable version of Satsuma, and one of my favorites. I have no idea why this plum is not more popular. Not 100% consistent on flavor/sugars is their only downside.
Lavinia - A truly excellent plum when fully ripe (red), quenching and with unusual flavor like papaya etc. Too small to ever get very popular in markets. Overall this is one of my favorite plums, it is reliable and productive and has had almost no rot. If it were larger in size everyone would be growing it.
Flavor King - This is an excellent-tasting plum but in my climate it is just too much work to grow. It sets well unlike most pluots, but is very highly prone to rot. It also is very attractive to birds for some reason, and had cracking problems every third year or so. Removed ~2013.
Shiro - An extremely reliable disease resistant nice quenching yellow plum. Somewhat prone to rot. They can be eaten over a several week period; I like them darker yellow when they are sweeter and have a bit of caramel flavor in them. There are better tasting plums but few that are easier to grow.
Santa Rosa - Fantastic flavor, unique tart/plummy taste. Sometimes it has set OK but most years it has set far too few plums for me. I may want to try hand pollinating. If it set reliably it would be one of my top plums. It still sets enough that I will keep it, I get a small pile even in an off year whereas with Flavor Supreme I may get only a couple fruits total.
Weeping Santa Rosa - A bit more sugar and flavor than standard Santa Rosa. It has not been a good grower for me but this is probably based on the spot I have it crammed in to.
Superior - This is a very good tasting sweet/sour plum. It gets too soft however, they explode with juice when you eat them. The taste is unique and very good.
Howard Miracle - This tree has a twiggy growth habit and requires significant shoot thinning. The fruits taste similar but not quite up to Santa Rosa. Unfortunately it rotted very badly. Removed ~2010.
Belsiana - This myrobalan plum has severe splitting problems. It has an unusual savory taste in the fruits and I would have probably kept it if it were not for the bad splitting. Removed ~2010.
La Crescent (?) - These plums did not have much flavor early, and if let hang turned mealy. Some years they were better, a mild apricot taste. From a 50-year unidentified tree in my parents yard so ID not certain. Removed ~2011.
Sweet Treat Pluerry - Only one year experience so far. Decent but not great; high sugars and very crunchy but cloying kiddy-candy flavor. I have a similar problem with Flavor Grenade, I don’t like that flavor. It only set 4-5 fruits so I need to give it another year or two. I didn’t let any of them hang super long since wasps were after them. Highly prone to black knot.
Satsuma - I can’t say enough good things about this plum, it is extremely reliable and extremely productive and the plums taste fantastic! When picked at the right time they have a spicy flavor, a very mild clove/cinnamon type thing. The way I tell when to pick them is the bottoms start to lose some of their bloom and are dark purple. Few disease problems in spite of being pure Japanese.
Wickson - A rich aromatic plum. Much less acidic than Santa Rosa. Overall they are very good but I would put them a touch below Satsuma and Santa Rosa. I am getting some rot on them, and the bugs seem to like them a lot since they are soft. Overall they are not as easy as Satsuma but are a quality fruit. Removed ~2011.
Fortune - I didn’t have much luck with this variety, it did not set well and when it did the fruits were not that exceptional. I probably should have given it a few more years of trial but it was on the same trunk as Purple Heart so I removed it to let the Purple Heart expand.
Gracious - This tree gets shot hole very badly. Also it doesn’t set very well, tons of bloom but no fruits. Removed ~2012.
Sprite - Big problems with splitting. They also are hard to keep the birds off of as they get dark red early and then need to hang a long time fully colored before they are ripe. I gave up on this one after not managing to sample a single ripe one after several years. Removed ~2012.
Padre - This California plum is one of the most shot-hole-prone fruits I have ever grown. It was so bad it actually killed the graft. Died ~2012.
Ruby Queen - This plum was not reliable for me, it did not set reliably year to year and the taste some years was very good and other years completely bland. Its too bad as when it was good it was a very nice plum and it is highly disease resistant. Removed 2014.
