By Steven Biggs
Buying Fruit Trees, Fruiting Shrubs, and Berry Bushes
I get a lot of messages from people wondering where to buy fruiting plants. So I hope this list helps you find a nursery with the fruit trees you’re looking for.
This list focuses on nurseries, garden centres, and fruit-growing specialists in Canada and the northern USA.
It’s a work in progress. If there’s a nursery you recommend, please e-mail me to let me know.
Before you browse nurseries, get started with Tips When Shopping, below.
Tips When Plant Shopping
Here are tips to keep in mind as you get ready to order trees and shrubs.
Delivery vs. Pick-Up
It’s expensive to ship trees and shrubs! They’re big. And if there’s soil—they’re heavy too.
Delivery costs depend on the distance, the size of the plant, and whether it’s in a pot with soil, or is “bare root.”
(Bare root means it’s dormant, and there’s no soil.)
If picking up your fruit plants is an option, you can usually save quite a bit of money.
Ordering and Shipping Fruit Trees and shrubs
Shipping usually begins in spring, when there’s no further risk to the plants from cold temperatures.
The first to ship are “bare root” plants—dormant shrubs and trees with no soil. (Roots are wrapped in something damp to prevent them from drying out.)
Cross-Border Shipments
Some sellers don’t ship out of country. That’s because it usually involves “phytosanitary” inspections and paperwork.
Or, there might be restrictions on shipping some types of fruit to some regions (to avoid the spread of pests or diseases.)
If you find an out-of-country vendor who ships to your country, ask about the cost of phytosanitary certificates—as well as the delay that inspections can cause for your shipment.
When You Receive Your Order
Bare-root Plants. Keep them somewhere cool and dark until you’re ready to plant them, so that they remain dormant. Plant as soon as possible. Make sure the roots stay moist.
Potted Plants. There’s less of a rush planting potted plants than there is with bare-root plants. Keep plants well-watered until they’re planted.
Covering more than 20 fruits, the focus is easy-to-grow fruit suited to northern gardens. Fruits include cherry-family crops, currants, cane fruit such as raspberry and blackberry, elderberry, serviceberry and saskatoon, haskap, plum family, medlar, melon, husk cherries...and more! Find out more here..
Canada Nurseries
Bambooplants.ca
Ontario
Great selection of minor and unusual fruit plants.
Boughen Nurseries
Nipawin, Saskatchewan
Boughen sells fruit trees and berries for cold climates. This is where I found my favourite culinary crabapple, ‘Dolgo.’ They also have Nanking cherry, which, despite being easy to grow, can be difficult to find in many parts of Canada.
Corn Hill Nursery
King’s Country, New Brunswick
Owner Bob Osborne is a CBC radio columnist, and the author of the book Hardy Apples: Growing Apples in Cold Climates.
Hear Bob tell us about hardy apples on The Food Garden Life Show.
DNA Gardens
Elnora, Alberta
Specializing in hardy fruit trees.
Exotic Fruit Nursery
Lunenburg, Nova Scotia
Hardy fruit, exotic fruit, and nuts.
Fruit Trees and More
North Saanich, British Columbia
A nursery and experimental orchard. Well worth a visit if you’re in the area—but they do mail-order too. Lots of less common fruit such as medlar and Asian pear. (And olives, citrus, and figs!)
Grimo Nut Nursery
Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario
A specialty nut nursery that also has uncommon fruit such as American persimmon and a number of mulberries.
Linda Grimo shares tips on how they prune mulberries in this guide to growing mulberries.
Hardy Fruit Tree Nursery
Rawdon, Quebec
Some good articles about growing fruit trees on the website. Grafting onto full-sized rootstock.
Nutcracker Nursery
Maskinongé, Quebec
I’ve ordered plums and damsons here and was pleased with the quality of the plants.
Pépeinière Ancestrale
St-Julien, Quebec
This is where I got my first cherry-plum bushes! Fruit trees and nut trees.
Prairie Hardy Nursery
Two Hills, Alberta
Recommended to me by my horticultural colleague in Alberta Donna Balzer.
Production Lareault inc.
Lavaltrie, Quebec
Berries and small fruit. (Also asparagus, rhubarb, and kiwi.)
Rhora's Nut Farm and Nursery
Wainfleet, Ontario
Specializing in nut trees, with some minor fruit too.
Riverbend Orchards
Portage la Prairie, Manitoba
Cold-hardy fruit bushes, including haskaps, currants, and cherries.
Silvercreek Nursery
Wellesley, Ontario
Some of my apple trees are from Silvercreek—and I took a fantastic grafting workshop there.
T&T Seeds
Headingley, Manitoba
Seeds, accessories, and fruit plants by mail order. Also a garden centre if you’re in the area.
TreeMobile
Toronto, Ontario
A not-for-profit organization supplying fruit trees and supplies to gardeners.
Whiffletree Farm and Nursery
Elora, Ontario
Trees, small fruit, and orchard supplies.
Willow Creek Permaculture
Dutton, Ontario
Fruit and nut trees.
USA Nurseries
Pin this post!
Edible Landscaping
Afton, Virginia
Fruit trees, fruit bushes, berries, and exotics like citrus.
Honeyberry USA
Bagley, Minnesta
Cold-hardy fruit bushes including honeyberry, a.k.a. haskap.
Off the Beaten Path
Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Lots of figs, as well as other unusual fruit.
Hear the owner, Bill Lauris, talk about figs in this podcast episode.
One Green World
Portland, Oregon
We chatted with Sam Hubert from One Green World on the podcast to find out all about hardy citrus. They carry lots of other fruit trees, fruit bushes, and berries too.
Raintree Nursery
Morton, Washington
A diverse collections of edible plants including nut trees and nut bushes.
Trade Winds Fruit
Seeds for rare and unusual fruit.
More Sources for Plants
Here’s a Fig Nursery List to help you find fig trees for sale.
More on Growing Fruit
Head to the Growing Fruit Home Page for articles, interviews, and guides on how to grow fruit.