If you are planting several trees of a particular species it is a good idea to consider the picking season. By choosing early, mid-season, or late-season you can avoid getting a glut of fruit all at once.
In most areas of the UK you can rely on their being other apple, pear, and plum trees nearby so you don't always have to choose a self-fertile variety.
Different varieties flower at different times during the spring blossom season. For pollination to be successful it helps if you have trees of the same species in the same or adjacent groups.
This only relates to apple and pear trees. The majority are spur bearers, and these are also suitable for training as fans, espaliers, or cordons. Tip bearers are less common, but have the benefit of not really needing any pruning.
The most popular forms for training fruit trees is as a bush with a short-stem - which keeps the tree near to the ground to make picking easier. A half-standard has a longer clear stem and will become a bigger tree.
We use different rootstocks to control the mature height of the tree.
We have a huge range of fruit trees, so if you find there are too many results you can reduce the list by selecting just our recommended varieties.