Tell Your HOA to POUND SAND and Plant These 5 SECRET Fruit Trees

To avid gardeners, the most terrifying letters in the English language are H, O, and A, and in that order. Originally invented by the creators of New Coke in partnership with Vlad the Impaler, homeowners associations were instituted to increase sales of lawn chemicals and antidepressant medication worldwide. Many folks living in HOAs have restrictions on what they can plant in their yards, and it forces them to forego their favorite fruit trees in favor of boring, bland, fruitless landscaping. But there are many edibles that blend in so well, those hopeless, overbearing adults won't even notice. In this video, I'm going to share five HOA-friendly fruit trees I'm growing in my yard that look like ornamental shrubbery, but produce delicious fruit. So tell your HOA to pound sand and plant these five secret fruit trees. If you're new to the channel, please subscribe, hit the bell for notifications, and check out my Amazon store and Spreadshop links in the video description for everything I use in my garden and awesome custom apparel and gear. It often shocks people when I tell them that I live in an HOA, but it's true. I live in a boring, bland neighborhood subdivision with an HOA and their standard covenants and bylaws. Despite this, I am growing over 50 fruit trees in my backyard, but that's because I have a six-foot perimeter fence around my entire backyard, which makes that possible due to the privacy it gives me. My front yard is an entirely different story because it's totally exposed, so I had to get creative with what I could plant. I had to select fruit trees disguised as ornamental landscaping, and that's what I'm going to show you in this video. Secret fruit tree number one is the one everyone should plant around their home because they blend in perfectly like any bush and can be grown in any climate, and that is blueberries. Blueberries can be shaped into an ornamental landscaping shrub virtually identical to what you see growing around every home in an HOA, but they produce blueberries. I grow two different types of blueberries, highbush blueberries and rabbiteye blueberries. Growing both will double your harvest window. There are two types of highbush blueberries, northern highbush and southern highbush, with the difference between the two being the amount of chill hours they require. Northern highbush blueberries require 600 to 1,000 chill hours, which keep them dormant longer to protect them from late frosts and freezes. This is what most growers in zones 3 through 7 should plant. Southern highbush blueberries, like you see right here, typically require 500 chill hours or less, making them a better choice for growers on the zone 7 to 8 line all the way to zone 10. For Florida growers, new blueberry cultivars have been developed that require almost no chill hours at all, so you can actually grow blueberries now as far south as the Florida Keys as long as you choose the correct varieties for your climate. Rabbiteye blueberries are native to the southeast and grow best in hardiness zones 6 through 10. Depending on the variety, they will require anywhere from 350 to 800 chill hours, so choose the varieties you want to grow based on your location and how many chill hours you average per year. Rabbiteye blueberries are large and produce a month after highbush varieties, so if you grow both highbush and rabbiteye cultivars, you can be picking blueberries for two to three months a year. Just remember, most blueberry varieties require cross-pollination, and highbush and rabbiteye blueberries generally don't cross-pollinate because they bloom at different times, so if you want to grow both, you'll need two unique highbush varieties and two unique rabbiteye varieties that bloom at the same time. The good news is, most online nurseries will suggest pollinator companions to ensure the bloom window overlaps. My blueberry plants are all from either Bottoms Nursery and Stark Brothers Nursery. The southern highbush cultivars I'm growing are Star and O'Neill. This one on the end right here is an O'Neill. This monster one that is super productive and super early is Star. This may be the most productive variety that I grow. And then I have another O'Neill right here. And all three of these pollinate each other perfectly. The rabbiteye cultivars I have are Titan, Kruer, and Pink Lemonade. I have Titan on the end right here. I have Pink Lemonade in the middle, which is actually one of the rare self-fertile varieties, so this one actually can produce on its own, but it produces much better with cross-pollination. Then I have Kruer on the end right here. And all three of these complement each other perfectly, and I get incredible yields. This second secret fruit tree is one most gardeners have never heard of, and that is the Feijoa, also known as the pineapple guava. It's not technically a guava. It is a flowering plant in the myrtle family, and it can be shaped into a gorgeous evergreen hedge or a shrub. They are native to the highlands of Colombia, Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina. So while they are technically subtropical, they're actually really cold-hardy to zones 7 through 11 and can tolerate temperatures as low as 5 degrees briefly, maybe even a little colder. We got hit by a major snowstorm this winter and spent an entire week in the teens at night getting down to as low as 9.7 degrees