An orchard is an intentional planting of trees or shrubs maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit or nut-producing trees grown for commercial production. Orchards are also sometimes a feature of large gardens, where they serve an aesthetic as well as a productive purpose. A fruit garden is generally synonymous with an orchard, although it is set on a smaller non-commercial scale and may emphasize berry shrubs in preference to fruit trees.

Most temperate-zone orchards are laid out in a regular grid, with a grazed or mown grass or bare soil base that makes maintenance and fruit gathering easy.

Orchards are often concentrated near bodies of water, where climatic extremes are moderated and blossom time is retarded until frost danger is past.

The forest garden is a food production system that is closely related to the orchard. A move towards more ecologically-friendly coffee production has led to forest-garden production of coffee. Brazil Nuts and rubber are being produced in such a method in some areas.

Often, mixed orchards are planted. In Europe quince is sometimes planted along with apples.

Meadow orchard (Streuobstwiese)

Streuobstwiese (pl. Streuobstwiesen) is a German word that stands for a meadow with scattered fruit trees or fruit trees planted in a field. Streuobstwiese, or a meadow orchard, is a traditional landscape in the temperate, maritime climate of continental Western Europe. In the 19th and early 20th century, Streuobstwiesen were a kind of a rural community orchard intended for productive cultivation of stone fruit. In recent years, ecologists have successfully lobbied for state subsidies to valuable habitats, biodiversity, and natural landscapes, which are also used to preserve old meadow orchards. Both conventional and meadow orchards provide a suitable habitat for many animal species that live in cultured landscape. A notable example is the hoopoe that nests in tree hollows of old fruit trees and, in the absence of alternative nesting sites, is threatened in many parts of Europe because of the destruction of old orchards.

Crops

Tropical areas

• Banana
• Cacao
• Coconut
• Coffee
• Durian
• Guava
• Mango
• Papaya
• Rambutan
• Tea

Subtropical areas

• Citrus

• Date Palm
• Lychee

Temperate areas

• Apple
• Apricots
• Bayberry
• Blackberry
• Blueberry
• Cherry