Cultivar List

'Babcock'
'Double Delight'
'Earlired'
'Eldorado'
'Flordadawn'
'FlordaKing'
'Garden Gold'
'George IV'
'Honey Babe'
'Indian Blood Cling'
'Indian Blood Free'
'Nectar Babe'
'Peento'
'Peregrine'
'Red Baron'
'Reliance'
'Sweet Bagel'
'Tri-lite'
'White River'

Nectarines are just fuzzless peaches. There are some peach cultivars that, if one plants the self-pollinized pits, one gets a nice Mendelian 3:1 phenotypic ratio of fuzzy-fruited to fuzzless in the offspring.
Most peaches and nectarines are self-pollinizing. For those that vary from this rule-of-green-thumb, it is noted in the individual cultivar description. (Why does this jacka$$ keep saying, "pollinizing"? Doesn't he mean "pollinating"? These two terms get mixed up a lot, but I've tried to adhere to the correct usage. "Pollinating" is the act of transferring pollen from the anthers to the pistil (usually from one flower to another), so pollinators are things like honeybees. Pollinizing is the ability to fertilize a compatible cultivar. So a self-pollinizing cultivar has the capacity to fertilize its own blossoms if a pollinator will do the transferring for the tree.

In addition to the cultivars and their selfed seedlings listed below, I've grown a few others, including a dwarf nectarine that was labelled 'NectaZee', but clearly was something else, as 'NectaZee' is a freestone and this thing was a clingstone. It was an inedible nectarine anyway, so I just don't want to disparage the possibly-good name of 'NectaZee'. I also made some crosses, and unfortunately had to move away before I got past the F₁'s. The best one was a 'Nectar Babe' X 'Sweet Bagel' cross that resulted in a productive yellow-fleshed and richly sweet-flavored doughnut-shaped nectarine. It lacked size, but I was hoping to recover that in subsequent generations and crosses. There was also an 'Indian Blood Free' X 'Sweet Bagel' doughnut peach that was unfortunately very late ripening and hard as heck to protect from brown rot and curculio. I also grew quite a few 'Nectar Babe' X (other dwdw peaches), one of which was notably superior in flavor and size to either parent, though still not up to an average tree peach, in my estimation. Another of these offspring was a nectarine that grew normal-sized fruit on a very tiny bush- only three feet tall at maturity. I didn't get a chance to taste those, but it suggested that either 'Honey Babe' or 'Eldorado' are heterozygous for nectarine (There is also a remote possibility that the false 'NectaZee' was the pollen parent, but I don't think so because I recall removing that tree before the year in which the seed were produced. As my records are currently unavailable, I can't verify this.)

Babcock
Breeder(s): ***.
History: Originated from a 'Peento' X 'Strawberry Free' cross, according to SFGate.com and the 1937 USDA Yearbook. 'Babcock' used to be a major commercial peach in California, but has been largely supplanted by newer cultivars today.
Rootstocks used: Lovell?
Orchards grown in: Apex, North Carolina.
Notes:
Fruit quality: "Sweet and juicy, aromatic, low in acid." (DWN). Good.
Fruit appearance: Peach. Small-medium, yellow, mostly overspread with red blush color. White flesh.
Pit type: Freestone. Harvest season: early.
Bloom season: Said to be late blooming, despite its low chill requirement, an unusual combination. In my experience, it bloomed ***, days *** xxx in Apex, NC.
Flower type (affects landscape potential): Non-showy.
Diseases: Tolerant of bacterial spot.
Precocity: Precocious; first fruit set in *** year on ***rootstock.
Productivity: Described as productive.
Growth habit: Vigorous.
Chilling requirement: Low. 250-300 hours.
Bottom line: Not recommended. It isn't bad, it's just that there are many other choices that are better, in my opinion.
References other than my own experience:
Dave Wilson Nursery.
SFGate.com

