What edible would you plant? Zone 8a, Need fruiting tree/bush recommendations to replace two poorly growing Tea Olive bushes near house

General Fruit Growing
#1

I have two tea olives that had a bad winter and just aren’t that great looking. I’d like to replace them with something edible, but I’m drawing a blank here. I figured I’d turn to y’all for some suggestions. Areas are right next to the back of my house, about 5x5 for each space. South facing, so lots of heat during summer(100 degree days aren’t rare). Appreciate any help y’all can offer.

#2

I vote for fig trees–plenty of varieties for your climate.

#3

I already have 9 varieties growing.

  • Ronde De Bordeaux
  • Figo Preto
  • Adriatic JH
  • St. Rita
  • Marseilles Black VS
  • Celeste
  • Black Italian
  • LSU Gold
  • LSU Purple

I’m good on the figs…for now.

1 Like
#4

Here’s what I currently have going on, with varieties listed.

#5

Jujubes

2 Likes
#6

Have you considered kiwi vines?

#7

Or there is my personal favorite: pistachio.

#8

Pomegranate or feijoa.

#9

Dang! So jealous of so many figs!

I’m a low maintenance gardener. My plum is currently too much work! My weeping mulberry has been good. And my Pakistan mulberry — although it requires a bit of whacking to keep it small.

I really like my persimmons. I have two Saijo. Nice looking trees.

Just planted two jujubes and they already have flowers. They are supposed to take heat well.

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#10

I’m not sure how I’d make kiwi vines work in the space. They need a bunch of room to stretch out I thought. Would pistachios work in the space and my location? I’m just east of Dallas, Texas. I’ve never seen them for sale.

#11

I only have two jujube varieties, Sugarcane and Honey Jar. Would Li work in a 5x5 space while being so close to my house?

#12

I have about 12 pomegranates or so growing already. 3 feijoa bushes from HD that haven’t fruited, so I’m not sure what variety they are. Do the named varieties really produce much better fruit?

#13

I have two persimmons, Fuyu and Hachiya, currently. Getting some fruit from the Fuyu this fall hopefully. Is Saijo much different? Can it be kept small, but still produce well?

#14

The Saijo seems to stay somewhat small. We have pruned it for height a little. And not much for width.

I’m still figuring out the fruiting style for persimmons. They seem to fruit at the ends. It’s one of those issues that I’m still learning!

With that said, I haven’t had a bumper crop yet, but it seems to produce well enough as a small tree. I’ve only had it four years and I’m on my second year of production.

#15

I’d be a little nervous putting jujubees that close to the house, I’ve heard stories of invasive roots

I’d say persimmons

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#16

Jujubes will take up less space than anything else you could plant. But they do need full sun all day.

#17

tea olive has very sweet fragrance，I would not dig it up and plant something else so close to the house except the tea olive

#18

You can train kiwi vines to a trellis of some kind, but it’s true that they won’t fit a space the same way a tree would.

I think you would be OK for chilling hours for pistachio but they don’t like humidity. What about almond? My All-In-One Almond blooms beautifully and has been producing fruit nicely.

#19

How about southern highbush blueberries?

#20

High humidity here, but the biggest issue with almonds would be early blooming.