Fahrenheit, and this Feijoa right here didn't even blink. Nor did this young one right here. I didn't protect either of them in any way, and they did not suffer so much as a single burnt leaf in all that cold. These plants are relatively slow-growing, and you can plant them pretty close to a house foundation as long as you prune them annually to control their size. This plant right here has been growing for almost 8 years in this spot, and I've never had any kind of problems because I prune it annually to keep it on the smaller side. Because of their evergreen nature, they make an attractive border planting or foundation planting year-round, and in mid-spring, they produce the most beautiful, vibrant pink flowers you have ever seen, which are edible, by the way. The flowers will turn into fruits, which fall to the ground when ripe in early fall. Then you pick them up off the ground for harvest. The skin is very tart, and the flesh is very sweet, tasting somewhat like a pear. So you can either cut the fruits in half and scoop out the flesh, which kind of tastes like a pear, or you can eat them whole for a sweet, tart experience. When you eat them whole, they kind of taste like a sour candy, almost like a Sour Patch Kid. They are astoundingly easy to grow, and I've found them to be 100% pest and disease-free. Nothing has ever bothered either of my Feijoa plants, and I've never had to protect them or spray them. The one thing you need to know about Feijoa is not all varieties are self-fertile, and some require cross-pollination. For example, this is one that I got from Stan McKenzie at McKenzie Farms in Scranton, South Carolina, where I get all of my citrus, and he doesn't know the name of the variety, but it is self-fertile, and it produces prolifically. This variety right here is called Takaka, and I got it from One Green World, and this is another self-fertile variety. So just make sure if you only want one, you get a variety that is known to be self-fertile. If not, you will need two unique varieties for cross-pollination. Secret fruit tree number three is my all-time favorite fruit tree, and that is the fig. To the untrained eye, a fig tree will blend in with any old oak or maple, so if your HOA allows you to plant a tree like that, chances are they will be none the wiser. Figs are a syconium, not a true fruit, which is a collection of inverted flowers, so the trees themselves don't flower externally. The flowers are actually internal to the fig fruit itself, so they are totally incognito to the average person, although us fig fanatics go crazy any time we see a fig tree planted in somebody's yard. Fig trees are hardy in ground from about the zone 6-7 line to zone 10, although fig trees are known to take winter damage in most winters in zone 7 and colder, so if you live in a colder zone, chances are your fig trees will die down to the ground each winter, then they will regrow from the roots in spring. In zone 8 or warmer, they are easier to maintain as a tree, but we got hammered with a 9.7 degree low this winter, the coldest temp I have ever recorded on my property in nearly a decade, and not one of my in-ground fig trees took any damage, but that is probably because we had prolonged cold leading up to the cold event, and it happened in late January when the trees were at maximum dormancy, so they are shockingly hardy when they are in fact in peak dormancy. Fig trees can grow large in a warm climate if you don't prune them, however, figs actually respond wonderfully to annual pruning, and I prune them very aggressively, removing two-thirds of the wood from each fig tree each winter, because figs produce their fruits on the new wood of the season, so the more you prune them back, the more new wood you tend to get, and the more figs they produce. Therefore, they are easy to keep permanently dwarfing through annual pruning. Cut them as much as you need to at the end of each winter, because they can easily put on 6 to 10 feet of new growth in one season, therefore, you can shape your fig trees to your environment. I wouldn't recommend you plant them right up against a house foundation, because the roots can be very vigorous, but you can plant the individual fig trees themselves pretty close together. I plant my backyard fig trees 6 feet apart, and I manage them with annual pruning, and they produce fantastically. Secret fruit tree number 4 is citrus, but not just any citrus, I'm talking specifically this sugarbell citrus tree. Here where I live in zone 8 North Carolina, most citrus cannot survive long term without protection when being planted in ground, and we had the worst winter I have ever experienced here last year, which cooked some of the leaves on this very citrus tree right here, even under protection. However, this sugarbell variety is very special, and here is why. First off, this variety is unusually cold hardy. We hit 9.7 degrees Fahrenheit, which technically means we had a zone 7b winter last winter, and that means with proper cold protection, it is possible to grow this tree all the way down to the zone 7 slash 8 border, in ground, when you follow my cold protection methods. I'll link to a video both above and down in the video description, that shows you how I protect my citrus trees from cold. Second, this variety has an upright growth habit. I grow several satsumas in my backyard, which are some of the most cold hardy citrus, but they have a sprawling, weeping