Double Delight
Breeder(s): .
History: Originated from a '' X '' cross and released in 19xx.
Rootstocks used: Lovell?
Orchards grown in: Pittsboro, North Carolina.
Notes:
Fruit quality: This is probably my favorite nectarine. It is richly sweet with a hint of tartness to balance in its juicy flesh. The skin is tender and taught from holding the delicious nectar inside.
Fruit appearance: Nectarine. Small-medium, Dark red to almost purple skin. Yellow flesh.
Pit type: Freestone. Harvest season:
Bloom season: ***.
Flower type (affects landscape potential): Very Showy, with double flowers.
Diseases: Tolerant of bacterial spot.
Precocity: Precocious; first fruit set in *** year on ***rootstock.
Productivity: Productive.
Growth habit: Vigorous, broad, spreading.
Chilling requirement: Low. 300 hours.
Bottom line: Recommended for the connoisseur who is willing to put in extra effort to protect nectarines, as they are generally more subject to brown rot.
References other than my own experience:
Dave Wilson Nursery.

Earlired
Breeder(s): .
History: Originated from a '' X '' cross and released in 19**. This was the only peach we grew on the farm where I grew up. I was against planting peaches, because I thought our small farm would never be able to compete with the large peach orchards in the Peach State, but Bill Johnson, founder of Johnson's Nursery in Ellijay, Georgia and an inspiration to me in my early days, gave me a tree, knowing I wouldn't be able to resist planting and caring for it. In a few years, it rewarded us with our first home-grown peaches and they were soooo good. Since then, I've grown better peaches, but 'Earlired' still holds a nostalgic place in my mind. Not to be confused with 'Early Red' which is a flowering peach released later to confuse everyone.
Rootstocks used: Lovell?
Orchards grown in: Coal Mountain, Georgia.
Notes:
Fruit quality: Sweet, juicy, peachy, with flesh that is firmer than most old-fashioned peaches. Good.
Fruit appearance: Peach. Medium-large, yellow, mostly overspread with red blush color. Yellow flesh.
Pit type: Clingstone. Harvest season: Very early.
Bloom season: Very early.
Flower type (affects landscape potential): I don't remember and can't find a reference at the moment.
Diseases: Tolerant of bacterial spot.
Precocity: Precocious; first fruit set in *** year on ***rootstock.
Productivity: Described as productive.
Growth habit: Vigorous, tall.
Chilling requirement: Moderate. 850 hours.
References other than my own experience:
University of Tennessee Extension.

Eldorado
Breeder(s): Fedor Wassiliew. Patent assigned to Jackson & Perkins company.
History: Patented as W-114. Rootstocks used: Lovell?
Orchards grown in: Pittsboro, NC.
Notes:
Fruit quality: Inedible. Dry and tasteless like a damp sock. It does smell like a peach, but it doesn't even taste as sweet as a raw potato. I'm not sure a hog would eat one. Extremely poor. You may see catalogs describe them as richly flavored or "the best dwarf peach". Maybe this is true in some environments, but this is quite different from my experience. The catalog descriptions led me to buy this peach on different occasions from various nurseries, but I tore all of them out after tasting a few years of their fruit.
Fruit appearance: Peach. Large size. Yellow skin with little red blush. Yellow flesh.
Pit type: Freestone. Harvest season: *** in Apex, NC.
Bloom season: ***.
Flower type (affects landscape potential): Showy.
Diseases: Resistant to bacterial spot.
Precocity: Precocious; first fruit set in *** year on ***rootstock.
Productivity: Very productive.
Growth habit: All dwdw dwarf peaches, including this one, are dense bushes. My wife calls them "Cousin It peaches". Homozygozity for dwdw greatly compacts internode length, so you have a massive number of buds, including flower buds, packed onto a small frame. Moderate vigor for a dwarf. Easily kept at a low height so that all harvesting and other care can be done with your feet on the ground.
Chilling requirement: Low. Below 400 hours.
Bottom line: Not recommended, ever.
References other than my own experience:
Dave Wilson Nursery.
USPP #4780

