8 Fruit Trees that Grow in Boise Idaho

When planning an edible garden, most people like to incorporate both fruits and vegetables. While berries are fabulous, fruit trees grow and produce reliably for decades. Below is a list of the best fruit trees that grow in Boise Idaho. If you live in that region, you have a wide variety of different trees to choose from! You’ll be growing your own delicious fruits in no time.

What are the Best Fruit Trees that Grow in Boise Idaho?

People who want to grow fruit in Boise are really quite lucky. That region is in agricultural growing zone 7a/b, which is ideal for many fruit trees! It’s warm enough to be able to grow luscious peaches and apricots, and cool enough that apples and pears will thrive there as well. Check out the following species that thrive in your region. You’re sure to find some to add to your own garden this season!

1. Apple

Apples grow amazingly well in Boise! In fact, if you’re looking for a reliable type of fruit tree to add to your garden, you can’t go wrong with a couple of apples. Since these thrive in Idaho’s growing zone, you’ll be able to choose from a wide range of different varieties.

Some of the apple varieties that do best in Boise include:

• Honeycrisp: Just like their name suggests, these golden apples have a crunchy texture and an extraordinarily sweet, juicy flavor.
• Pink Lady: These crisp, semi-tart fruits are delicious both raw and cooked, and can be stored for months in a cool, dry environment.
• Kinder Crisp
• Gravenstein: Although you can eat these fresh, they’re some of the best for cooking and baking with. Grow these for amazing pies, preserves, and sauces.
• Red Fuji: A sweet, crisp apple with intense red skin, great both raw and cooked.
• Granny Smith: If you love tart apples, this is the one for your garden. With their bright green skin and crisp, juicy flesh, these apples are absolutely amazing.
• Gala: These fruits are sweet with just a hint of tartness, with a softer texture.
• MacIntosh: The quintessential all-purpose apple. Fruits are sweet/acidic, with crisp flesh that’s perfect raw, and gorgeous when cooked. If you can only choose one species, aim for these beauties.
• Snow: If you haven’t tasted snow apples yet, definitely try them! They have pure white flesh that’s incredibly sweet and juicy.

You May Also Enjoy: Where are Apples Grown?

Just remember that apple trees are dioecious, which means that they are not self fertile. You’ll need another tree of the same species to cross-pollinate or you won’t get any fruits. Plant these trees within 15 to 20 feet of one another, and be sure to plant native flower species to attract more bees and butterflies to your yard. These will carry pollen between the trees to fertilize them.

Also, be sure to plant the same kind of tree if you want to harvest that specific type of fruit, otherwise you’ll get hybrids! For example, if you grow a Honeycrisp tree and a Granny Smith tree, and their pollen is carried to each other, you’ll get mixed variety fruits. 

2. Crabapple

Crabapples are some of the hardiest fruit trees around. They can even thrive in environments as harsh as Alaska, right down to zone 1! As a result, you can choose pretty much any crabapple for your yard, and you can rest assured it’ll do well. 

These fruits aren’t exactly ideal for eating raw, since they’re so tart and acrid, but they’re great for jams and jellies.

3. Pear

Some pear trees are self-fertile, while others need a pollinator friend nearby. Talk to the staff at your local garden center to see which cultivars they have available. Remember that if you’re short on space, you can keep most fruit trees pruned to dwarf or semi-dwarf size.

• Red D’Anjou: Sweet, reliable fruit that has a pleasant firm texture. Gorgeous raw as well as cooked, and cans beautifully.
• Bartlett: This is the most beloved, well-known pear in the USA. It’s a self-fertile variety that thrives in Idaho’s cold winters and hot summers.
• Warren: If you’re looking for a perfect dessert pear, choose this variety. The pale green fruits have smooth, sweet flesh, unlike some others that are quite gritty. 
• Comice Pear: Absolutely beautiful, flavorful fruits with sweet, juicy flesh. They ripen late, and maintain a firm texture even when cooked.
• Seckel: These are also known as “Sugar Pears”, because their juicy flesh is so amazingly sweet.

Further Reading: What are the Juiciest Pears?

4. Peach

Since peaches are self-fertile, you don’t need to plant more than one to harvest beautiful fruits from your own garden! Those listed below are some of the best choices for Boise.

