Good place for fruit shrubs/trees?

[tx_dane_mom]

Anyone have any recommendations for places to purchase fruit bushes/trees? I bought a few at Lowes today but they were NOT cheap, but I still got them. The apple & nectarine were $10 so that's fine, but the lemon & something else was $28 for shrubs!
TIA,
Kristi
PS - Price isn't everything to me, I want a good/healthy variety for the kids & me

 

[Rosalind]

Well, how much do you consider expensive? Trees of Antiquity is my personal favorite--nice, big, healthy trees that put up with all sorts of adverse conditions. But they are really not cheap at all, you're looking at spending $25/tree, for a tree that will not bear for a year or two. OTOH, I have had very good results from their trees, and have had spectacular failures with other places.

It also depends on where you live. Lots of places deliver trees whenever, and you get bareroot stock that needs planted immediately. If you can't plant the tree within a few days of receiving it, then you have to look for someplace that has cold storage and targeted delivery dates, and you might have to pay a fee for that service. Some companies out in, say, California, might not have cold storage, and will happily ship a tree to Alaska in January with nary a thought for what you'll do with it.

 

[patandchickens]

There is generally -- not always, and if you are a shrewd judge of plants and do a good bit of driving around or constant windowshopping, you can turn 'not always' to your advantage', but USUALLY -- a fairly strong correlation between inexpensive and poor quality, with woody plants.

Inexpensive is sometimes because they are a crappy variety; sometimes because they're grafted onto an inappropriate rootstock; and often because they were not well grown or cared for, which cost money to do.

Except for the 'not always' exceptions, cheap woody plants are usually going to grow into cheap mature specimens (if they live at all) -- poorly shaped, not vigorous, not bearing as much or as good fruit.

I would suggest that unless you're in a position to pick off 'not always'es, it is worth spending twice as much for half as many plants if that's what it takes to get GOOD specimens. Even three times as much for a third as many plants.

N.b. I'd argue that this is much less true for perennials, which can eventually recover pretty well from anything that didn't kill 'em outright.

JME,

Pat

 

[ksacres]

I think $10 for a fruit tree is pretty good, I'm going to have to go check out Lowes now!