Dwarf Peach 'Bonanza'

I planted this peach this spring from a 10 gal container when it was in bloom. Here it is June and we're daily picking fresh peaches. It ...Read Moreset a couple of dozen fruit and I removed about half of them to allow for better production. The fruit is generally 2-3" in diameter, great color and sweet taste. We had a lot of rain here in Katy, Texas and I'm sure the tree benefitted from it.

Central Phoenix -- We planted our first Bonanza peach in fall 2012 and it bore 4 peaches in summer 2013. They were excellent. We plante...Read Mored a second one in spring 2013 and both bore in summer 2014. They are planted in full sun, in a Bermuda grass lawn. They get water every other week from March to November and only natural precipitation in winter. We have had no problems with pest, except birds after the fruit. The first one is now 4 1/2 feet tall and in full bloom in mid-March. The other is still only about 3 feet.

I bought this plant a few years ago, and it started steadily going downhill. Not being one to throw plants away, I carefully inspected it...Read More and found that it was infested with termites.

I carefully peeled the dead bark over the termites and eradicated them (manually). All that remained was a thin strip of cambium going up the trunk. I was skeptical that it would make it. But it did. This year, about two years later, it has fruited for the first time. It produced two fruit, the first of which I ate last week (mid-August). The other is still green in late August. The first fruit was a decent size, about 4 inches across. The flesh was whitish, sweet, and tasty.

I don't know if it normally gets cold enough here for this plant to fruit. It certainly did this last year. I have three other kinds of peaches, two of them dwarfs. All of them fruit much earlier than this one did.

Update: In 2011, I harvested in September. In 2012 (after a mild winter) it still produced. I harvested the first fruit today, August 6.

I have had this peach in a container for the last 20 years and have never had to prune it. It is a wonderful show every year. From the ...Read Moretime it blooms, to filling out with leaves, and even when it is just a study in bare branches. The fruit is like a footnote.