Burbank plumcot - Not very interesting flavor and did not set well. Removed ~2010.
Apex plumcot - Another Burbank plumcot; similar comments as Burbank one above. Removed ~2010.
Mariposa - A large heart-shaped red-fleshed plum with a mild pleasant taste. Fine but not up to Satsuma or Purple Heart. It has the advantage of being a lot later than those two plums so it could be useful as a season extender for red-fleshed plums.
Red Heart - Like Mariposa, this is a later version of Satsuma. These plums were highly prone to dropping, but I didn’t get to keep it long enough to give it a full trial. Removed ~2012.
Laroda - Wow. This is similar to Santa Rosa (surely related) but smaller and more sweet and flavorful. It is turning into a real winner, up in the very top group. It also comes later than the other plums. Like Santa Rosa it doesn’t set many fruits and it also might benefit from hand pollination.
Flavor Grenade - Big elongated fruits, great fruit set for a pluot. This plum is quite prone to rot but it can be controlled with MFF. They are good but too much a “sweet kid’s candy” taste for me.
European Plums
There is not a lot of description here because I have not done well with European plums. Part of the problem is my fault, I planted most of them very closely in an area with only 6 hours of sun. I have slowly been thinning down the stand to give the remaining trees a better shot. I have also had severe curculio problems, they need a later curculio spray or two as they stay susceptible for a longer period than any other fruit. But the worst problem is the rot, all Euro plums are highly prone to rot. The 6 hours of sun is not helping me with rot control; for such rot-prone fruits they need as much sun exposure as possible, and the least crowding around the trees. A few of the trees are in better spots and have done OK.
Pearl - An excellent plum.
French Petite aka French Prune, Prune d’Agen - Flavor excellent when fully ripe; it is a prune plum but is excellent fresh as well. This tree, on citation, produced much earlier than the others.
Fellenberg - The typical blue football-shaped plum. Removed ~2010 to thin my stand.
Coes Golden Drop - One of the most tasty plums when well ripened.
Golden Transparent Gage - A very fine rich-tasting gage plum.
Rosy Gage - Very prone to rot; while it set well I never got any fruit off this tree. Winter 2015 it had an extreme black knot infection all over - much worse than nearby trees. The combination of horrible rot and horrible knot put it under my axe. Removed 2015.
Imperial Epineuse - A fine plum. I have had problems ripening them evenly.
Middleburg - An excellent plum. I need to thin it more as it vastly oversets. My tree has not been vigorous. Interestingly this plum is on a myrobalan rootstock with a Damson plum interstem (not by plan) and that combination might be why this plum fruited earlier and is more dwarfing than my other Euro plums.
Pozecaga - They seem similar to Fellenberg, i.e. a standard prune plum.
Peaches
Gold Dust - A very good early peach. Early on I had problems with the tops getting squishy before the rest of the fruit was even ripe. Once the tree matured it got over that and now produces excellent early peaches every year.
Saturn donut - A horrible brown rot magnet. Which is too bad, its a very tasty honey-type flat peach. Removed ~2012.
Flat Wonderful donut - A new flat yellow-fleshed peach. Its perfectly fine but is not very flavorful compared to the better varieties, it tastes watery compared to most of my peaches. It does have some of that slight savory/anise flavor like the old Rareripe variety. Tree has purple leaves in spring which makes an interesting looking specimen. Removed ~2013.
Clayton - An excellent yellow peach with a creamy, Crawford-type flavor. Highly disease resistant as well. This tree oversets in the extreme and needs MAJOR thinning. Only downside of these is they are pretty soft when ripe. But boy are they juicy!
Galaxy donut - A good but not great tasting large sized white flat peach; not as tasty as Saturn. It doesn’t get brown rot badly, but gets a bulls-eye rot on 10-20% of fruits. Flesh is too stringy; also lots of fruits split at pits. Removed ~2010.