growth habit, which may draw unwanted attention. This upright growth habit of this tree is very pleasing to look at, which is why I have it planted as a dooryard tree. I mean, it is literally growing right in front of the walkway to my front door. And third, sugarbell is one of the few citrus trees that is tolerant of HLB citrus greening disease. The reason why they're mowing down thousands of acres of old citrus groves in Florida, and replacing them with subdivisions, is because in 2005, a deadly insect called the Asian citrus psyllid, stowed away on a shipment from China to Florida, and was released into the environment. These psyllids release a bacteria into citrus trees, that stunt them and eventually kill them. And this pathogen, this disease, it has utterly devastated generational citrus groves. It's why you don't see citrus planted in Florida yards anymore. It basically can't grow out in the open anymore, because of this pest and deadly disease. Sugarbell is one of the few citrus trees that has a tolerance to HLB. So if you live in an area that is infected with citrus greening disease, you can still grow this tree in ground in your yard. Now, sugarbell is HLB tolerant, not resistant. So it will still get the disease and show symptoms, but it can grow through it and produce good fruit for a long time. So if you're a Florida grower, and you thought citrus wasn't possible anymore, think again. Sugarbell is a mandarin hybrid, and the fruit is very similar to a miniola, and of top quality. The fruits rival any of the best oranges, that my Satsuma and Caracara trees make in my backyard. So whether you live in Florida, you're an adventurous grower, that doesn't mind providing some cold protection, or you live somewhere in between, and you have always dreamt of growing door yard citrus, this tree is definitely worth trying. And secret fruit tree number five isn't a tree at all. In fact, it's not even made of wood. And that is bananas. I have a dwarf Orinoco banana growing here, in my front yard in zone 8B, which is one of the more cold hardy bananas out there. But while it is still far too cold to grow this banana unprotected where I live, I am able to get fruit off of it most summers, by building a cage around it out of chicken wire, and then stuffing that cage full of two bales of straw, to insulate the stems, since this variety only grows to be about five feet tall. This is usually enough to insulate the stems, and get a harvest of bananas most years, since this is a shorter cycle banana. Now obviously this winter was the worst in a generation, and it got smoked. So while it will come back from the roots and grow back, it won't produce any bananas for me this year. However, to the untrained eye, this is just a tropical looking ornamental, and people do grow cold hardy ornamental bananas and HOAs all the time. So if you live in zone 8 or warmer, and you don't mind wrapping and protecting the stems in late October, before the frost hits, you may be able to fruit your own bananas in your yard in the summer. And that right there are five secret fruit trees. Most people will be able to grow in homeowners associations. Now look, just as a disclaimer, I can't 100% guarantee every person that lives in every HOA can do this. I'm sure there are some exceptions. There may be some HOAs out there that are so incredibly strict, or you live in a neighborhood that is so specifically planned, they could spell out exactly what you have to plant. And there are also some covenants out there for things like townhomes and condos, where you aren't allowed to touch the landscaping at all. So please check your covenants and bylaws before you dive in, to make sure that they aren't too specific and you can do this. However, for most HOAs, for people with detached homes on yards that they own, that have pretty generic bylaws, you should be able to plant most of these things I featured in this video without issue, because they blend in like any other generic landscaping. They have worked beautifully for me, and I would happily do this exactly the same all over again. So everybody, I sure hope you found this video helpful. If you did, please make sure to hit the like button, subscribe to the channel, and please ring the notification bell so you're notified when I release more videos like these. For all of my favorite items that I use to care for my fruit trees, I place direct links down in the video description for your convenience. For everything else I use in my entire yard and garden, that is linked in my Amazon storefront in the video description. While you're down there, check out my website, themillennialgardener.com, for all things gardening and for custom home design merch, if you want to support my channel. Thank you all so much for watching, and I hope to see all of you again on the next video. What, Dale, what? Oh, Dale wants a puppuccino from the espresso machine. What a surprise. Okay, buddy. Let's go, let's go do the thing. Hard to do this with my left hand. All right. We'll give him about an ounce and a half of milk. You don't want to give him too much. All right. What would life be for a pup if he didn't have his own cold foaming machine? And it is done. You know, Dale, I haven't even had my coffee yet. I'm still waiting. You're budding the line. How come the good-looking ones get all the perks and less? You know the drill. You need to be more patient. Okay. Enjoy your morning coffee.