Flordadawn
Breeder(s): Dr. W.B. Sherman, University of Florida.
History: Originated from a '' X '' cross and released in 1989. The purpose was to breed for disease-resistant, very early-ripening, low-chill peaches so that Florida growers could command the price premium one gets by having the first fresh peaches on the market.
Rootstocks used: Lovell?
Orchards grown in: Apex, North Carolina.
Notes:
Fruit quality: Surprisingly good for an early-season peach. Sweet, juicy and well-flavored. As with many very early peaches, has a high incidence of split pit. It is a good idea to foliar feed this tree with chelated calcium, starting right after petal fall to reduce split pit.
Fruit appearance: Peach. Small-medium, yellow, mostly overspread with red blush color. Yellow flesh.
Pit type: Semi-clingstone. Harvest season: Very early.
Bloom season: Very early.
Flower type (affects landscape potential): Showy.
Diseases: Resistant to bacterial spot.
Precocity: Precocious; first fruit set in *** year on ***rootstock.
Productivity: Described as productive.
Growth habit: Vigorous, tall.
Chilling requirement: Low. Officially 300 hours, but probably has a true requirement of about 100 hours.
References other than my own experience:
University of Florida Extension.

FlordaKing
Breeder(s): Dr. W.B. Sherman, University of Florida.
History: Originated from a '' X '' cross and released in 1978. The purpose was to breed for disease-resistant, very early-ripening, low-chill peaches so that Florida growers could command the price premium one gets by having the first fresh peaches on the market.
Rootstocks used: Lovell?
Orchards grown in: Pittsboro, North Carolina.
Notes:
Fruit quality: My tree bloomed the first time the year we had to leave North Carolina and all the blossoms were killed by a March Spring frost that followed a weirdly warm February that caused the tree to bloom prematurely.
Fruit appearance: Peach. Medium-large, yellow, overspread with dark red blush color. Yellow flesh.
Pit type: Clingstone. Harvest season: Very early.
Bloom season: Very early.
Flower type (affects landscape potential): Showy.
Diseases: Resistant to bacterial spot.
Precocity: Precocious; first fruit set in *** year on ***rootstock.
Productivity: Described as productive.
Growth habit: Vigorous, tall.
Chilling requirement: Low. Listed as "450 hours or less", but people grow this peach where there is almost no chilling, so it probably has a requirement of about 100 hours.
References other than my own experience:
University of Florida Extension.
Dave Wilson Nursery.

Garden Gold
Breeder(s): Floyd Zaiger.
History: . Rootstocks used: Lovell?
Orchards grown in: Apex, NC and Pittsboro, NC.
Notes:
Fruit quality: Bland, dry and tasteless. Extremely poor, close to inedible.
Fruit appearance: Peach. Medium size. Yellow skin with little red. Yellow flesh.
Pit type: Freestone. Harvest season: *** in Apex, NC.
Bloom season: ***.
Flower type (affects landscape potential): Showy.
Diseases: Resistant to bacterial spot.
Precocity: Precocious; first fruit set in *** year on ***rootstock.
Productivity: Very productive. All the dwarf peaches will literally kill themselves by overproducing. They must be thinned aggressively and early to get decent size and to maintain tree health.
Growth habit: All dwdw dwarf peaches, including this one, are dense bushes. My wife calls them "Cousin It peaches". They make beautiful landscape plants in the right setting. Homozygozity for dwdw greatly compacts internode length, so you have a massive number of buds, including flower buds, packed onto a small frame. Moderate vigor for a dwarf. Easily kept at a low height so that all harvesting and other care can be done with your feet on the ground.
Chilling requirement: Low. Below 500 hours.
Bottom line: Not recommended.
References other than my own experience:
Bay Laurel Nursery.