Winblo - Like Clayton and Carolina Gold this variety is from the NC State breeding program in the 1970’s/80’s. I like the peaches they bred because they have both great flavor and high disease tolerance. Winblo is the largest of these three varieties and is a great tasting peach.
Veteran - Watery and not very flavorful. Fruits get soft on tops while bottoms still hard. Not a good one. This may be the wrong variety, I recall eating excellent Veterans. Or maybe its the real thing but it only likes colder climates. Removed ~2010.
John Rivers white nectarine - An excellent variety; no rot and little spotting. John Rivers was once the most popular nectarine in California, it is an old variety. Very few nectarines have been rot resistant so I am really impressed with this guy.
Zin Dai Jiu Bao - A Chinese peach recently imported into the US. This proving to be my best early white peach, it clearly surpasses Carman. None of that green color or flavor, they are white/yellow with a slight red blush when ripe. The flavor is mild but very well-balanced. Pick and let sit a few days on the counter to soften, otherwise its too hard. Cling.
TangOs donut - Letting these hang really late, they are a very good peach that way. They stop becoming so chewy and become more juicy. They are susceptible to rot, the problem if you let them hang is most will rot. Planned for removal.
Nectar - From a limited harvest it appears to be an excellent white-fleshed peach, one of the best. Brown rot susceptibility looks to be low. Similar to Carman but smaller fruits; less greenishness in the flavor but more samples needed. Fruits are much smaller than Carman. It is very similar in taste to John Rivers which is a parent.
Mericrest nectarine - The fruits get spot on them which causes them to not size up well; they are often smaller than golf balls. With a regular spray program this would probably come out full sized. The flavor is truly excellent, with the intense essence of nectarine. This variety is a keeper in spite of the small size.
Snow Queen nectarine - This nectarine was splitting 100%. Removed 2012.
Le Grand nectarine - Yet another nectarine that is too prone to rot. Removed ~2012.
Ernies Choice - This tree took several years to get happy but its a real winner now: large crops of great tasting and great looking large peaches. There is some red by the pit. It needs major thinning. It is not in the very top flavor group but does so well on all other counts that I am keeping it.
Carolina Belle - A disease-resistant white peach. For me it was somewhat less good than Raritan Rose, occasionally bitter. Removed ~2011.
Georgia Belle - An old-time white peach. For me it was somewhat less good than Carolina Belle, smaller and less flavorful. Removed ~2008.
Stark Summer Pearl - A not very interesting white fleshed peach. Similar to Georgia Belle but much better looking. Removed ~2008.
Carman - This old heirloom white peach is one of the few to earn a Very Good rating in peaches of New York. It has been an easy grower and productive tree, but the stink bugs really like the fruits and the taste is a bit on the “green” side - like several other white peaches there is something tinny/odd in the background of the flavor. If they get super ripe they lose nearly all of it but they are often over-ripe by then. Some years they are better than others; my opinion is still evolving on this one as the tree matures and it logs more seasons.
Raritan Rose - This is a solid white peach. They have a tendency to mealiness however and are a notch below the best varieties. Removed 2013.
Lola Queen - Similar to Carman, a half notch below in taste. Also looks a lot like Carman. Definitely coming on later than Carman so not the same peach, also fruits are bigger and seem to have a bigger seam than the Carmans which are mostly round. Both of these two are late 19th century Texan origin fruits so the similarity is probably genetic. Peaches of NY also mentions they are similar. Removed 2013, a fine peach but I only need to keep Carman as the representative of this type.
Foster - I have had problems with the tree, it had bad borers and is low vigor. It is now on a new stock so hopefully I will get more reliable fruiting. The fruits when they have come are some of the best, extremely sweet and with a rich but delicate mango-like flavor. For taste alone it is one of my favorite varieties, I agree with Peaches of NY that it is a Very Good. Its a stinkbug magnet and has a large unattractive seam.
