Fantasia Nectarine

Perhaps the largest nectarine you can grow, the Fantasia Nectarine has it all – beautiful pink spring flowers, like small double roses; a big crop of enormous nectarines, whose yellow skin is hidden by deep red when they ripen; and yellow flesh with a delicious flavor, dripping sweet juice. Ideal for both eating fresh and baking, fruit ripens between mid-July and late August, just when you want fresh fruit the most. This variety flowers later than many others, so it is safe from late spring frosts, ensuring a crop every year. It doesn’t need a second tree for pollination – it’s completely self-fertile – and it blooms well, always setting a large crop. It needs only a short winter chill (400-600 chilling hours), so it grows well and fruits well in hotter parts of the country, all through zone 8. This would be a great choice for any nectarine lover – congratulations! You won’t regret it.

• Very large fruits with deep red skin when ripe
• Melting yellow flesh with an intense flavor and full of juice
• Ripens between mid-July and late August
• Ideal for eating fresh and for cooking too
• Beautiful double pink blooms on bare branches in spring

The Fantasia Nectarine grows well from zone 5 to zone 8, needing only limited winter chill. Grow it in a sheltered, sunny spot. In colder zones it performs well trained on a sunny wall, as an espalier. Plant in a well-drained soil, preferably on the sandy side – heavy clay is not so suitable. Water regularly, and although drought tolerant when established, water during any dry spells when fruit is ripening. Prune from early in its life into an open vase shape, with 4 or 5 main branches spreading out. For large fruits, reduce the number when about the size of a quarter, leaving one every six inches along the branches. May be subject to various pests and diseases typical of peaches and nectarines, but in home gardens these don’t cause major problems and you will still harvest a good crop.