George IV
Breeder(s): Unknown, heirloom peach. Probably a chance seedling that grew up in the garden of a Mr. Gill who lived on Broad Street, New York City sometime around 1821.
History: An old heirloom peach dating back several hundred years. For more information, see entry in The Peaches of New York. Rootstocks used: Citation?
Orchards grown in: Apex, NC.
Notes:
Fruit quality: I got one edible peach from this Typhoid Mary of peaches. It was pleasant tasting with a faint citrus-like flavor.
Fruit appearance: Peach. Small size. Red blush over a yellow skin. White flesh.
Pit type: Semi-freestone. Harvest season: ***. *** in Apex, NC.
Bloom season: ***.
Flower type (affects landscape potential): non-showy.
Diseases: Extremely susceptible to bacterial spot and many other diseases. It is the sickliest peach I ever have grown.
Precocity: Precocious; first fruit set in *** year on ***rootstock.
Productivity: Unproductive.
Growth habit: Not vigorous, though part of that was due to the rootstock chosen.
Chilling requirement: Moderate. 500 hours.
Bottom line: Not recommended. Even more than 100 years ago, when Hedrick wrote The Peaches of New York, he said its time was past and did not recommend it. Please just let it die.
References other than my own experience:
Trees of Antiquity.

Honey Babe
Breeder(s): Floyd Zaiger.
History: Originated from a 'Spring Crest' X [unnamed dwdw peach] made sometime before 1982. Rootstocks used: Lovell?
Orchards grown in: Apex, NC and Pittsboro, NC.
Notes:
Fruit quality: Bland sweet. At its best it is juicy, but it is often dry. That said, it is one of the better dwdw dwarf peaches because it is marginally edible. Poor.
Fruit appearance: Peach. Large size. Yellow skin largely overspread with red. Yellow flesh.
Pit type: Freestone. Harvest season: *** in Apex, NC.
Bloom season: ***.
Flower type (affects landscape potential): Showy. Furthermore, it has some alleles for a shade of pink that is fluorescent, like no other peach I've seen, because some of its selfed offspring develop this color.
Diseases: Resistant to bacterial spot.
Precocity: Precocious; first fruit set in *** year on ***rootstock.
Productivity: Very productive. All the dwarf peaches will literally kill themselves by overproducing. They must be thinned aggressively and early to get decent size and quality and to maintain tree health.
Growth habit: All dwdw dwarf peaches, including this one, are dense bushes. My wife calls them "Cousin It peaches". They make beautiful landscape plants in the right setting. Homozygozity for dwdw greatly compacts internode length, so you have a massive number of buds, including flower buds, packed onto a small frame. Not vigorous. Easily kept at a low height so that all harvesting and other care can be done with your feet on the ground.
Chilling requirement: Low. Below 400 hours.
Bottom line: Not recommended unless you are very, very space limited and are desperate for a peach.
References other than my own experience:
Bay Laurel Nursery.
United States Plant Patent #5276 (where it is incorrectly called 'Honey Bee'.

Indian Blood Cling (also called 'Blood Cling')
Breeder(s): Unknown, heirloom peach.
History: An old heirloom peach dating back several hundred years. For more information, see entry in The Peaches of New York. Rootstocks used: Lovell
Orchards grown in: Apex, NC and Pittsboro, NC along with several selfed seedlings.
Notes:
Fruit quality: This is an unusual peach. It has firm, rubbery flesh and a great deal of tartness. A few people, like me, think they are quite OK for fresh eating, but when we discovered what a fantastic sorbet they make, we stopped doing anything else with them and would just freeze the peeled slices for the purpose of sorbet. The recipe has been published (Callaway. 2004.  Peach Quality Ratings as Determined by True Conno-squirrels.  Pomona. Fall. pp.4-6). Historically, this peach was used to make peach pickles.
Fruit appearance: Peach. Medium-large size. Purple skin. As the name implies, it has beet-red flesh, especially just under the skin and near the pit. There are still large areas of flesh that are white, but it has more red than 'Indian Blood Free'.
Pit type: Clingstone. Harvest season: Late. Early August in Apex, NC.
Bloom season: Late March-Early April in Apex & Pittsboro, NC.
Flower type (affects landscape potential): Showy.
Diseases: Very susceptible to bacterial spot.
Precocity: Precocious; first fruit set in 2nd year on Lovell rootstock.
Productivity: Productive.
Growth habit: Moderate vigor, spreading.
Chilling requirement: Moderate. 800 hours.
Bottom line: Recommended for anyone who either wants to make an exceptional peach ice cream/ sorbet or someone who wants to sell to top-end restaurants for the same purpose. I should also point out that this peach would make a good parent in a breeding program. If one could retain the qualities of this peach and boost its disease resistance, then I would recommend it even more highly. May as well make it a freestone and reduce the needed chill hours while one is at it.
References other than my own experience:
Dave Wilson Nursery.