Lord Napier white nectarine - This is one of the best heirloom nectarines. It is somewhat less prone to rot and has a good flavor. It is a white-fleshed nectarine. I removed my tree due to rot/bug problems, and the fruits were also not sizing up well.
Sanguine Pilat red-flesh - Looking to be an outstanding red-fleshed variety with very large fruits and as good a flavor as any red-fleshed variety. No rot on this one, particularly good news for a red-fleshed peach. My graft was weak so I have had few fruits; re-grafted in 2014 to a vigorous stock.
Red Baron - This is a truly great peach, the showy pink blossoms are just icing on the cake. It has a very rich flavor similar to O’Henry. The only downside is the fruits can be on the small side.
St. John - This is a great and unique “Very Good” historical peach. The color is lighter yellow, not the usual yellow/orange. The taste is in the mango/apricot realm, quite different than other peaches. The skin is very fuzzy by modern standards, and it is extremely juicy. Fruits were small for quite a few years but recently it has finally started to size up well. Unfortunately it is almost in the highest rot susceptibility group and stinkbugs love it to death as well. So I have decided its not really meant for my climate unfortunately.
Sanguine Tardeva red-flesh - It is somewhat but not horribly prone to rot. The taste is truly excellent, every bit as good as Indian Free. It is a bit on the small size like Indian Free. In general its more or less the same peach but a lot earlier.
George IV - This is a solid white peach, similar to Raritan Rose but not quite as perfumed, and also no mealiness issues. It is better than the Carolina/Georgia Belle etc crowd. Nonetheless it is not as good as the best white peaches such as Oldmixon Free. Died ~2009.
Peento donut - One of the original flat peaches, imported into the US 100+ years ago; I obtained it from ARS. I believe this peach was used in the breeding of Saturn. I never had this peach on a good rootstock unfortunately; when it did produce it produced some excellent peaches similar to Saturn in flavor. Less prone to rot than Saturn. It has a bad open seam on the bottom and the skin is very fuzzy and generally they don’t look very nice. Died ~2012.
Longevity honey - This is a new honey peach variety produced by the CRFG breeding program. It is supposed to be like Eagle Beak but I find it more like Pallas. It is extremely prone to rot, so much that I have tasted few fruits from it.
Peregrine - This tree was always on a weak rootstock. I only got a few fruits over the years; they were good. Died ~2013.
Athena honey - An excellent honey peach. This guy is now a very strong winner on all fronts, the skin and flesh have very good texture and the honeyed taste is truly excellent. Tends to extreme oversetting like most honey types.
Shui Mi Tao honey - New in 2014. I think I need to wait a year or two on this one, most of the fruits dropped before they were fully ripe. The few that remained were just OK. The other honey peaches (Pallas, Athena) took several years to get going so its worth waiting on this one.
Longevity - Huge rot issues on this honey peach; Maybe its time for this guy to go, it seems to be in the extreme rot category.
Early Crawford? - This was the most popular peach in the 1800’s. Its lack of productivity caused it to fade from production. The fruits are very tasty most years, sweet/tart with a hint of orange. They can go soft and mealy if left on the tree too long. I am somewhat doubtful I have the original Early Crawford, the fruits are too small and mealy compared to the original descriptions. My tree is likely the same one that was in the WSU NSRP5 program repository so my guess is the tree they had was a seedling and not the original.
Pallas honey - A very good honey peach with a well-balanced melon/honey flavor. Pallas sets far too many fruits and extreme thinning is needed to get good size and flavor. Honey peaches are one of the major peach types and there used to be several of them grown in the US but they have faded at this point; Pallas and Eagle Beak are the only two old US honey varieties I know to have survived. They are very soft and I expect that is what did them in. The donut peach Saturn tastes like a honey peach (and has Pallas as a parent) so that is a good guide to the flavor - a white peach with a mild honeyed overtone. Honey peaches are famous in China; recently Shui Mi Tao honey peach was imported directly from China. Note that honey peaches are considered less hardy than other types, and they may not work in colder zones.
