Popular Dwarf Fruit Trees for You to Grow

With small gardens and patios in mind, dwarf trees are deciduous, evergreen trees that are grown to purposely remain in a small, manageable size. Dwarf fruit trees, in particular, make harvesting fruit a much more reasonable feat, as you don’t have to reach to tall heights to harvest your apples, peaches, cherries, or plums.

Dwarf fruit trees are categorized based on their size. Ultra-dwarf trees mature at 3-6 feet, standard dwarf fruit trees mature at 8-12 feet, and semi-dwarf fruit trees mature at 12-15 feet. In comparison, a standard fruit tree matures at 15 feet or taller.

Popular varieties of ultra dwarf fruit trees include fuji apple, patten pear, and bing cherry. Common varieties of standard dwarf fruit trees include northern lights apples and golden spice pears. And some semi-dwarf fruit trees to grow include Honeycrisp apple, sweet cherry, and Muir peach.

Important note: If you are worried that dwarf trees are the result of genetic modification or genetic engineering, you’ll be happy to know that is not the case. Dwarf fruit trees are the product of centuries of horticultural tradition, where sections of fruit trees with favorable characteristics have been carefully budded or grafted on to compatible rootstock.