Garden Guy's Picks from Stark Bro's
Stark Bro's has been growing fruit trees since 1816 and ships them straight to your door. The catch? Most of what they sell was bred for Missouri winters, not Sugar Land. Todd went through the whole catalog and pulled out the handful that fit Houston's Zone 9 climate. Here they are.
🍂 Fall Abundance Sale ends tonight, Oct 25 — up to 25% off
Garden Guy is a landscape design & install company, not a nursery — we don't stock or sell plants. Everything on this page ships from Stark Bro's. We're a Stark Bro's affiliate, so if you order through our links we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.
How this page works
Three things to know before you click "add to cart."
We don't sell the trees — Stark Bro's does.
Garden Guy designs and installs landscapes. We don't run a nursery. Every link on this page goes to Stark Bro's, and the tree ships from their farm in Missouri to your porch, with their 1-year survival guarantee.
Todd only picked what fits Houston.
Sugar Land and most of Greater Houston sit in USDA Zone 9a/9b and get roughly 300–450 chill hours in a normal winter. A tree that needs 800 will leaf out, look gorgeous, and never fruit. Everything below clears that bar.
Fall is the right time to order.
Trees planted November through February put all their energy into roots while the top is dormant. By the time our heat shows up in June, they're established. Spring-planted trees spend their first summer just trying to survive.
Todd's 6 Picks for Houston Yards
All six are rated for Zone 9, all six clear our chill-hour budget, and all six have thirty-plus years of Todd watching them succeed (or not) in Fort Bend and Harris County soil.
Fruit tree · self-fruitful · zones 7–10
Figs — the no-brainer
Why Todd picked itIf you plant one fruit tree in Houston, plant a fig. They love our heat, shrug off our humidity, need no pollinator, and fruit in year two. Celeste is the old Texas "sugar fig" — its closed eye keeps rain and ants out of the fruit, which matters here. Brown Turkey is the same fig Texans call Texas Everbearing. Chicago Hardy is the most-reviewed fig in Stark's catalog and does just fine this far south.
Plant it rightFull sun, give it 12–15 feet, and don't fertilize it much — a fed fig makes leaves instead of fruit. Mulch heavy the first winter.
Nut tree · needs a partner · zones 6–9
Pecans — plant the pair Texas state tree
Why Todd picked itPecans pollinate in pairs: a Type I tree sheds pollen first, a Type II tree receives first, and you need one of each. Pawnee (Type I) and Lakota (Type II) are both scab-resistant — the disease that ruins pecans in our humidity — and both are on the Texas A&M recommended list. If you only have room for one Type II, Elliott has the best scab resistance of anything in the catalog and makes a small, sweet nut.
Plant it rightThis is a 70-foot tree. One per suburban lot, 40 feet from the house and the slab, and plan on 6–10 years before your first real harvest. You're planting for your grandkids — and that's the point.
Fruit tree · needs a partner · zones 5–9
Hosui Asian Pear
Why Todd picked itHosui needs only about 450 chill hours — right in Houston's window — and makes a crisp, juicy, apple-shaped pear that keeps for weeks. It's the Asian pear Texas A&M points to for our part of the state.
Plant it rightHosui needs a second Asian pear nearby to set fruit — Shinko or 20th Century both work. Thin the fruit hard in May or the branches will break.
Berry · southern highbush · zones 5–10
Blueberries — Misty & O'Neal
Why Todd picked itMost blueberries on the market are northern highbush and want 800+ chill hours. These two are southern highbush, bred for the Gulf South — Misty needs about 150 chill hours and O'Neal about 400. Plant both together; blueberries set bigger, sweeter crops with a cross-pollinator.
Plant it rightBlueberries want acid soil, pH 4.5–5.5, and our gumbo is the opposite. Don't fight it — grow them in a raised bed or a big pot filled with peat moss and pine bark fines, and water with rainwater when you can.
Berry shrub · plant two varieties · zones 3–9
Elderberries — Adams & Johns
Why Todd picked itAmerican elderberry grows wild in every ditch between here and Beaumont, so it's as Houston-proof as a plant gets. Adams and Johns are improved selections with bigger berry clusters — plant both, because elderberries need two varieties to fruit well. Great for the syrup-makers, and the birds will thank you.
Plant it rightGive them a spot that stays damp — a low corner, a downspout, the side of the yard that never dries out. Cut them to the ground every third winter to keep them productive.
Patio plant · the fun one · zones 9–11 outdoors
Dwarf Cavendish Banana
Why Todd picked itEvery third yard in Sugar Land has a banana in it for a reason: nothing says "I live on the Gulf Coast" like six-foot leaves by July. Dwarf Cavendish stays a manageable size, grows like a weed in our heat, and is cheap enough to be an impulse buy.