Silver Logan - This is an excellent tasting white peach, and the fruits are large and beautiful as well. Unfortunately it is a horrendous rot magnet in my climate. Removed ~2009.
Rareripe (Yoders) - This tree produces nice but small peaches with a unique mild flavor thats a bit like O’Henry and a bit all its own (papaya??). Far too soft, fuzzy, and small for me to get excited about however. Removed ~2010.
Tashkent Gold nectarine - A very sweet yellow-skinned nectarine. It doesn’t have a lot of flavor beyond the sweetness and would crack every other year or so. Removed ~2008.
JM Mack - An unusual-looking all-white peach with standard peach flavor. Removed ~2012.
Stanwick nectarine - This tree avoids the spot problems of many nectarines. Unfortunately it has the rot problem. The taste is very good, rich and honeyed. A good variety for those with few rot problems, but not good for me. Removed ~2012.
JH Hale - This is a standard yellow peach; it is a parent of many modern varieties so there is a genetic reason why it tastes like your average peach. Removed ~2012.
Baby Crawford - I have had bad luck with this variety, I’m not sure if its the variety or something in my climate; it had horrible bacterial spot problems. It was a very good but not great tasting peach. Removed ~2012.
Lemon Free (Unimproved?) - Heavy fuzz, watery flavor. I’m not sure I had the original Lemon Free given how mediocre it was; Peaches of New York gave this variety a Very Good and their ratings I have otherwise found very reliable. Removed ~2008.
Rio Oso Gem - This peach is excellent, highly flavored and right near the very best. My tree has suffered from borers which has limited the harvest significantly. This peach is from California but was commonly grown in the southeast until recently.
Eagle Beak honey - An unusual almond-shaped peach with a small, long, thin seed. It is a honey-type peach and is one of the best tasting. Unfortunately my tree was severely damaged by borers and is barely hanging in there. The fruits also get horrible brown rot every year and size up poorly.
Lola nectarine - A nice refreshing citrus overtones nectarine. Very high brix. Sort of like Tashkent Gold but more lemony and sweeter (and better). Size is pretty good, bigger than Hative Violette for example. Still small compared to peaches. Having problems sizing up well and rotting, like most nectarines for me. Removed ~2012.
Violette Hative nectarine - I am not sure the variety is correct, I obtained the tree from Vintage Virginia Apples and they told me they had some doubts about the variety matching historical descriptions. The fruits are very small and have too much orange peel flavor. But the flavor is very concentrated and unbelievably sweet. They could make a flavorful jam. The fruits fare well against the bugs and diseases considering that it is a nectarine. Unfortunately the borers did my tree in so its a goner; it is a unique fruit and I miss it. Died ~2012.
Lady Nancy - Beautiful-looking large fruits. The taste is very similar to Oldmixon Free, i.e. fantastic! A bit more prone to rot than Oldmixon.
Carolina Gold - Another high quality NC State breeding program peach. It has some orange in the flavor. They are similar to Ernies Choice in being a classic productive large yellow peach. Its not as sweet or flavorful as O’Henry but the fruits look a lot better.
O’Henry - Very sweet and flavorful; similar to Red Baron but fruits larger. It gets a lot of spotting on the tops so its not the perfect eastern peach but it tastes so good I put up with the spots.
Sweet Bagel donut - An intensely flavored yellow donut peach. Truly one of the best for flavor. But, one of the worst for rot; I finally had to remove it. Removed ~2013.
Xiong Yue - A strongly orange-fleshed late peach, looking more like an apricot in color. The flesh is dense compared to most peaches. It is a freestone which is unusual for Chinese peaches. It has a creamy peach flavor, low in acid. It is long with a pronounced seam and has some splitting problems.
