- Peaches may be clingstone or freestone, melting or non-melting, yellow or white fleshed. If a peach is clingstone, the flesh of the fruit is attached, or clinging, to the pit. The flesh is separated from freestone peach pits, making them easier to remove from the fruit. Melting means that the fruit's flesh softens over time. Melting-flesh peaches are best for eating out of hand or otherwise using soon after the fruit ripens. Non-melting flesh holds its form and texture longer, making this type of peach excellent for canning and cooking. Melting peaches may be clingstone or freestone, but all non-melting peaches are clingstone.
- Hybrid peach varieties offer the homeowner a wide range of choices in fruit size. "Cullinan" features large fruits ready to harvest by August. The freestone "Loring" hybrid produces large fruit up to 3 inches in diameter that ripens in early August. "Sugar May" is a medium-sized peach, about 2.2 inches. This white-fleshed hybrid is ready for harvest in early July. "Bounty" produces very large freestone, yellow-fleshed peaches more than 3 inches in diameter.
- Hybrid peaches ripen from early June until mid-September, depending upon the variety. "Candor," a yellow-fleshed, clingstone peach, ripens in late June. The fruit of "Carolina Bell," a white-fleshed freestone hybrid peach, ripens in the latter part of July. "La Jewel" peaches have dark yellow fruit and are ready to harvest in late August, while the fruit of "Encore" isn't ready to harvest until early September.
- "Contender" is moderately resistant to bacterial spot, while "Biscoe" laughs at the very idea. Both yellow-fleshed peaches ripen around the beginning of August. White-fleshed "Redrose," a freestone peach that ripens around the end of July, is also resistant to bacterial spot. "Redskin" is one of the few peach varieties susceptible to powdery mildew.
- Although they are warm-weather trees, peaches need to spend a certain amount of time basking in the chilly air of winter in order to flower and fruit properly. The required amount of time trees must spend in temperatures below 45 degrees Fahrenheit varies by variety. "Early Grande" requires about 200 chilling hours to produce its fruit in May, while "Tex-Star" needs 450 chilling hours to set fruit at about the same time. "Tropic Snow," a white-fleshed peach that ripens in June, needs 200 hours of chilling time.
While peaches need some chilly weather, most cannot survive in areas where winter temperatures drop below -10 degrees F. In very cold climates, the trees can survive if you grow them in containers and bring them indoors during freezing weather. "Reliance," "China Pearl" and "Intrepid" have exceptional cold tolerance, to -20 degrees F.
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