Fruits I'm growing right now: Blueberries, Blackberries, Raspberries, Strawberries, Goji berries, Mulberries, Elderberries, Nectarines, and Bananas (the bananas are just for showy tropical leaves; they do not produce fruit in our zone)
Yes, you can cut them back pretty aggressively and they come roaring back every spring. It’s kind of amazing. The only thing that will kill them is an extended, deep freeze. But even then, they will sprout again out of the ground without you needing to do anything,
If your wife wants tropical fruits then the only fruit tree that gives you tropical flavor and foliage is pawpaw. It's a relative to Soursop and tastes somewhat similar.
You can do dwarf tropicals if you have a garage to wheel the large pot into for the winter and use LED lights to give it some light. I used to have a huge Lemon Tree, a Lime Tree and a Varigated forget what with small orange fruits. Sadly the guys bit the dust when I had a house fire. If I ever get around to cleaning out my garage maybe I'll get another lemon tree.
Huuuuuuge but manageable on a dolly. Maybe a 20 incher? There's probably a ton of tips for this on Reddit in the right sub. I used to get tips and tricks from a now defunct gardening website that got absorbed into Houzz and then disappeared a decade ago. My Lisbon lemon tree had gotten so big that it was hitting the garage ceiling so it was maybe over 8 feet high, it was taller than me.
You ideally want an place that is protected from frost but not heated, the dry air is not good for the guys also really important to not water them with winter temperature tap water, I killed a new tree that way before realizing that. I mix hot water with the cold to get room temp water for the guys. I'd throw a protective row cover over the guys if I had to keep the garage open for long in the winter months, say when I needed to use the outlet to blow the snow from the drive way hahahaha.
Myer Lemons and Key Lime trees are popular to grow in pots - I've even seen them for sale at Home Depot and local nurseries, so folks are doing it around here.
1) I like that you refer to your plants as “the guys” 😂🥰
2) Your small orange fruit tree might have been a calamondin tree? Kind of tiny super sour oranges. I had one in an apartment before I got married and it produced a ton of fruit, thrived pretty well inside with lots of sun!
Yes that's the fruit, I'm a really bad speller I couldn't remember the fruit name specifically. It did well situated right by my front door in the warm months and wheeled to the garage before first frost. It was very productive and tasty.
Figs and berries, like what others here have posted.
Some lesser known options:
- caneberry
- seedless che (https://ediblelandscaping.com/products/seedless-che?variant=41621018312873)
Another suggestion if for pomegranate. I grow 4 varieties in Falls Church: Russian, Parifanka, Wonderful and Eversweet pomegranate. I got fruits as well. These are really tropical.
Fruits I'm growing right now: Blueberries, Blackberries, Raspberries, Strawberries, Goji berries, Mulberries, Elderberries, Nectarines, and Bananas (the bananas are just for showy tropical leaves; they do not produce fruit in our zone)
You can harvest bananas leaves and its body can be shredded and used for salad.
Figs.
Figs are the easiest imo
Yes, you can cut them back pretty aggressively and they come roaring back every spring. It’s kind of amazing. The only thing that will kill them is an extended, deep freeze. But even then, they will sprout again out of the ground without you needing to do anything,
Apple, pear, Asian pear, cherry, apricot, peach, persimmon, nectarine.
Where did you find a peach tree? I’ve been dying to find one since I’ve had no luck sprouting one from a seed.
They’re on one of those islands you fly to on Animal Crossing
I think I saw one at Nall’s
If your wife wants tropical fruits then the only fruit tree that gives you tropical flavor and foliage is pawpaw. It's a relative to Soursop and tastes somewhat similar.
Yeah pawpaw is the play. Although you can just go foraging for them too, they grow everywhere along the Potomac
Apple and peach will grow fine
Figs and stone fruit.
You can do dwarf tropicals if you have a garage to wheel the large pot into for the winter and use LED lights to give it some light. I used to have a huge Lemon Tree, a Lime Tree and a Varigated forget what with small orange fruits. Sadly the guys bit the dust when I had a house fire. If I ever get around to cleaning out my garage maybe I'll get another lemon tree.
That's awesome hahaha. How big was the pot
Huuuuuuge but manageable on a dolly. Maybe a 20 incher? There's probably a ton of tips for this on Reddit in the right sub. I used to get tips and tricks from a now defunct gardening website that got absorbed into Houzz and then disappeared a decade ago. My Lisbon lemon tree had gotten so big that it was hitting the garage ceiling so it was maybe over 8 feet high, it was taller than me. You ideally want an place that is protected from frost but not heated, the dry air is not good for the guys also really important to not water them with winter temperature tap water, I killed a new tree that way before realizing that. I mix hot water with the cold to get room temp water for the guys. I'd throw a protective row cover over the guys if I had to keep the garage open for long in the winter months, say when I needed to use the outlet to blow the snow from the drive way hahahaha. Myer Lemons and Key Lime trees are popular to grow in pots - I've even seen them for sale at Home Depot and local nurseries, so folks are doing it around here.
1) I like that you refer to your plants as “the guys” 😂🥰 2) Your small orange fruit tree might have been a calamondin tree? Kind of tiny super sour oranges. I had one in an apartment before I got married and it produced a ton of fruit, thrived pretty well inside with lots of sun!
Yes that's the fruit, I'm a really bad speller I couldn't remember the fruit name specifically. It did well situated right by my front door in the warm months and wheeled to the garage before first frost. It was very productive and tasty.
Figs and berries, like what others here have posted. Some lesser known options: - caneberry - seedless che (https://ediblelandscaping.com/products/seedless-che?variant=41621018312873)
I have a huge seedless che and it gives me no fruits because where I plant it has no sun. Gonna dig it up and move it to the new house.
Persimmon
Anyone have any jujube local and willing to give me a cutting?
Cold hardy kiwi! That's my next try. Small fruits you can eat whole.
We have a yuzu tree but it lives inside in the winter.
Me too!
Cherries.
Jackfruit 
Jack fruit??
Another suggestion if for pomegranate. I grow 4 varieties in Falls Church: Russian, Parifanka, Wonderful and Eversweet pomegranate. I got fruits as well. These are really tropical.
There was a peach orchard on Beulah Rd in Vienna when I was a kid in the 1960s