Hi, i am interested in planting fruit trees. I would like to plant an apricot, cherry and light plum (orange color) all for hand eating, not canning. Do you know what varieties grow in Abbotsford that you could recommend? I was thinking about a semi -dwarf size, as I don't have a lot of yard. I take it that Abbotsford, BC is a Zone 8 hardiness from your article on the Internet?

When I received this question, I tried to think of some good local nurseries with a large selection of fruit trees. I haven't planted fruit trees in my yard (well... I just put in a fig tree, but for ornamental reasons), so I haven't looked closely at the selection out there. However, I've seen a good assortment at both Cedar Rim Nursery, and Art's Nursery. Both nurseries are in Langley. 

In reading a little more, some of the plant features you'd be looking for (in a fruit tree for a small garden) are a dwarf or semi-dwarf growth habit, and a plant which is self-pollinating so that you don't need to plant more than one of each variety to get good fruit production.

The online catalog at Cedar Rim listed both an apricot tree ("Puget Gold") and a Cherry ("Aaron"), which might work for you. They're both credited with sweet fruit, dwarf or
semi-dwarf habit, and they're self-pollinating.

For the plum, I found a selection at Arts nursery (also in Langley). They have it listed as Prunus Peach, a sweet, yellow, self-fertile variety. I'm not sure how large the plant gets. I've also seen a good selection of fruit trees at Triple Tree nursery in Maple Ridge.

In a later e-mail I learned that Stephanie and Lori found another solution - a fruit tree with several varieties grafted on (which makes sense, really, for a small garden). The only other thing I'd suggest is to make sure the tree is sited in full sun and pruned for strong open growth. I found one site that does a good job explaining various pruning techniques, and I've linked it here.