Best Fruit Trees To Grow In Southern California

There’s nothing better than walking outside and picking fruit to toss in a salad, bake with, or snack on. Southern California has a perfect climate for homeowners to grow fruit trees right in their yards that are not only delicious but are beautiful and aromatic. Here are some great varieties that flourish in our climate.

Persian Sweet Pomegranate

Pomegranate trees are easy to grow, produce bright orange blossoms in the Spring and go through seasons requiring minimal water. The Persian Sweet Pomegranates are a large and juicy fruit with a sweet flavor that lacks other pomegranates’ typical tartness. The fruit themselves have a light pink skin fruit with white-pink arils. The deciduous tree blooms in Spring and harvest in Summer and requires full sun exposure.

Black Mission Fig

The Black Mission Fig Tree is a fast and easy tree to grow, producing heavily from a young age. These trees are the most popular commercial variety grown in California and boast a pink flesh with a sweet, juicy, and creamy flavor. These trees can grow over 30 feet tall or keep them as small as 10 feet tall and wide through pruning. This deciduous free harvests in Fall and requires full sun.

⇥ Check out our Fig, Prosciutto and Goat Cheese Bruschetta with Honey Recipe.

Meyers Lemon

The Meyers lemon tree is an evergreen with dark green, glossy leaves that produces heavily from a young age. This variety has a sweeter and less acidic flavor than other lemons making it perfect for lemonade. The tree blossoms very aromatic white flowers all year round, but has two main blooming seasons in Fall and early Spring. Meyers lemons are grown widely in California and do great, whether in your yard or a container.

⇥ Check out our Vegan Meyer Lemon Bars Recipe.

Bearss Lime

The Bearss lime is the most popular lime sold in California and much of the world. The flesh is tart and very juicy, with a delicious flavor. The Bearss lime tree is an excellent addition to any home as they produce a fantastic citrus fragrance from the white flower blossoms, fruits, and leaves of the plant. Lime trees are evergreen and everbearing, meaning they never shed their leaves and are fruiting all the time.

⇥ Check out our Honey-Lime Vinaigrette Recipe.

Washington Navel Orange

The Washington Navel Orange tree is the most popular eating orange in California. They are large, seedless, rich in flavor, meaty, easy to peel, and well-colored. These trees bloom in Spring with beautiful white flowers that will coat your yard in a fresh citrus aroma. They are everbearing, producing multiple times a year with a high yield, and are ready to harvest in winter months. These fruit hold onto the tree for several months beyond maturity and stores on the tree well. Plus, adding an orange tree into your landscape is excellent for those of us who love backyard birdwatching.

Bonita Peach

The Bonita peach tree is a woody deciduous tree that is easy to grow with long green leaves. It is a prevalent Southern California variety that does well in winter climates like Los Angeles. The tree blooms in Spring and is harvest in Summer, producing sweet and tasty fruit with yellow skin and juicy flesh. The peach tree requires full sun and can grow 15–20 feet in height, but easily prunes to keep 8–15 feet tall.

Flavor King Pluot

The Flavor King Pluot is a deciduous tree that produces well in Southern California and is a delicious hybrid of plum and apricot. The fruit has red skin with a yellowish flesh tinted with red. The Flavor King is juicy and has a spicy-sweet flavor with that’s unforgettable tasty. The tree has a flush of beautiful white flower blossoms in the Spring, then develops to medium-size fruit ripe and ready to harvest in late Summer.

Hass Avocado

The Hass avocado is the most commercially popular avocado in the world. It was first grown by a Southern California amateur horticulturist Rudolph Hass who named it. The Hass is an evergreen that self-fruits, self-pollinates and does great by the coast in areas such as Malibu, Ventura, Santa Barbara, and San Diego where the ocean regulates the temperature.

⇥ Check out our Pomegranate Guacamole Recipe.

Gold Nugget Loquat

The Gold Nugget loquat is an underrated fruit that is sweet and juicy, somewhat like an apricot that serves greatly as preserves, ice cream topping, or pie filling. The tree is a subtropical evergreen fruiting plant with large, glossy dark green leaves that lend itself to an ornamental look. In Fall and Winter, you will enjoy fragrant white flowers and beautiful clusters of small yellow-orange fruit in late Spring and Summer. The loquat doesn’t require much care, only needing occasional waters and thriving in various soil types.

Oroblanco Grapefruit

Oroblanco grapefruit is the most popular white-fleshed variety, also known as “Sweetie” due to its juicy and sweet flesh, which lacks the bitterness found in many grapefruits. The fruit tastes like the scent of its very fragrant white blossoms and harvests in Fall and Winter from September through December. The tree itself boasts green foliage and adapts quickly to most environments. Peel the skin of Oroblanco grapefruit like an orange, separate into segments, and enjoy for breakfast.

Blenheim Apricot

Blenheim Apricot is the most popular apricot in California and Los Angeles. In the Summer, then tree produces medium-size fruit that is juicy, sweet and has excellent flavor. This variety is self-fruitful, easy to grow, and very aromatic with beautiful whitish-pink Spring blossoms. The deciduous tree harvests in Summer and becomes dormant in Winter. Most homeowners keep their tree small, about 10 – 15 feet tall. However, they can grow larger if allowed.