I’d love blueberries, but this wonderful Blackland Prairie soil along with the the higher end PH of the water around here just wouldn’t work well with an acid loving plant.
I have one that is potted up. I’ll keep it and wheel it into the garage during big dips. They just can’t handle the winter temperatures I get here without protection. They smell great, but with the damage, I didn’t get a single flower this year.
You have no peaches? I’d do a peach! I have one little Elberta my dad got for me as a surprise that is on a dwarfing rootstock (not Citation – no red in the suckers). It really is mannerly yet grows well. I could definitely see keeping it in bounds enough for your spaces (prune it to be more vertical/less wide than peaches normally are if you get great sun there, imho).
I have a Sweet Olive that blooms in fall that survives great every year now that it’s older. It is the only 1 of 3 that made it to its safe age outdoors, tho. But y’all are warmer in winter, I’m sure. If you love the fragrance like I do, check out kinds with fall flowers. I’d be happy to send cuttings, too, if you can root them (I don’t remember the name of this one that works here).
You could make a blueberry work if you were willing to acidify the water, but that may well be more work than it’s worth.
You’re probably too hot for currants or gooseberries.
Try a passionfruit? Maypop would probably survive in the area. Or citrus.
I’m about to cave in to planting peaches. I’ve been putting it off since they’re so disease prone, but my son and I eat a ton during the summer. Sun is 6+ hours all year long. At least 8 at the peak of summer. Is there a variety out there that would survive with little to no spraying? Do any of the genetic dwarf varieties produce fruit worth growing?
Yeah, that’s a no go. I have drip irrigation set up to be as lazy as possible with these trees and bushes I’m growing. If I ever set up a rain barrel, I’ll plant some for sure. Maypop is native here. I’ve grown it before. Great looking flower, but I’m not a fan of the fruit. It’s too bad blackberries don’t look better. I’d plant more of those!
I know they have some that are resistant to bacterial spot and others resistant to peach-leaf curl for areas where dormant copper isn’t enough. @Olpea knows about good disease-resistant varieties.
I’m new to getting peaches on the trees I have. I just went with old-time favorites; I do spray. The foliage hasn’t been bad at all growing these up to fruiting age, tho, when I didn’t spray anything. I got peach-leaf curl no-spray but that was it, and we’re humid too.
That’s for Redskin and Elberta. The tree I thought was Reliance isn’t, but it did very well, too. Mine are in scorching sun, and my orchard is windy, which I think helps.
If you like berries how about a mulberry?
Thanks Cafeaulait, but I’m a bit unfamiliar with the climate around Dallas. I’m not sure if low chill varieties are required there, or what diseases are most prominent. I bet @fruitnut would know what peaches might work well there.
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If I can grow blueberries in the Bluegrass soil of the Lexington, KY area, I bet you can grow blueberries in Dallas Tx. Might not be feasible for a commercial sized patch. But you can find blueberry varieties that will grow and produce at pH of 6.5, and you can lower your soil by one full number if you are persistent. (Same way you get pink hydrangeas to turn blue.)