• Elberta: A beautiful, yellow-fleshed variety with a classic peach flavor. One of the best all-purpose peaches for backyard growers, as the flesh is great raw, cooked, canned, and dried. This is one of the best for pies and cobblers!
• Harken: This Canadian variety is especially cold-hardy, with juicy, aromatic fresh. Ideal for canning/preserves and baking.
• Frost: A gorgeous yellow-fleshed variety that’s delicious both fresh and cooked.
• Snow Beauty: This variety consistently wins awards at markets for flavor.
• O’Henry: One of the best peaches for home growers, O’Henry is a dependable producer with a classic peach flavor. 

5. Nectarine

Just like peaches, these stone fruits do wonderfully in Idaho’s moderate climate. The varieties listed below are some of the best for your area, though do your research to discover others you may enjoy.

• Fantasia: This is one of the best-performing nectarines in Idaho. Vibrant yellow flesh gets sweeter and juicier later in the harvest season. Enjoy it fresh, or bake with it, and you won’t be disappointed.
• Arctic Star: Incredibly sweet, juicy, white-fleshed variety that thrives in Idaho’s climate.
• Heavenly White: Another white-fleshed variety with well-balanced sweet/acidic flesh. 
• Mericrest: A red-skinned, yellow-fleshed variety that needs a really cold winter in order to fruit properly.

Related Article: 12 Fruits that Go Well with Peaches in a Smoothie

6. Apricot

All stone fruits thrive in Idaho, but apricots fare particularly well here. Below are some of the best varieties to choose from.

• Canadian White Blenheim: The fruit of this tree is nothing short of heavenly. The flesh is pale white, and is so sweet and juicy, it’s almost syrupy.
• Tomcot: If you prefer tart apricots, choose this variety. The flesh 
• Moorpark: Aromatic, mid-orange fruits that are lovely fresh or canned, in preserves, or dried.
• Harglow: This variety creates vibrant orange-red, sweet, fragrant fruit. It’s ideal for colder regions, and resistant to rust and other types of rot that normally plague apricot trees.

7. Plum

There are both self-fertile and dioecious plum trees, so once again, do your research as you’re looking up different varieties.

• Stanley: These plums are traditionally flavored European prune types. The yellow flesh turns purple when cooked or canned, and the fruits are sweet enough to eat raw. These make excellent prunes, and can be dried without having to pit them first.
• Santa Rosa: Do you prefer sweet-tart flavors? Then aim for this cultivar, which has intense red skin and red-yellow flesh. It’s another good all-purpose plum, good for fresh eating, canning, baking, and preserving.
• Italian Prune: If you’re short on space, try this semi-dwarf variety. It produces many small, oblong purple fruits that are betty cooked than raw.
• Seneca: These trees produce beautiful, big, purple-red fruits with yellow flesh. The fruits are delicious fresh, and also bake and dry well. It’s a cultivar that comes from upstate New York, and is remarkably cold hardy, and resistant to rot.

8. Cherry

Some cherries are self-fertile, while others are not. Be sure to do your research ahead of time so you can determine whether you can grow just one tree, or if you need at least two to cross-pollinate.

• Craig’s Crimson: If you only have room for a single tree, choose one of these. It’s a semi-dwarf cherry tree ideal for small spaces, and it’s self-fertile, so you don’t need another for cross-pollination.
• Stella: This is a wonderful self-fertile variety that creates big, juicy, almost black-red cherries in late summer/early fall.
• Bing: The most famous cherry around! Bing cherries are almost black when fully ripe, with sweet, juicy flesh that has a classic cherry flavor.
• Montmorency: A pink-skinned, yellow-fleshed variety that’s perfect for cooking and baking. The fruits are a bit too tart to eat fresh, but ideal for pies and preserves.
• Rainier: This super-sweet, pink-fleshed variety is incredibly cold hardy. It’s not self-fertile, so you’ll need to grow a Bing or Lapin nearby to pollinate it.

As you can see, there are plenty of wonderful fruit trees that grow in Boise Idaho. As long as you have a sunny spot for your tree (or trees!) to grow in, you’ll be able to grow the fruit of your dreams. Remember that you can grow in containers if you don’t have a lot of yard space, and you can bring those containers indoors in wintertime, if needed.

Be sure to do your research to determine the best soil, sun, and water needs for your chosen trees. Treat them well, and you’ll be rewarded with beautiful, bountiful harvests.

Joey Bruno

Hey, I’m Joey. I’ve been cooking since I was a little kid and love everything about it. You can find my writing about food, kitchen appliances (such as blenders) and much more. Thanks for stopping by!