North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Dan Nave <nave1@comcast.net>]

I have a narrow garden area about 7 feet wide along the north side of my driveway which gets mid 
morning to mid/late afternoon sun in the spring and the fall but, because there is a tall maple tree 
that is overhanging the garden, doesn't get much direct sun in the middle of the summer.  I had 
wanted to plant fruiting trees or bushes there, but wondered what I could plant there because of the 
sunlight issue.  Also, it would be better if they were 5 to 8 or 10 feet tall or so because my wife 
will want to plant some shorter plants in the front and the garden slopes slightly down in the back 
(north). I did have some currant plants started there and they got some fruit, but they got kind of 
lost behind other competing plants and didn't seem to have all that much fruit or get as tall as 
some I planted last year in a different area.

Are there some plants that either fruit early or later in the year that could benefit from the 
spring and fall sun that should reach them when the sun is not directly overhead?  Would the early 
or late timing of fruiting help the ripening of fruit considering that they may get more direct sun 
early and late in the year?

This is for zone 4 in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota, probably zone 4b most of the time, but I 
have been going for plants that will take zone 4a at least.

I was thinking of Haskap, or perhaps even some Hardy Kiwi with a vertical 
arbor.  Maybe Aronia?

Any comments on these or any other suggestions?

Dan