Buy South Dakota Fruit Trees, Berry Plants, Grape Vines, Flowering Tree, Shade Trees, Nut Tree and Bamboo Plants

The most important consideration in planting and growing fruit trees and nut trees in South Dakota home fruit and nut tree orchards is the temperature factor. South Dakota temperatures during mid winter can drop to 40 degrees or more below zero, and those frigid temperatures require that gardeners select fruit trees that not only will survive the cold weather, but choose fruit trees that will remain in a dormant stage, until the late spring freezes are over. Late spring freezes can kill the fruit tree flowers, so that proper pollination does not take place, and no fruit will grow on the fruit trees. Most gardeners want to produce fruit in a hurry in the Dakota's, because the growing season is so short, and the question arises, whether to plant a huge tree, or a fast growing tree. South Dakota temperatures can drop suddenly and fast growing trees have the problem of enlarged cell walls and elongated cells that have insufficient deposits of an insulator within the cell wall called, lignin and cellulose. This sudden temperature drop can severely damage or even kill the tree. Many botanists recommend planting a slow growing tree in South Dakota. The Maple tree, the Green Ash trees and the Sassafras tree will all grow in zone 4 USDA. In zone 4 of S.D., the Sycamore tree, the River Birch tree and the Ginkgo trees all survive the cold temperatures and provide brilliant fall color. In Zone 5 of South Dakota, Bald Cypress, Elm trees and Weeping Willow trees will grow and produce yellow fall leaves. The Sweet Gum tree, the Sour Wood trees and the Swamp Tupelo trees glow in a variety of fall colors, red, yellow and purple. Perhaps the fast growing tree in SD is the Lombardy poplar tree that has been recorded as growing an amazing 10 feet in its first year of transplanting, and the Lombardy poplar tree like the Tulip poplar trees are often planted close together in rows to function as a privacy screen or a windbreak. Sour Wood trees are among the most brilliant leaf color change displays in the fall season.

The Japanese flowering cherry, Yoshino white tree and the pink Kwanzan Japanese flowering cherry tree will begin flowering in the late spring. The dogwood tree, the crabapple tree and the redbud trees will flower spectacularly in the late spring. The Japanese pink flowering Magnolia tree is also known as the Saucer Magnolia tree begins blooming very early in the spring, but the earliest flowering trees are the pink, flowering almond trees and the Cleveland pear tree pure white blooms. The Sassafras tree and the gold rain trees have yellow flowers.

The South Dakota State University at Brookings, South Dakota states that sour cherry trees, like the North Star Cherry tree, will produce cherries in all areas of South Dakota. The sweet cherry trees will only grow in limited southern counties of South Dakota, and generally sweet cherries are considered to be more tender to cold damage than the sour cherries - North Star and Montmorency. The Chicago Hardy Fig tree will grow in zone 5 of S.D., and probably the Tennessee Mountain fig trees that have survived many years in New York with the proper mulching applications.

The cold hardy Stanley plum trees are good for planting in South Dakota, but it is a generally recognized fact, that plum trees are not as cold hardy as peach trees. Sungold Apricot trees are cold hardy in S.D. backyard gardens and the Sungold apricots are very sweet and contain a high sugar content. The Moongold apricot tree has been included in some apricot tree orchards.

Raspberries are found growing as native raspberry plants throughout the U.S., and the Boyne red raspberry plant and Latham red raspberries produce delicious fall berries. The yellow Fall Gold raspberry has a very delicate flavor, and the purple Brandywine raspberry bush is very productive of high quality raspberries. The Heritage raspberry plant is a red raspberry bush that can be grown in some areas of South Dakota. Elderberries are native berry plants to South Dakota and Elderberry wine, jellies and pies are often made from ripe Elderberries during the summer.

Many grapes will grow in South Dakota. The New England type grape vines that are so productive like those in New York, for example, the Concord grapevine and the Canadice grape vines produce sweet grapes just right for making red wine and white wine. The Fredonia grape vines produce a black wine grape and will grow in Southern counties of South Dakota.

The American Black Walnut tree, Juglans nigra, is a native tree to S.D. woodlands and will produce bushels of walnuts. . The shagbark hickory nut, Carya ovata, tree will produce hickory nuts for human and wildlife consumption. The white walnut tree, Juglans cinerea, will grow tasty nuts that are also known as “White Walnuts.”The Chinese chestnut tree is cold hardy enough to grow in South Dakota, and American chestnut trees will produce blight resistant thin shelled nuts with a delicious sweet flavor when it reaches maturity.

Wildlife preservation is very important to most hunters and lovers of game birds and animals. The Strawberry bushes, elderberry plants and red mulberry trees are all cold hardy enough to grow in all climate zones of South Dakota. The hard pear, Kieffer pear tree, is slow ripening, along with the wild American persimmon tree, and the ripening scent of the pears and persimmons attract the deer and game birds and animals during the cold winter months during the food scarcity in zone 4 and zone 5. The wild crabapple tree and the zone 5 Chickasaw plum tree provide other fruit during the evergreen growing season. Several other zone 5 SD wildlife trees provide a winter food source: The Autumn olive tree and the acorns of the Gobbler oak tree, the white oak tree and the fast growing sawtooth oak trees are plentiful for deer and game birds.

South Dakota bamboo plants when properly mulched are useful as fast growing, living privacy screens that are fast growing and survive very cold temperatures of below zero or minus 20 degrees F. The colors of bamboo culms (canes, stems, stalks) are very attractive tones of yellow, black and brilliant blue, and in cities of Rapid City, Sioux and Pierre, S.D., bamboo plants when used at indoor shopping Malls are very tropical looking and ornamental, and the bamboo when containerized can be grown indoors at your home or business office.

For plant collectors and gardeners in South Dakota, Aloe plants, Agave plants and Yucca plants may not be familiar, but these plants are armed with sharp spikes, prickly thorns on the leaf edges and make interesting container or dish garden specimens. The Century Plant, Agave americana 'Marginata' and the Yucca filamentosa 'Color Guard' are stunning container plants with striped variegated leaves. The Aloe vera plant leaves contain a fluid that will heal wounds, cure burns to the skin and act as first aid to bites and stings of fire ants, wasps and honeybees. The Spanish Bayonet, Yucca gloriosa is a 16 foot tall plant at maturity and in the spring is topped with beautiful white flowers.