Bare root trees produced in colder climates are generally grafted to a rootstock grown from a small piece for one year into a very small tree and then the top is removed and replaced with a small piece (scion) of the named variety. The scion than grows for one season and trees are dug and sold. Warm climate nurseries often complete this process in a single season. Trees I've seen from Miller are about the smallest available, although larger trees from other nurseries are usually the same age. Stark Bros will generally provide a larger, higher value tree and possibly be more reliably true to label. In other words, you are less likely to get a tree that after you've nurtured it for years to produce fruit ends up being something different than you originally ordered. Stark Bros has a better rep than Millers but there are many other nurseries you can order from that fall into this category. If you search this site for suggested nurseries you will find lots of info.

Honeycrisp will grow in many different states. However, it was bred for the north and colors and flavors best in the north. Minnesota, WI, MI do great with it. The results on growing it in Washington and other warmer west coast sites are quite different. Warm nights cause less sugar levels per one report I read. Also, the skin color is poor in these warmer sites! Some of the Honeycrisp at my local grocery store came from the west coast. They look more like a grapefruit than a red apple. Speaking of wimpy growers, I find that Jonathan is also a very low vigor variety. I would never grow it on real dwarfing rootstocks or you will wait years for it to fill out. Even on M7 it was a wimp. We grew it commercially on M11 for best results. I hear Honeycrisp is also a low vigor variety. I purchased two on M7 last year and hope they work on that rootstock. We had such a drought last summer that I cannot tell. Some of my trees I did from chip budding a few years ago only put out about 6" of new growth last year. I was happy just to keep them all alive during the dry summer we had. Hopefully better growing conditions for 2013.

I guess I've just been inordinately lucky, because I've not had any issue with my Honeycrisp. My experience with it tells me it has some resistance to CAR, is not excessively bothered by insects (moreso than others), fruits heavily, grows rather nicely and in my opinion is without question the best tasting apple I've ever eaten and I've eaten a lot. It does as cckw has said before tend to get a bit ratty looking towards seasons end...small concession for such an awesome apple. They are also prone to biennial bearing and mine has required thinning some years. I tried last year to not thin in an effort to get smaller apples (HC is a big apple for little kids). That didn't work out at all as they seemed to size up as though they had been thinned. The whole top broke out of mine under the weight of the fruit. That was my fault and even though I seen it coming I didn't act quickly enough. Made the tree ugly as all get out, but it just keeps cranking out apples. Madaily: I've always like the idea of memorial trees, they are a great and useful form of remembrance. Not getting them in the ground will be the first and biggest mistake you could possibly make. Get it in the ground, you can worry about pollinators and such later. Chances are somewhat reasonable you'll get some fruit without planting a pollinator anyway, but it IS something you want to do. I'd guess there is most likely something around your neighborhood that will pollinate it at least marginally being in Z3.

Thanks, olpea, you are correct. Here's a link showing the identical strange mottling that my Honeycrisp is exhibiting. So glad this is nothing to worry about. I'm eyeballing a couple of my pears for Fireblight right now. I think I may prune just to be safe. Sometimes here in our area, very mild infections will manifest in what looks like burnt edges on the leaves. So, two of my pears are showing this - time for the pruners. Patty S. Here is a link that might be useful: MSU Extension: Regional Fruit Report