Indian Blood Free (also called 'Blood Free')
Breeder(s): Unknown, heirloom peach.
History: An old heirloom peach dating back several hundred years. For more information, see entry in The Peaches of New York. Rootstocks used: Lovell? & Citation
Orchards grown in: Apex, NC and Pittsboro, NC along with many selfed seedlings. Castaic, CA.
Notes:
Fruit quality: This is my favorite peach for taste, bar none. It is more tart than most peaches, but perfectly balanced with a sweetness that reminds one vaguely of the best pineapple one has ever eaten. I don't mean to suggest that it tastes like pineapple, it is still distinctly a peach, but it is the closest that I can come to describing these luscious peaches. It has also won the all-time best taste award at Dave Wilson Nursery as well, so I guess other folks like this one, too. Some of the selfed offspring approach the quality of the parent, and none vary far from it, but the original tree is still slightly superior to any of the fruit from seedlings that I've grown.
Fruit appearance: Peach. Medium size. Whitish skin with red streaks throughout. Greenish-white flesh with significant purple, especially just under the skin and near the pit. For this reason, it is referred to as a red-fleshed peach, but it is really mostly white. I've often seen 'White River' fruit with more red in their flesh than this one, but who cares, it is so delicious, one can get your antioxidants from cherries and berries.
Pit type: Freestone. Harvest season: Late. Late August in Apex & Pittsboro, NC.
Bloom season: Late March-Early April in Apex & Pittsboro, NC.
Flower type (affects landscape potential): Showy. The lying media says this cultivar is male sterile, but that is clearly wrong, wrong, wrong. Red flesh is recessive, so at a minimum 3/4 of the offspring of the seeds I've planted would have had non-red flesh, because the 'Blood Free' neighbors had non-red flesh. However, almost all the progeny were very similar to the mother plant, including having red flesh. I wrote a fellow peach enthusiast, Scott Smith, who confirmed that 'Blood Free' is NOT male sterile. The lying fruit catalog media is just trying to discredit the virility of this peach, but its button is bigger AND IT WORKS!
Diseases: Very susceptible to bacterial spot. Said to be resistant to peach leaf curl, but except in very unusual wet and cool Springs, that is a disease that rarely appears in the South. For what it's worth, I've never seen peach leaf curl on an Indian Blood Free or a selfed offspring.
Precocity: Precocious; first fruit set in 3rd year on 'Citation' rootstock.
Productivity: Productive.
Growth habit: Vigorous and spreading.
Chilling requirement: Moderate (700 hours) according to catalogs. Experience in Southern California suggests that it has a much higher chilling requirement than Nectar Babe or Peachy Keen®, which are in the same orchard and show no signs of chilling insufficiency. The Indian Blood Free tree grew spectacularly well its first year, likely because it was grown north of here and was stored in a cooler after digging, so it got sufficient chilling before I planted it. However, after experiencing one Southern California winter, it showed severe insufficient chilling symptoms and will likely have to be removed.
Bottom line: Recommended for the connoisseur who is willing to put in the extra care to fruit this peach.
References other than my own experience:
Edible Landscaping.
Scott Smith. Some samples of his online presence: 1 and 2.

