I love how apricot trees look, almost like a quaking aspen met a cherry tree. I value it highly as an ornamental and love planting it just based on looks alone.
The fresh fruit is sweet and petite! It’s a wonderful summertime snack when available. In our zone 5 context, apricots aren’t available often though. Apricots flower early in spring, so they are quite susceptible to frost damage. You can probably expect fruit crops every few years in colder zones.
These trees are seedlings, and the parent genetics come from a mix of very cold hardy (zone 4) genetics from Perfect Circle Farm. Generally, apricots and peaches are said to come back 90% similar to their parent trees, and given the high quality parentage of these trees, I’d expect them to produce some great tasting fruit. If you don’t ultimately love your fruit, you can always top work graft the tree by utilizing bud grafting or other side grafting techniques.
A lone apricot should produce fruit, however, generally I believe with any type of fruit that crop yields are improved when two genetic individuals cross pollinating.
What Are Seedlings?
Seedlings are plants that have been grown directly from a seed. They are genetic individuals whose traits that are not exactly known. Seedlings are in contrast with plants which have been cloned, as cloned plants are sure to have certain characteristics.
Often seedlings share characteristics with their parents, but exactly how much is shared depends on the species of plant. Having good parents certainly doesn’t hurt!
Growth Parameters:
Expect a large orchard tree with moderately fast growth. Fruit production could begin anywhere between 3 and 6 years. Give it as much sun as possible, and ideally avoid wet and stagnant locations.
