Hello,
I am interested in creating an espalier fence (at least six feet high) as a privacy screen on the south side of my city lot. At this time the space gets full sun. (Though I suppose it's possible that one day my neighbor may build a fence or increase the height of her house.)
I'd love to use different varieties of fruit tree (probably apple and/or pear) in order to create a sort of two dimensional orchard.
I'm looking for recommendations for dwarf fruit trees that are suitable for espalier, can ultimately be trained to 7-8 feet tall, and will be resistant to disease.
I'm also wondering whether I should incorporate grapes, kiwi, or other fruits on the wires that I'll be installing. I have quite a lot of length with which to work and I love the idea of producing a variety of fruits.
Since the view is very unattractive I'd also love to find trees that are fast growing or already espaliered.
I should also mention that the sewer line, which is made of PVC pipe is near the property line, so I need to avoid deep roots that might break the line.
Finally, I'm open to recommendations for a contractor who might be interested in installing the posts or even the entire project. I'm not a driver, so this sort of project involving large objects can be problematic.
Thanks for any assistance at all!
If this area gets plenty of sunlight, there is a certain winegrape (Marechal Foch) that is pretty trouble free and produces some spectacular dark red wine. Maybe someone here could address wether or not they have invasive roots.
You could order in a bunch of emla 27 or P.22 rootstocks (LINK) and plant them 3 feet apart right now, then graft them to final varieties next spring. I might be interested in doing the grafting for you. I would suspect this dwarfing rootstock to not be invasive, as the root system is weak. I think this is worth a shot.
I see raintree has a limit of 10 rootstocks, so you could have friends order 10 each for you or something to get your full quota.
Very dwarf pears can be grown on serviceberry rootstock. Not sure how easy this is to get commercially, but I have plenty of it growing in my area.
I think anything food-crop-wise you plant is going to be devoid of leaves in winter, revealing the disgusting view seasonally!
[quote="John S":1o23t53u]Arbutus Unedo Strawberry tree, Evergreeen Huckleberry, Buddhist Pine, Thornless blackberry, Pineapple guava. I grow all of these and have eaten the fruit of all except Buddhist Pine.
JoHN S
PDX OR[/quote:1o23t53u]
I was going to suggest the pineapple guava as well (feijoa). They are an evergreen and could be pruned according to how thoroughly you want to block the view.
They are attractive in their own right. The fruit are delicious, the flowers are beautiful and edible. What's not to love?
I think the guy who runs fruit-tree.com (a nursery) worked with someone in the Portland area to plant dozens of them to line a long driveway or something like that. I think he posts on this forum on occasion.
I also have evergreen huckleberries. They might be even more opaque and are evergreen, but if they are in full sun they don't grow very tall. The fruit also don't seem nearly as useful to me because they are so small it takes forever just to get enough for pancakes.
I have maybe 7 of them lining my approach to my porch and you can see by the size the relative amount of sun they get. The shaded ones are bigger.
Good points, Jafarj,
I really like the fruit of evergreen huckleberry, but they don't make it into the house, because they taste too good. They are tiny, but vacciniums have tremendous health benefits as well. Lower cholesterol and great antioxidants, anyone? They are difficult to grow into a tall hedge in the sun and they do grow slowly, but they are a native plant.
Fruit-tree.com is about the most expensive place you could ever possibly find plants. I think he has interesting plants, but they do cost a lot. Burnt Ridge and ONe Green World are cheaper, and I think you could find them at Portland Nursery or Farmington Gardens in town, if you don't want to pay gas or shipping.
John S
PDX OR
Yeah, his stuff is expensive, but he is local so that counts for something.
I got a Coolidge and Nazemetz from him for $45 each and a Nikita from One Green World for $25. His seem at least 2 years older and likely to fruit sooner. Raintree only has seedlings. Some of the local nurseries like Portland Nursery also carry seedlings but I've never seen any named cultivars.
I spoke to a lady from One Green World at an expo or something this spring. She seemed to know a lot so I assume she's management/owner/horticulturalist or something there. She said all of the seedlings she'd tried produce good tasting fruit. The gamble in a seedling is more regarding the size of the fruit, perhaps the growth characteristics and whether they ripen before fall frosts. Well, that and whether they're self fertile but I don't need to worry about that.
If Wendy is going to plant many of them seedlings would probably be the way to go and she could probably get wholesale discount. Some of them are bound to be great and she'll get more fruit than she can personally handle anyway. She can cherry-pick the good ones.
They start easily from seed, although are very slow growing at first. I have 2 that are a couple of years old that I strted from seed and 2 more that are on their second set of true leaves still under the grow lights with some vegetable seeds.
For vacciniums, I also have blueberries and they are much more efficiently harvested. As far as flavor and antioxidants go, I think I prefer the aronia berries from the arboretum more than my evergreen huckleberries. I hope named varieties of aronia I have taste as good as the best of those seedlings. They also have the advantage of coming free of the stem when you pick them.
If they were evergreen I'd recommend them for the screen. They are supposed to make beautiful fall color.
I have two seedlings which produce wonderful tasting fruit. The only difference that I can tell is that one primarily fruits in November and the other in December, which is nice. They don't taste appreciably different from Coolidge, nor is the size much different.
It's hard to tell with some fruit though. With Cornus kousa, my selected one from Burnt Ridge is delicious. The neighbor's down the street that was selected for flower is disgusting to eat.
I bought both of mine on sale. One was $8 and the other was $5.
The lady you talked to was probably Lorraine, the partner of Jim Gilbert. She is smart and extremely helpful. The harvest tours she does in the Fall are spectacular. That is one of the best events anyone could ever go to for fruit.
I've tasted a few varieties of aronia, and I like them ok, but there aren't any that I REALLY like as fresh fruit. We make juice out of them and they are great as rootstock for pome fruit. Great tip on the arboretum ones. I'll have to ask Karen if I can try some.
John S
PDX OR
I guess I should clarify, it isn't that the aronia seedlings tasted great, as in super flavorful. It is more that they tasted pleasant and were juicy and sweet without the bitterness I was worried about, well at least one one of them.
And I didn't ask Karen, I just tried them 
Actually, Karen was out of the country so maybe that's an excuse. If you are going to sneak something without asking, they are probably the wrong thing because they leave evidence on your fingers.
They are something I could eat a lot of before I knew it while in the garden.
Idyllwild
simplepress
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