NectarBabe
Breeder(s): Floyd Zaiger.
History: . Rootstocks used: Lovell
Orchards grown in: Apex, NC and Pittsboro, NC; Castaic, CA.
Notes:
Fruit quality: In my opinion, the best-tasting dwarf peach or nectarine I've ever eaten, though still not up to the quality of the average tree peach, so still kind of watery sweet. Juicy.
Fruit appearance: Nectarine. Medium size. Deep purple-red skin. Yellow flesh.
Pit type: Freestone. Harvest season: Early July in Apex & Pittsboro, NC.
Bloom season: Early- late February- mid-March in Pittsboro & Apex.
Flower type (affects landscape potential): Showy. Male sterile, so needs a pollinizer.
Diseases: Resistant to bacterial spot.
Precocity: Precocious; first fruit set in 2nd year on Lovell rootstock.
Productivity: Productive. All the dwarf peaches will literally kill themselves by overproducing. They must be thinned aggressively and early to get decent size and quality and to maintain tree health.
Growth habit: All dwdw dwarf peaches, including this one, are dense bushes. My wife calls them "Cousin It peaches". They make beautiful landscape plants in the right setting. Homozygozity for dwdw greatly compacts internode length, so you have a massive number of buds, including flower buds, packed onto a small frame. Moderate vigor for a dwarf. Easily kept at a low height so that all harvesting and other care can be done with your feet on the ground.
Chilling requirement: Low. Below 400 hours.
Bottom line: Recommended for those who have limited space.
References other than my own experience:
Dave Wilson Nursery.

Peento
Breeder(s): unknown, ancient origin.
History: Heirloom peach used as both a specific and semi-generic description of doughnut-shaped or UFO peaches. This type of peach is highly-prized in its homeland of China, though Chinese horticultural friends of mine have told me that the demand far outstrips the supply because growers don't like the low productivity of the doughnut peaches. This characteristic has been lessened by breeding in some cultivars, such as 'Sweet Bagel'. For more detailed descriptions of its history see the entry in The Peaches of New York and the Bulletins put out by the University of Florida. One interesting note is that, if the heritage of 'Babcock' is correct, then 'Peento' must be heterozygous for the doughnut fruit shape, because 'Babcock' is not doughnut-shaped and doughnut is dominant to roundish. Rootstocks used: Lovell?
Orchards grown in: Apex, NC.
Notes:
Fruit quality: Very sweet and juicy with low acidity, but a subtly unique taste and texture.
Fruit appearance: Peach. Medium size. White with 30% red blush skin. White flesh.
Pit type: Clingstone. Harvest season: Mid-late July in Apex, NC.
Bloom season: ***.
Flower type (affects landscape potential): Showy.
Diseases: Susceptible to bacterial spot. Seems to also be susceptible to other fungal attacks on the trunk and scaffolds than other peaches.
Precocity: Precocious; first fruit set in *** year on ***rootstock.
Productivity: Low productivity, though this can be somewhat mitigated by keeping on top of your spray schedule. Perhaps because of their flat shape, 'Peento' type peaches are a bit more sensitive to various fruit rots, especially in wet summers.
Growth habit: Moderate vigor.
Chilling requirement: Low. xxx hours.
Bottom line: Recommended, though the more recent offspring are superior in both disease resistance and provide richer, more varied flavors.
References other than my own experience:

Peregrine
Breeder(s): .
History: Heirloom peach known for being able to produce sweet fruit even in cloudy climates, like Britain, that have trouble ripening good peaches. "This variety is supposed to be a seedling of the Spencer nectarine, raised by Thomas Rivers and Son, Sawbridgeworth, England, and introduced about 1906." (entry in The Peaches of New York)
Rootstocks used: Lovell?
Orchards grown in: Apex, NC. Selfed seedlings grown in Pittsboro, North Carolina.
Notes:
Fruit quality: Sweet and juicy, but with a hint of bitterness in the skin and near the pit. It is apparent from the segregation pattern of selfed seedlings, that 'Peregrine' is heterozygous for the nectarine trait, thus about 1/4 of its selfed seedlings are nectarines (nectarine is recessive). If the female parent is the 'Spencer' nectarine, as is stated in The Peaches of New York, the pollen parent must have been a peach. Fruit from selfed seedlings retain qualities of the parent to a high degree.
Fruit appearance: Peach. Medium size. White with varying degrees of purple skin. The nectarine offspring tend to have much more purple. Greenish-white flesh.
Pit type: Freestone. Harvest season: ***.
Bloom season: ***.
Flower type (affects landscape potential): Showy.
Diseases: Susceptible to bacterial spot.
Precocity: Precocious; first fruit set in *** year on ***rootstock.
Productivity: Productive.
Growth habit: Moderate vigor.
Chilling requirement: Apparently moderate because I never witnessed insufficient chilling symptoms in the original tree or among the seedlings. xxx hours.
Bottom line: Not recommended. It is a pretty good peach, but the South has plenty of sunshine and lots of bacterial spot. You can grow much better peaches than this.
References other than my own experience:

