Drew Demler's Fruit Tree List
Hill Country Fruit Tree List

Here is a list of the best fruit tree varieties to grow in the greater Austin area.  It is not at all meant to be an all-inclusive list.  It is just a list of some old favorites known to do well here, and a few other new ones that are soon to become classics.  Plant away and have some fun! 

Apples:
Gala
Fuji
Mollies Delicious
Yellow Delicious strains (July Gold is really good)
Granny Smith – best reserved for the north end of our area, and best to grow the spur mutation to avoid problems with sunburn on the fruit.

Apple trees must be cross pollinated with another variety. 

Peaches:
Junegold
Red Baron – good for flowers and fruit
Redskin
Loring – maybe best for the north end of our area
Early Elberta – better for our area than the standard Elberta
Feicheng  Tao – white-fleshed newcomer with knockout flavor
Donut – flat peaches with white flesh are wonderful and so much fun to grow
There are many other varieties of peach that will grow here.

Pears:
Fan-Stil – discovered in Mexico and further developed in San Antonio; this pear has a classic shape and great taste
Monterrey – another pear from Mexico; has a shape of an apple and a tangy pear flavor; very good
Orient – very reliable producer of huge pears; they usually have a strong fragrance when ripe and a very distinct flavor

Please avoid:
Bartlett, Anjou, Bosc, or Comice.  They won’t work well here.

Asian Pears:
Hosui – brown skin and awesome flavor when fully ripened
20th century – yellow skin and good quality
Ya Li – large sweet pears beautiful flowers and fall foliage as well
NOTE:  Asian pears are firmer than regular pears and ripen fully on the tree, whereas regular pears are usually picked green and should be set for a few days to ripen to a softer texture.

Plums:
Methley – red skin and flesh; easy to grow and good quality
Santa Rosa – short-lived but a great plum
Other varieties work here, but most think these two are the best.

Apricots:
Blenheim – great quality and appears to be the best choice
Chinese – edible pit on this apricot that can produce here
All in all, apricots can be tricky trees and are not known to be very reliable producers, but some have had success in the area and the trees are beautiful.

Figs – too many varieties to list
Pomegranate – Wonderful. Is the best fruiting type
Japanese Persimmon – Fuyu is the best non-astringent type
The above three types of trees can be grown without chemical sprays under normal conditions.