Unusual fruit trees

[mirrorwritin]

Thinking of buying my husband a fruit tree for his birthday. He loves unusual trees and already has various apple and pear trees, mulberry, quince, medlar, crabapple plus walnuts and almonds. Not a plum tree as he doesn’t like them.

Any suggestions? Ideal would be something traditional/native that’s no longer common.

Thank you!

Wild Service Tree.

Yes, that’s all I could think of. Or yet another old apple variety. Cornish Aromatic would be high on my list.

Some sort of cherry?
Does his dislike of plums extend to damsons?

How about currant bushes in black, red, white and pink? They make a very pretty sight, fruit well and are great for birds

A couple of blackthorns for making sloe gin?

Hazel for the nuts.
Wild juniper Juniperus communis. Use berries in cooking and flavouring gin.
Blackthorn/sloe. Likewise for the gin.
Sea buckthorn Hippophae rhamnoides. Berries used for juicing.
Cornelian cherry Cornus mas. Eat fruit raw or make into jam.

Blackcurrant, redcurrant, whitecurrant? I know they aren't trees, but they are fruiting.

You could branch out away from native and go for a kiwi fruit?

Kumquat. Grow quickly. Lovely to eat. Plenty to do with them. Gin. Jam. Baking.

We have a kiwi vine which we manage to get fruit from

Asian pear tree - these can be prolific growers in the UK that's worth growing. The fruit can be stored in the fridge after harvesting and can well last for a few months.

I heard the other day that pawpaw is fully hardy. I'm struggling to believe it myself but, if it's true, pawpaw.

You must have a lovely big garden for that lot

Fig?
cobnut?

Lemon 🍋

Reka blueberry

Fig, against a sheltered wall, absolutely delicious. Are you southern and warm? Can you try for a peach against a wall?

According to the RHS it's hardy down to at least -5C

https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/1687/asimina-triloba-(f)/details

Ginkgo has edible fruit/seeds (not the correct technical term, I think, but you get the idea). Alternatively how about a grapevine, possibly with a pergola to train it over?

Persimmon
Saskatoon
Kiwi - Issai

Chilean Guava. Not native obviously but queen Victoria’s favourite apparently

A fig tree?

I once, to my great surprise, came across an avocado growing happily in among some bushes in a back street in the middle of London. It was quite tall and actually had fruit on it. I wouldn't have known what it was otherwise.