Red Baron
Breeder(s): .
History: ***.
Rootstocks used: Nemaguard?. Seedlings on their own roots.
Orchards grown in: Apex, NC. Selfed seedlings grown in Pittsboro, North Carolina.
Notes:
Fruit quality: 'Red Baron' peaches are sweet and juicy with a classic peach flavor, but slightly firmer-fleshed than the classic old-fashioned peach. Of the 20 or so selfed seedlings that I grew, none matched the quality of the original tree, though it was somewhat confounded by being on a different site. Nevertheless, many of the seedlings were similar to the parent to some degree.
Fruit appearance: Peach. Medium-large, mostly red on a yellow background. Yellow flesh.
Pit type: Freestone. Harvest season: Mid-late.
Bloom season: ***.
Flower type (affects landscape potential): Very showy, with double blossoms of large red petals.

Diseases: Tolerant of bacterial spot.
Precocity: Precocious; first fruit set in *** year on ***rootstock.
Productivity: Productive.
Growth habit: Very vigorous, tall.
Chilling requirement: Low. 250 hours.
Bottom line: Recommended. Even if you just want a nice landscape tree and are willing to pull the fruit off after blossom-time, you will be rewarded with a spectacular show in the Spring, followed by a beautiful dense small shade tree until late Fall. You will want to either spray (if you want peaches) or pull off all the fruit, if you use it in the landscape. Otherwise, you will have to deal with rotting, dropping fruit from the inevitable curculios and the brown rot they bring.
References other than my own experience:
L.E. Cooke Nursery.
Dave Wilson Nursery.

Reliance
Breeder(s): Dr. Meader, University of New Hampshire.
History: Originated from a '' X '' cross and released in 1964. ("...cross between an extra-hardy Minnesota Peach Tree and a Peach variety from Meredith, New Hampshire"). The purpose was to breed frost and cold-hardy peaches that would produce in New Hampshire.
Rootstocks used: Lovell?
Orchards grown in: Pittsboro, North Carolina.
Notes:
Fruit quality: These peaches are usually sweet and juicy with a classic peach flavor. After eating the first ones from my tree, I wondered why I had read several people's posts deriding this peach. I'm from the Peach State and I know a good peach from a bad one. These peaches were quite OK. Well, a few years later, I got a crop of mediocre peaches from this same tree. It wasn't particularly wet during the ripening period, so I still can't figure out what happened that year. The next year and all subsequent years, the peaches were again quite good... not the best peaches I've ever eaten, but quite good. So there is some variability in the quality year-to-year and maybe from location-to-location. 14° Brix median.
Fruit appearance: Peach. Medium-large, yellow, overspread with dark red blush color. Sometimes with a prominent beak. Yellow flesh.
Pit type: Freestone. Harvest season: Late June- mid-July in Pittsboro.
Bloom season: Mid-late March in Pittsboro, NC.
Flower type (affects landscape potential): non-showy.
Diseases: Tolerant of bacterial spot.
Precocity: Precocious; first fruit set in *** year on ***rootstock.
Productivity: Very productive and, as the name suggests, a reliable bearer. 'Reliance' is particularly good at avoiding and resisting late spring frosts, thus bearing crops in difficult years when most other cultivars are wiped out.
Growth habit: Vigorous, tall.
Chilling requirement: High. 1000 hours. Mine never showed signs of insufficient chilling until the last year I had it (2017).
Bottom line: Not recommended except in more mountainous and northerly parts of the South. I managed to get some crops from my tree, but from the 2017 year, it was clear that my area could not dependably get enough chilling. If you can grow it and are interested in some amateur peach breeding, it would be a good one to include in your parents.
References other than my own experience:
Grandpa's Orchard LLC.
Dave Wilson Nursery.
Bower and Branch

