Fruit Identification?

[Baymule]

Why would anybody want a fruit tree that is only "ornamental"???? No fruit?? Gheesh. Oh, I forgot, most people get their fruit from a can or the grocery store. The idea of actually picking their own or heaven forbid, eating something that has a blemish (shudders) not to mention that they wouldn't be interested in all the work involved preserving that imperfect fruit themselves.

 

[bonbean01]

Agree Baymule!!!!! Was disappointed when we bought our place that the pear and crabapple and cherry tree were all ornamental...why????

But they were mature trees and the blooms in spring are beautiful.

Since we bought this place, every fruit tree we planted is for FRUIT you eat!!!! Nothing else would make any sense! Although this year the cardinal population was higher than normal and we were unprepared for them dive bombing and pigging out on our apples and grapes and figs Next year I will be ready!

 

[Bunnylady]

Why would anybody want a fruit tree that is only "ornamental"????

Why plant a dogwood or a crepe myrtle, or an azalea or a rose or a daffodil? Simply for the looks, of course; with the possible exception of the the rose, none of the plants I mentioned have any real uses besides being "eye candy." I think it's wonderful when I can plant something that has more than one use in a landscape (food for wildlife counts with me), but there's a whole lot of landscaping that is done just for the beauty of it, and there are some ornamental cherries and crabapples that are simply spectacular!

(As I said earlier, I draw the line at Bradford pears. They have a self-destructive branching structure that makes them impossible to prune properly, and the wood is brittle. About the time that they get some real size to them, huge chunks of the canopy break out in heavy weather. Their natural shape looks absurdly like something a child would draw. Yes, they put on a nice flower show in the Spring, and even manage some good Fall color some years - but seeing half of a 40-foot specimen land in a parking lot after a run-of-the-mill Summer thunderstorm on a routine basis kinda wrecks the appeal for me).

 

[Baymule]

Don't get me wrong @Bunnylady I love flowering trees too. We moved in February from a house I've had for 30 years. The only thing I miss is our beautiful 50 year old crepe myrtle tree. We bought 4 to plant here, but they won't reach the size and beauty of the one at our old house in our lifetimes. And we have a wild wooded area on the south end of our house that definitely needs a gazebo and a couple of dogwoods.

But you can darn sure bet that the fruit trees we plant here at our new place will be real, fruit bearing trees.

 

[HomesteaderWife]

Needless to say, we plan on getting TRUE fruit trees in years to come, because this was highly disappointing. I am attaching some photos of the inside of the little fake "fruit" and the tree. Hope this may help for future reference for someone so they don't get confused by this like I did.