The most important thing is to make sure whatever you plant will grow well in your area. Find where you live on this map and determine your hardiness zone. https://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/ I have temperature extremes, so growing tropicals and citrus and avocados are more challenging than they're worth. I grow jujubes, pomegranates, grapes, kei apples, loquats, goji berries, apples, apricots (apriums, plumcots, etc.), almonds, peaches, nectarines, plums (pluots), pears, mulberries, pecans, figs and others I probably forgot to list. I graft multiple varieties on each tree, to give me more variety and extend my harvest season.
Peaches, pears, plums, persimmon, and a select few varieties of apple are all that can be grown here outside (as far as trees are concerned - berries and grapes are fine). Citrus has to be kept in a pot and brought inside in the winter. The only olives that will grow and produce fruit here are only good for oil, which is way more trouble than it's worth.
I don't particularly care for any of those other than apples and oranges.
I would love a lemon or lime tree but I know damn well I would have to swat some neighbors and animals away from said tree which would make me not want any type of fruit tree in the first place.
For the things I can grow in my area, if I had the room and in no particular order:
- Peaches - Black cherries - Apples (Empires) - Paw Paw - Plum - Pear - Serviceberry - Mulberry - Staghorn sumac (technically, the red florets are clusters of berries that can be made into a delicious tea) - Butternut (again, technically the nuts are a fruit)
I have a large garden , I live in a city of 2.4 million within site of downtown skyscrapers but it's an old farmhouse so it has a very large yard. I have four raised beds and a large garden plot. I have an area I want to turn into an orchard, I'm looking for a local fruit tree called a paw paw. There was a large paw paw tree in the back but it died years ago.
There is a type of plumb called a dino egg I might also plant a few of these.
We had a lot of fruits growing on our property where i grew up; apples, pears, mulberries, apricots, crab apples, blackberries, red & black raspberries, grapes, etc. Any of them would be great! I think my favorite tree fruit is bananas, but i donโt think they grow in the US.
We had wild blueberries, strawberries and asparagus, but not cultivated. If youโve never had wild, they can be disappointing. Theyโre tiny! Ell oh ell! You can wipe out an entire plant in a snack! Ha!
Iโve tried them up in Asheville North Carolina just regular normal blueberries and blackberries they were awesome at our camp ground when I go up there for summer to visit when I was a Child and teen
i have a lime tree that i love. a bad frost damaged my lime tree this year, its recovered and looks good after cutting it way back but no blossoms so no lime this year :(
Not a huge fruit eater, so if 'unusual' ones count, maybe I'd choose hawthorn or juniper. Some could argue those are halfway bushes. For aesthetic reasons.
I have several hickory trees , as the climate here has. Gotten much much warmer since I was a kid I might try a pecan tree which should pollinate fine from the hickory (a pecan is just a warm weather hickory domesticated by native Americans. )
I'm looking for a nursery that has northern pecans, they are supposed to be the best tasting pecans. Smaller and rounder with a thicker shell than the southern ones. I have a friend who's family owns a candy factory, she said they would love to find a steady source of northern pecans.