Sweet Bagel
Breeder(s): Dr. Fred Hough.
History: 'Sweet Bagel' is heterozygous for the nectarine trait. I know this because when I made a 'Nectar Babe' X 'Sweet Bagel' cross, some of the offspring were nectarines, which can only happen in the F₁ if the offspring is homozygous for the nectarine allele.
Rootstocks used: Citation
Orchards grown in: Pittsboro, North Carolina.
Notes:
Fruit quality: Flavor is an excellent rich sweet. The flesh is firm, even when completely ripe, but not rubbery like 'Blood Cling' or crunchy like a grocery store peach. You will see it described several places as having "classic peach flavor". While I agree with this, it doesn't have classic peach texture. The texture is nice, but it is more like a clingstone's flesh than a classic soft peach. Median Brix of 17°... Sweet!
Fruit appearance: Doughnut-shaped Peach. Medium-large (159 g median), yellow, overspread with light pinkish color. Some fruits remain almost totally yellow with an occasional red streak on the sunny side.

Tri-Lite
Breeder(s): Zaiger Genetics.
History: Supposedly resulted from a Peach ('O'Henry' X o.p.) X [mixed pollen of three ('Red Beaute' Japanese Plum X peaches)] cross. Someone should do a DNA test on this thing because I think it is 100% peach. Then again, Floyd Zaiger is the Luther Burbank of our time, so if anyone could do this, it would be him.
Rootstocks used: Lovell?
Orchards grown in: Apex, North Carolina.
Notes:
Fruit quality: Flavor is sweet, with a touch of tartness, juicy.
Fruit appearance: Peach. Medium, whitish-pink overspread with red blush; white flesh.
Pit type: Clingstone. Harvest season: ***.
Bloom season: ***.
Flower type (affects landscape potential): Showy.
Diseases: Resistant to bacterial spot. My tree died prematurely, but it was likely due to Armallaria root rot.
Precocity: Precocious; first fruit set in *** year on ***rootstock.
Productivity: Moderately productive.
Growth habit: Vigorous, upright.
Chilling requirement: Low. 200 hours.
Bottom line: Recommended. Tastes good and has no unusual disease or pest problems. I personally prefer freestones, so I didn't plant more, but it was interesting.
References other than my own experience:
Zaiger et al. 1993. USPP #8393.
Dave Wilson Nursery.

White River
Breeder(s): Dr. Fred Hough.
History: Originated as a 'Loring' X NJ 257 cross (For full pedigree, click here) made in 1982. Seeds were sent to the University of Arkansas and this selection was made by James N. Moore in 1986. It was tested as Ark. 376 and then released in 2003. The objective of this Arkansas breeding and selection effort was to develop locally-adapted white-fleshed cultivars. 'White River' was the first release from this program.
Rootstocks used: Lovell?
Orchards grown in: Pittsboro, North Carolina.
Notes:
Fruit quality: Flavor is highly variable from year-to-year. At its best, it is sweet and juicy with low acidity. In other years, it is bland and dry and hardly worth eating.
Fruit appearance: Peach. Large, yellow, 75% covered with deep red blush; white flesh, often with a great deal of red flesh near the pit.
Pit type: Freestone. Harvest season: mid-late July in Pittsboro.
Bloom season: ***.
Flower type (affects landscape potential): Showy.
Diseases: Resistant to bacterial spot. My tree died prematurely, but it was likely due to Armallaria root rot.
Precocity: Moderately precocious; first fruit set in 4th year on ***rootstock.
Productivity: Productive.
Growth habit: Vigorous, naturally low and spreading, making harvest and pruning very easy.
Chilling requirement: Low. 500 hours.
Bottom line: Not recommended. Even though it was pretty disease-resistant, there are lots of other cultivars with similar disease resistance that consistently taste good. Why waste ground on a peach that isn't excellent?
References other than my own experience:
Clark, J.R. and J.N. Moore. 2003. "'White River' peach". Hortscience. 38(6):1257-1259.