Start Here

The four things every new planting depends on, in the order you'll need them: choosing well, getting plants into the ground correctly, pruning from the first year, and making sure the flowers actually set fruit. Read these once and every plant guide below gets shorter.

• Getting StartedNew Hardiness zones, site selection, soil testing, and choosing plants that will actually thrive where you are.
• Unboxing & Planting What to do in the first 48 hours, from opening the box to backfilling the hole and the first watering.
• Pruning Fundamentals Cut types, timing by species, training a young tree, and bringing a neglected one back.
• Pollination & PollinatorsNew Self-fertility, pollenizer pairing, bloom overlap, and building habitat for native bees.

Techniques & Ongoing Care

Once the basics are handled, these are the choices and practices that decide how big a plant gets, what shape it takes, whether it survives the wildlife, and how you turn one plant into several. None of them are required reading — pick the ones that match what you're trying to do.

Size & shape

• Rootstock The single biggest factor in mature tree size. How rootstock sets vigor, precocity, and soil tolerance, with a full comparison table.
• Espalier Training fruit trees flat against a wall or wire: classic forms, support systems, and the summer pruning cycle that maintains them. Difficult
• Combination Trees Several varieties grafted on one trunk. Balancing the limbs so no single variety takes over and crowds out the rest. Difficult
• Container GrowingNew Growing in pots when you're short on ground, zone-pushing, or renting. Pot sizing, media, watering rhythm, feeding, and overwintering roots.

Protecting & propagating

• Wildlife ProtectionNew Elk and deer fencing that actually works, vole and rabbit trunk guards, bird netting timing, and gopher baskets at planting.
• Propagation Starting new plants from cuttings, layering, division, and seed.

Fruit Trees

The backbone of a home orchard. Each guide covers the pollination requirements, pruning style, and disease pressures specific to that species — the details that differ enough between an apple and an apricot to matter. Shop the full range in Fruit Trees.

• Apples Pollination groups, scab and anthracnose management, fruit thinning, and long storage. Intermediate
• Apricots Early bloom and frost risk, brown rot, and siting for a reliable crop west of the Cascades. Very Difficult
• Cherries Sweet vs. pie types, pollenizer pairing, rain cracking, birds, and spotted wing drosophila. Difficult
• Figs Breba vs. main crop, winter protection, and pruning for ripening in a cool summer. Easy
• MedlarsNew An old-world fruit that ripens off the tree — growing, harvest timing, and bletting. Easy
• Mulberries Species differences, size control, fruit drop, and harvesting without staining everything. Easy
• Olives Cold hardiness limits, container culture, chill and heat needs, and curing the fruit. Difficult
• Pawpaws Shade for young trees, hand pollination, cross-pollination needs, and ripeness cues. Intermediate
• Peaches & Nectarines Peach leaf curl prevention, fruit thinning, and pruning hard for renewal wood. Difficult
• Pears European and Asian types together: pollination, fire blight, and ripening off the tree. Intermediate
• Persimmons Astringent vs. non-astringent, hardiness by species, and knowing when to pick. Easy
• Plums European, Asian, and hybrid crosses — pollination charts, thinning, and drying. Difficult
• PomegranatesNew Heat requirements, cold-hardy cultivars, fruit splitting, and container options. Difficult
• Quince Fruiting quince culture, fire blight watch, and cooking with an intensely aromatic fruit. Easy

Nut Trees

The long game. Nut trees need more room than most home orchards plan for and nearly all of them need a second tree nearby to set a crop, so spacing and pollenizer choice are decisions worth getting right at planting. Shop the full range in Nut Trees.

• Almonds Bloom timing and frost risk, pollenizers, and shell split as the harvest signal. Very Difficult
• Chestnuts Spacing for cross-pollination, blight-resistant species, harvest, and curing for sweetness. Intermediate
• Hazelnuts Eastern filbert blight resistance, S-allele pollenizer matching, and sucker control. Intermediate
• Walnuts Juglone and what won't grow underneath, husk fly, hulling, and long-term spacing. Difficult

Berries

The fastest route to a harvest — most berries bear within two or three years of planting, and many fit in a space no bigger than a shrub border. The recurring themes are soil pH, annual cane or stem renewal, and getting netting up before the birds notice. Shop Berries or browse Unusual Berries.