Oldmixon Free (Improved) - This is my standard for a late white-fleshed peach, the flavor is excellent and the fruits are large and attractive. I am not convinced that the modern variety circulating under this name is the same as the historical one, it seems larger and more productive than the writings about the original. I obtained “Oldmixon Free” from three different sources and all proved to very similar or identical. Whatever it is, its an outstanding peach. Oldmixon Free was a top peach in Downing 150 years ago.
Indian Cling red-flesh - If you want the most bulletproof peach look no further. This tree is very productive and the peaches are more bug and disease resistant than other varieties. The fruits are late and are hard even when fully ripe. The flesh is red. It is a traditional pickling peach and I would like to try that some year. In general it is a cooking-only peach, fresh they are not all that interesting. They make a very good pie as they do not get as mushy as other peaches. It is not particularly sweet.
Late Crawford - Sour and flavorful. Ripens over a long period. The tree is prone to late dropping. It took quite a few years for this tree to produce quality peaches but I am glad I stuck with it as it is an excellent peach. I don’t find it all that similar to Early Crawford, it is longer, larger, with a larger seam, and not all that related in taste.
Black Boy - Very similar or identical flavor to Indian Free, but more mealy. Ripens at the exact same time as Indian Free. Seemed somewhat more prone to rot as well. This variety appears to be related to Indian Free but is not quite as good. My tree came from someone who had personally imported it from New Zealand, and according to what I have found in historical records the Black Boy was imported to New Zealand in 1953 from Valencia, Spain. So, it is not likely to be the exact same peach as Indian Free. Removed ~2012.
Yukon King - A great tasting hard-fleshed white peach that had far too many problems with rots and bugs. Removed ~2012.
Sanguine Tardive de Chanas - A red-fleshed peach from the ARS. It didn’t have much flavor and rotted badly. Removed ~2011.
Indian Free red-flesh - An excellent cranberry-flavored red-fleshed peach. One of my favorite tasting peaches that I look forward to every year. Unfortunately it is prone to rot.
Heath Cling - This late peach is a classic old American peach. The fruits are hard and large and have a very light yellow color — somewhere between a white and a yellow peach. It is a cooking/drying peach as the flesh is hard and they do not taste all that good as a fresh fruit. The flavor when cooked is very good and unique. The fruit are much more prone to moths and that causes them to drop too early.
Salwey - A very late hard-fleshed cooking peach with very good flavor. The texture is stringy but it is still enjoyable as a fresh fruit.
Pei Xian Dong Tao - A Chinese import via ARS. This variety ripens too late for me, they need 2-3 more weeks than my season gives them. It shows how narrow the peach genetics is in the US if there is a peach I cannot even ripen in my climate; it is a month later than any other peach. Removed ~2013.
Cherries
I had these too closely planted so I thinned out all but my favorites in ~2011.
With bird tape put up right before ripening I had good success in keeping the birds off. Netting also works but its hard to do on large trees.
Home grown sweet cherries are fairly similar to good store bought ones so there is less of a reason to grow them. I really like having a sour cherry tree for cooking.
Sweets
Early Burlat - Good if you want an early cherry. Was fine for taste. Removed ~2011.
Warterloo - An heirloom, with small somewhat soft fruits. Little harvest so far but good.
Black Eagle - As with Waterloo but smaller and softer.
White Gold - Very good fully sweetened; make sure to let hang to get yellowish, not whitish-yellow.
Hedelfingen - This is a good cherry. It took several years to set well for me. Removed ~2011.
Black Gold - A reliable dark cherry, currently my favorite. Let hang to dark color for best flavor. It gets some cracking but not so bad.
Sours
Jubileum - A fine early sour cherry. Removed ~2011.
Danube - Also fine and on the early side. Removed ~2011.
Montmorency - My favorite sour by far, with a unique quenching flavor. There is a reason why this is the classic sour pie cherry. Make sure to let them get nice and dark before harvesting, there are more sugars that way.
Balaton - Less sweet and more firm than Montmorency. Same harvest time as Monty. Removed ~2011.