Plant it rightSun, water, and a mountain of mulch over the base before any hard freeze. It will melt to the ground in a bad cold snap and come right back from the corm in April — that's normal.
Also worth a look
Stark® Tree Guards — wrap every young trunk; our sun scalds bark on the south side and the trimmer chews up the north. Cheap insurance.
Arapaho Thornless Blackberry — the Arkansas variety Texas A&M recommends for our heat. Erect canes, no trellis, no thorns.
Sunshine Blue Blueberry — the one for a patio pot: compact, 150 chill hours, pink spring flowers.
Garden Guy is a Stark Bro's affiliate. Links above are affiliate links — if you order through them we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Prices and stock change with the season; the tree ships from Stark Bro's, not from us.
Todd's 5 Rules for Planting a Tree in Houston
Stark ships at the right time for your zip code. The rest is up to you — and these five rules are where most Houston trees are won or lost.
- Plant it the week it arrives, November through February.A dormant tree in the ground is growing roots. A dormant tree in a box on the patio is dying slowly. If you truly can't plant for a few days, keep the roots moist and the tree in the shade.
- Dig wide, not deep — and keep the root flare above grade.Our gumbo clay drains like a bathtub. Dig the hole twice as wide as the root ball but no deeper, and set the tree so the spot where trunk meets roots sits an inch or two above the surrounding soil. Trees planted deep in Houston rot.
- Backfill with the dirt you dug out. No bagged soil, no fertilizer in the hole.A hole full of fluffy potting mix in the middle of clay becomes a bucket that holds water. Native soil in, water it to settle, and save the fertilizer for next spring.
- Mulch a donut, not a volcano.Three inches of mulch out to the drip line, pulled back four inches from the trunk. Mulch piled against bark invites borers, rot, and the mower guy's blade.
- Water deep once a week the first year — more in July and August.A slow soak at the base, not a sprinkler pass. Young trees in Houston die of thirst in their first summer far more often than they die of cold in their first winter.
Questions We Get Every Fall
Does Stark Bro's ship to Texas?
Yes — fruit trees, nut trees, and berry plants all ship to Texas, and Stark times the shipment to the right planting window for your zip code. The exception is citrus: Texas quarantine rules keep Stark's larger citrus sizes out of the state, so only small starter sizes ship here. For citrus, buy local.
When is the best time to plant fruit trees in Houston?
November through February. The tree is dormant on top and busy underground, and by the time summer heat arrives it has a root system to handle it. Spring-planted trees spend their first summer fighting for their lives. Order in the fall; plant the week the box shows up.
How many chill hours does Houston get?
Sugar Land, Missouri City, and most of Greater Houston average roughly 300 to 450 chill hours in a typical winter — and warm winters can come in under that. A chill hour is an hour between about 32°F and 45°F; fruit trees count them to know when it's safe to bloom. Choose varieties rated at 500 chill hours or fewer and you'll be fine most years.
Will these trees grow in our clay soil?
Figs, pecans, pears, elderberries, and bananas all handle gumbo clay as long as you plant them right — wide hole, root flare above grade, native soil backfill, mulch donut (see Todd's five rules above). Blueberries are the exception: they need acid soil, so grow them in a raised bed or large pot filled with peat moss and pine bark fines.
What about Methley plum, pomegranates, and persimmons?
All three are great Houston choices, and all three are sold out at Stark Bro's as of late October. They usually come back in stock in late winter. We'll update this page when they do — or ask us at askgardenguy.com/advice and we'll point you to a local source.
Does Garden Guy sell or install these trees?
We don't sell plants — we're not a nursery, and every tree on this page ships from Stark Bro's. We do design and install landscapes in Sugar Land, Missouri City, and Greater Houston, and we're happy to plant your new trees as part of a project. Visit garden-guy.com or call 281-208-4400.
Not sure which one belongs in your yard?
Send us a photo of the spot. Todd will tell you what fits, what doesn't, and where to put it — that's what we've been doing for Houston since 1991.
Want it planted for you?
Design & install in Sugar Land, Missouri City & Greater Houston.
Garden Guy installs →Or just call us: 281-208-4400
— Todd & Sabrina Farber
Aggie Horticulturist · Houston's Favorite · Since 1991
Garden Guy Inc. is a landscape design and installation company and does not sell or stock plants. This page contains affiliate links to Stark Bro's Nurseries & Orchards Co.; if you purchase through them we may earn a commission at no additional cost to you. Variety availability, pricing, and sale dates are set by Stark Bro's and change seasonally.