Don't go to garden centres.

peter_the_piper

newsgroup_monkey wrote: »

I'll flip this into reverse.

Last week, I bought a Peach Tree and an Apricot Tree from Homebase. The Peach tree was 50p (it's about 4ft tall) and the Apricot was £1.50 (same size). Both originally £13.
They looked dead, but if you looked carefully near the base, there were new shoots. So we trimmed it back (where the dead leaves were) so that they could concentrate on giving energy to the new growth. They're now looking great.

Bear in mind that fruit trees are often grafted and the growth you are getting may not be peach and apricot.

Errata

Sally_A wrote: »

Thanks Errata, am tempted with the olive standard, does anyone know if Olea europaea, ie the variety they are selling in Lidls are frost hardy in the UK?

Yes it is, but needs protection during the kind of weather we had last winter. I had a 5 year old tree that had stood out in all weathers but didn't survive last winter.

newsgroup_monkey

peter_the_piper wrote: »

Bear in mind that fruit trees are often grafted and the growth you are getting may not be peach and apricot.

Yup, I'm aware. The leaves are looking like the correct ones, but as you say, we may be getting something else :S

Lotus-eater

You should be able to make out of the shoots come from under or over the graft.