hello all, i'm new (obviously!) to the forum and back at gardening after a break of some years. i've just bought a south-facing hillside villa with virtually no garden and am researching small fruit trees/shrubs to make it worth my while weeding and watering!! my last few gardens have had unlimited space so at the moment i'm trying to plant just herbs that i cook with constantly and of course some fruit to carry on with. i need suggestions for a smallish or prunable thickly shrubby and preferably deciduous plant, as this is a spot where the traffic roars past constantly, but the winter sun comes into the front bedroom of a morning. i'm planting for privacy, winter sun, and of course fruit, and i don't mind if the flying foxes and birds share. i'm thinking along the lines of a nashi tho the last one i grew was slow to get to a decent height. from memory carambola is bushy, but i think it's evergreen? and i already have fig, cherimoya and elderberry in the other winter sun spots. at the top of the steepest bank i have clumps of cardamom to hold the soil, and in other spots all the citrus i'm willing to plant. dragon fruit are slowly climbin the palms, and i'm mulching with a mix of manures, sugarcane mulch and my own compost over clay and fill. i have the hugest earthworms !!! anyway, thanks in advance and i welcome any suggestions!!!
What about pecans? They lose their leaves over winter. We have two pecans which are doing really well and about 30kms from Coffs. Our star fruit while not deciduous lets through dappled light so that may be ok too. The only thing is these trees are quite big and might not be suitable if your garden is really small. Good luck
hi and thank you, but pecans become a rather large tree and i'm stuck for space. i forgot to mention this spot is also under the powerlines...i'm planting both the front and rear gardens. i'll take another look at the starfruit tho, as i've always loved the fresh fruit
thank you, i already have a fig, frangipani isn't edible as far as i know, and white mulberry (shatoot) grows to a rather large tree...the last i grew reached 6 metres in four years...
You have to have some soul food.? . You can prune it. It is one of the few fruit trees that possums, birds and fruit fly leave alone in your climate. The sub-tropics is not known for deciduous trees. Custard Apple is nice if you know how to use it (makes great ice cream) Tamarillo is OK but tends to break and fall over in the first breeze. A bit of a straggly grower. I am not sure they are worth the trouble, taste wise, anyhow. Japanese Raisin Tree is again not worth the effort. Tamarind is too big and again not worth the effort I have never grown Cherry Guava but that may be a possibility as might this https://www.daleysfruit.com.au/fruit%20pages/abiu.htm You might find other suggestions at above commercial site. [/quote:3nd71ulj] https://www.daleysfruit.com.au/fruit%20p ... arella.htm (Big tree again) There are a lot of tropical and sub-tropical fruits being introduced these days . It is hard to keep up with them or to sort the hype from reality. I think I would be happy with a dozen different fig varieties.( and no possums).
Hi, no subtropical edible shrubs came to mind that are deciduous, so I searched the Plants for a Future database and there are some options there for you to investigate. Follow this link and input your search criteria (lots of criteria here, eg you can search for deciduous, fast or medium growth, and shrub). https://www.ibiblio.org/pfaf/D_search.html Cheers Noni
