Porter, Oklahoma · Peach country
Porter Peaches: Growing Into a Legend
Porter has grown peaches for more than a century. Ours are just getting started, and we’d love for you to taste the first ones.
A town that grew up on peaches
Porter has been peach country since before Oklahoma was a state. Local tradition holds that Muscogee (Creek) families carried peach pits from their homelands in Alabama and Georgia on the hard road west. In 1890, Ben Marshall, a Muscogee (Creek) farmer, planted the first commercial peach orchard near Porter, on the rich bottomland between the Verdigris and Arkansas rivers. His fruit won national praise at the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis, and Porter peaches were soon shipped east by the railcar.
In 1967 the town held its first Porter Peach Festival, organized with the Porter Lions Club to raise money for a civic center. In 1983 Governor George Nigh proclaimed Porter the official Peach Capital of Oklahoma. Every July the festival still fills downtown, and families like the Livesays keep the orchards going.
Sources: porterpeachfestivals.com, “The Porter Peach Story”; Oklahoma Historical Society Encyclopedia, “Porter.”
Why we planted peaches (knowing we’d wait)
We moved to Porter in 2024. You can’t live here long without catching peach fever. It starts with the July festival, carries on through the roadside signs, and ends with that first peach eaten over the sink. So peaches had to be part of our orchard.
Our peach trees are young and not bearing yet. A peach tree typically gives its first real crop two to four years after planting, if the late frosts cooperate, and in Oklahoma that’s a big if. We’re not pretending to be a commercial orchard. We’re a family planting a few trees in a famous peach town, learning the craft, and writing it all down.
Our trees: 4 peach trees, planted 2024.
Following our peaches, season by season
- Winter: Pruning to an open center, so sunlight can reach every future peach.
- Late winter: Counting chill hours and watching the forecast like a hawk.
- Spring: The first pink bloom, and the yearly gamble against a late freeze.
- Summer: Water, mulch, and watching for borers and brown rot.
- Fall: Leaf drop, a look back, and plans for next year.
We post dated photos from the same spot every month in the Orchard Journal.
When are Porter peaches in season?
Around Porter, peaches generally come in from about June into August, with some varieties running into September. The Porter Peach Festival lands in mid-July, usually the third weekend. If you’re craving peaches before ours are ready, and you will be, visit our neighbors in town. Porter’s established orchards and peach stands are the real thing, and we’re glad to send you their way.
The First Peaches waitlist
Here’s our promise. When our trees give us their first peaches, the people on this list hear about it first. It might be a few baskets the first summer, or one peach per kid. We’ll be honest either way. There’s no cost and no commitment, and we can’t give you a date, because trees keep their own calendar.
We’ll only email you about our first peaches and orchard news, plus the Prairie Post if you check the box. You can unsubscribe anytime.
While you wait
Stop by the stand for eggs. They’re ready now. Meet the rest of the orchard.
