What are your favorite ornamental fruit trees?

[PurpleAlligator]

I'm going to be planting out the area in front of my house with an edible landscape. My objective is to plant the most visually appealing trees enhancing curb appeal of my home while also providing a fruit I'll love to eat. They will all be inside the primeter fence. I estimate 10 to 15 trees. I'm in the process of finishing planting 24 mango trees in the back of the longan grove and behind and beside my house.

[gunnar429]

caimito

[Soren]

Several Artocarpus spp have an impressive show; but my favorite is cola cauliflora - not only the nuts but especially the leaves are amazing; a winner as an understorey tree.

[Bob407]

Genova Red Ilama, the new foliage is beautiful.

[simon_grow]

Lychee, beautiful leaves and even more beautiful when the red fruit has the green background.

Jaboticabas have beautiful leaves and trunk.

Annonas have beautiful leaves.

Simon

[edself65]

To me the White Jaboticaba has very ornamental leaves.

Ed

[HIfarm]

Several Artocarpus spp have an impressive show; but my favorite is cola cauliflora - not only the nuts but especially the leaves are amazing; a winner as an understorey tree.

Soren, regarding this Cola sp., is it worth growing for the fruit?  I understand that the arils are edible but I have no idea of how much flesh is on the aril or what its flavor is like... is it like monkey cola (C. lepidota & pachycarpa)?

John

[shah8]

First response is correct, Caimito has dark leaves on top and golden bottoms.  Outstanding ornamental.

Malay apples are supposedly nice.

Dragonfruit

Mabolo isn't a significant ornamental, but...

Most of the really pretty trees are fairly subtropical rather than tropical

[jegpg1]

I agree with caimito. Looks a lot like magnolia foliage. You just have to keep it at 10-15 Ft tall. I just happen to get a 3G caimito last Saturday from ECHO nursery in North Fort Myers for $30. I also grabbed an emperor lychee for the same price. I saw a 3G Maha Chanok for the same price but I passed because I already got one for almost three times that price from TT.

[ClayMango]

Red Barron PeachTrees!!! Saturn Peach trees as well.... Puts on quite show in the spring...almost as beautiful as the Cherry Blossoms I got to see in Japan... Nothing beats a tree that gives you 2 seasons!!!! A spectacular show of double Blossoms in the Spring, and amazing fruit in the summer...Top Notch

Side note...The Red  Barron and Saturn are also pretty high tier in flavor...there shelf life is about a 3-5 days so you wont see them in the market.

http://www.lecooke.com/Images/Fruits_&_Nuts/Peach/Red-Baron-Peach(RGB).pdf

http://www.lecooke.com/Images/Fruits_&_Nuts/Peach/Saturn-Peach(RGB).pdf

[gnappi]

I'm going to be planting out the area in front of my house with an edible landscape. My objective is to plant the most visually appealing trees enhancing curb appeal of my home while also providing a fruit I'll love to eat. They will all be inside the primeter fence. I estimate 10 to 15 trees. I'm in the process of finishing planting 24 mango trees in the back of the longan grove and behind and beside my house.

I like persimmon, when they're in full foliage with fruit to me they're the most attractive tree I own, then peach and Loquat.

[cbss_daviefl]

Some of the jackfruit varieties make beautiful landscape trees.  Lemon gold and gold nugget have a dense canopy and nice natural pyramid christmas-tree shape. Pineapples are beautiful for the lower tier. 

[CGameProgrammer]

I've always considered surinam cherry to be the most beautiful tree; not only is the foliage pretty nice but mature trees are loaded with fruit much of the year, all at different colors, so you get a huge spectrum of color that is really conspicuous even far away and it looks amazing. Another option is Red Malaysian guava (sometimes called Thai Maroon) which has very nice purple leaves that glow red when viewed from the ground against sunlight, and the fruit are great with a fairly small seed area.

[Soren]

Several Artocarpus spp have an impressive show; but my favorite is cola cauliflora - not only the nuts but especially the leaves are amazing; a winner as an understorey tree.

Soren, regarding this Cola sp., is it worth growing for the fruit?  I understand that the arils are edible but I have no idea of how much flesh is on the aril or what its flavor is like... is it like monkey cola (C. lepidota & pachycarpa)?

