Summer Delight is a hybrid apricot-plum that delivers the best of both worlds: a smooth-skinned fruit with the vibrant apricot flavor gardeners crave, wrapped in the juiciness of plum genetics. This late-season variety grows to 12-16 feet tall and produces medium-sized, yellow-fleshed freestone fruit in zones 7-10, reaching productive maturity in just 2-3 years. Bred by Zaiger, an orchardist renowned for creating superior hybrids, Summer Delight earned its name by ripening when most apricots have faded from the season, extending your harvest well into summer. The fruit requires less fuzz than a typical apricot, making it smoother and more plum-like to the touch while preserving that distinctive apricot tang.
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7-10
192in H x ?in W
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High
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This hybrid is a reliable bearer that blends apricot DNA (75 percent) with plum genetics (25 percent) to create something genuinely different: juicy, great-flavored fruit on a tree that blooms in mid-season, reducing frost damage in marginal zones. The freestone pit separates cleanly from the flesh, and the reduced fuzz on the skin gives it an almost hybrid appearance that signals its unique pedigree. Available on Citation rootstock as a semi-dwarf, it fits comfortably into home orchards where space matters.
Summer Delight excels as a fresh-eating fruit, its juicy flesh and balanced apricot flavor best enjoyed straight from the tree when the fruit is fully ripe. The freestone pit makes it excellent for dehydrating, producing dense, flavorful dried apricots without the bitterness some apricots can develop. Its texture and sugar content suit it well for freezing, preserving that summer flavor for winter desserts, and the medium size and freestone quality make it ideal for pies and cobblers where a clean, unbruised flesh matters.
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Plant bare-root trees in late winter to early spring (January to March in most of the U.S.), choosing a location with full southern or western exposure. Space at least 12-16 feet from other trees to allow the semi-dwarf to reach its mature width. Dig a hole as deep as the root ball and twice as wide, backfill with native soil amended lightly with compost, and water thoroughly to settle the soil. Avoid planting too deep; the graft union should sit 2-3 inches above ground level.
Harvest Summer Delight when the fruit yields slightly to gentle pressure and the yellow flesh color deepens to a richer gold; unlike some apricots, this variety's reduced fuzz makes color changes easier to see. The late-season ripening means you'll typically harvest in mid-to-late summer (August-September depending on your zone). Pick fruit when fully ripe for the best juiciness and apricot flavor; freestone fruits separate cleanly from the pit when ripe, a reliable indicator that harvest time has arrived.
Prune Summer Delight lightly after harvest to maintain an open center and remove any crossing or inward-growing branches; excessive pruning can reduce the following year's bloom. Because the variety is a reliable, consistent bearer, avoid aggressive dormant-season pruning that might sacrifice fruiting wood. Thin developing fruit in late spring if the tree sets exceptionally heavy crops, leaving fruit 3-4 inches apart to encourage larger, sweeter individual fruit.
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“Summer Delight emerged from the breeding program of Floyd Zaiger, a California orchardist whose hybrid stone fruits revolutionized home fruit growing in the mid-to-late 20th century. Zaiger crossed Prunus armeniaca (apricot) with Prunus salicina (Japanese plum) to create the Aprium class, solving a challenge many gardeners faced: apricots with superior flavor and juiciness alongside plum vigor and disease resistance. By tilting the genetic balance heavily toward apricot (75 percent) rather than plum, Summer Delight delivers genuine apricot character without sacrificing the reliability and juice content plum genetics provide. The late-season bloom timing was a deliberate advantage, allowing the variety to escape frost damage that claims earlier-blooming apricots in cooler zones.”