Familiar favorites

• Blackberries Trailing, erect, and thornless types; floricane vs. primocane pruning and trellising. Easy
• Blueberries Soil pH, acidifying amendments, variety chill needs, and renewal pruning. Easy
• Currants Black, red, pink, and white types; white pine blister rust rules and cane renewal. Easy
• Gooseberries Mildew-resistant cultivars, spur pruning, and picking around the thorns. Easy
• Raspberries Summer- vs. fall-bearing pruning, root rot in wet soils, and trellis systems. Easy
• Strawberries June-bearing, everbearing, alpine, and musk types; renovation and runner management. Easy

Unusual & native berries

• Aronia A tough, nearly disease-free native shrub — siting, pruning, and using astringent fruit. Easy
• CranberriesNew Acidic beds without a bog, sanding, weed control, and dry harvest at home scale. Difficult
• Elderberries Cross-pollination, hard pruning cycles, and safe handling of raw fruit and stems. Easy
• Goji Berries Vigorous sprawling growth; support options, pruning for fruit, and first-year patience. Easy
• Goumi Berries Nitrogen-fixing hedge shrub with early fruit — pairing for pollination and harvest. Easy
• Honeyberries Compatible pollenizer groups, extreme cold hardiness, and beating birds to ripe fruit. Easy
• Huckleberries Evergreen and deciduous species, acidic woodland soil, and realistic yield expectations. Difficult
• JostaberriesNew A thornless currant–gooseberry cross: vigor, spacing, and cane renewal. Easy
• Lingonberries Low evergreen groundcover for acid soil, two crops a year, and shallow-root watering. Easy
• SeaberriesNew Separate male and female plants, nitrogen fixing, suckering, and harvest strategy. Easy
• ServiceberriesNew Native small tree or shrub with spring bloom, June fruit, and strong fall color. Easy

Vines

Every one of these needs something to climb, and the structure has to be built before the plant needs it — a mature kiwi or grape is heavier than most arbors are designed for. Several also need a male plant nearby before a female will fruit. Shop the full range in Vines.

• Grapes Table and wine types, cane vs. spur pruning, trellis choice, and powdery mildew. Intermediate
• Kiwi Fuzzy, hardy, and arctic species; male-to-female ratios, heavy structures, and pruning. Intermediate
• Hops Rhizome planting, tall training strings, which way to wind the bines, and cone harvest. Easy
• PassifloraNew Hardy passionflower culture, the fruiting species, and overwintering in cool climates. Intermediate
• Magnolia VineNew Schisandra culture: shade tolerance, sexing plants, and harvesting the berry clusters. Intermediate
• Unusual VinesNew Akebia, stauntonia, cinnamon vine, honeysuckle, jasmine, and other uncommon climbers. Varies by species

Unusual Edibles

Perennial crops that don't fit the tree-or-berry mold: things you harvest as a shoot, stalk, root, leaf, or fruiting body. Most reward a little patience up front with decades of production from the same bed. Shop the full range in Unusual Edibles.

• Culinary PlantsNew Perennial herbs, teas, and spices — hardiness, harvest windows, and drying for storage. Easy
• AsparagusNew Trench planting crowns, the wait before first harvest, cutting windows, and fern care. Easy
• RhubarbNew Crown division, harvest limits by plant age, bolting, and which parts are safe to eat. Easy
• Andean Tubers Oca, yacon, mashua, and ulluco — daylength triggers, frost timing, and curing. Easy
• Mushrooms Log inoculation, sawdust and plug spawn, shade and moisture, and fruiting cycles. Intermediate
• Subtropicals & Citrus Container culture, light and humidity indoors, feeding, and moving plants seasonally. Varies by species

Ornamental

Plants earning their place through form, flower, and fall color — several of which happen to produce edible fruit as a bonus. Useful for screening, hedging, and filling the corners of an edible landscape. Shop Ornamentals.

• OrnamentalsNew Flowering quince, luma, wintergreen, salal, and other landscape shrubs we carry. Varies by species
• BambooNew Running vs. clumping types, rhizome barriers, fast screening, and edible shoots. Intermediate
• DogwoodNew Fruiting cornelian cherry and ornamental species — bloom, siting, and anthracnose. Easy
• Mountain AshNew Cold-hardy fruiting rowans, fire blight watch, and processing the berries. Easy