John

Not sure; I believe only the nut can be consumed (chewed). I got Cola lepidota as well; but understand that one doesn't have an edible nut.
All are seedlings.

[Doug]

My favorite tree to look at is the breadfruit/breadnut. Such very large interesting looking dark green leaves and the mature tree is not too big to crowd out the others. I would grow it even if it didn't have wonderful breadfruits and nuts to eat. I think jackfruit would be my second choice, again because the foliage is so beautiful. I especially like any tree that has large tropical looking leaves.

[Sanddollarmoon]

Several Artocarpus spp have an impressive show; but my favorite is cola cauliflora - not only the nuts but especially the leaves are amazing; a winner as an understorey tree.

Soren, regarding this Cola sp., is it worth growing for the fruit?  I understand that the arils are edible but I have no idea of how much flesh is on the aril or what its flavor is like... is it like monkey cola (C. lepidota & pachycarpa)?

John

Not sure; I believe only the nut can be consumed (chewed). I got Cola lepidota as well; but understand that one doesn't have an edible nut.
All are seedlings.

Søren, the seed of C. lepidota is used as a stimulant, but I am not sure how it is ingested.
I emailed Eric Wirsiy on Cola species a while back, and he claimed that C. lepidota was the best in terms of pulp, also being the sweetest. This one is on my wishlist with along with praecuta.

[waldi1]

Pachira

[Soren]

Several Artocarpus spp have an impressive show; but my favorite is cola cauliflora - not only the nuts but especially the leaves are amazing; a winner as an understorey tree.

Soren, regarding this Cola sp., is it worth growing for the fruit?  I understand that the arils are edible but I have no idea of how much flesh is on the aril or what its flavor is like... is it like monkey cola (C. lepidota & pachycarpa)?

John

Not sure; I believe only the nut can be consumed (chewed). I got Cola lepidota as well; but understand that one doesn't have an edible nut.
All are seedlings.

Søren, the seed of C. lepidota is used as a stimulant, but I am not sure how it is ingested.
I emailed Eric Wirsiy on Cola species a while back, and he claimed that C. lepidota was the best in terms of pulp, also being the sweetest. This one is on my wishlist with along with praecuta.

Interesting; I thought this was a dead-beat: they are slow growing so if I  managed another 40 years I might being able to provide first hand news

[HIfarm]

OK, we have hijacked this thread far enough, I'll start a non-acuminata Cola thread.  Not sure if possible but I will try to cut & paste existing postings here to it.

John

Several Artocarpus spp have an impressive show; but my favorite is cola cauliflora - not only the nuts but especially the leaves are amazing; a winner as an understorey tree.

Soren, regarding this Cola sp., is it worth growing for the fruit?  I understand that the arils are edible but I have no idea of how much flesh is on the aril or what its flavor is like... is it like monkey cola (C. lepidota & pachycarpa)?

John

Not sure; I believe only the nut can be consumed (chewed). I got Cola lepidota as well; but understand that one doesn't have an edible nut.
All are seedlings.

Søren, the seed of C. lepidota is used as a stimulant, but I am not sure how it is ingested.
I emailed Eric Wirsiy on Cola species a while back, and he claimed that C. lepidota was the best in terms of pulp, also being the sweetest. This one is on my wishlist with along with praecuta.

Interesting; I thought this was a dead-beat: they are slow growing so if I  managed another 40 years I might being able to provide first hand news

[Saltcayman]

Oops posted this on another thread...  Nance and curry leaf are both ornamental and drought tolerant

[FlyingFoxFruits]

I think Myrciaria/Plinia are hard to beat in this arena.

they have beautiful foliage, with stark contrast between new and old. 

They also have multicolored bark that's attractive, and interesting, which puts on a show several times a year during active growth, when the trees shed the most bark.

and of course dont' forget the incredible flowers which cover the old branches like snow, and the resulting fruits that assemble in mass, on the caulis, like a thousand ticks, fully engorged.

and don't forget their moderate rate of growth and size....two features that plant collectors with limited space should be looking for.

[FlyingFoxFruits]

Porcelia macrocarpa is one of my favorite trees to look at, the branching habit is so unique and beautiful.