Scott's PDF file is really helpful reading. I live in the same general area, outside Washington DC, and will add a few comments. Nanking cherries: you need two trees, they are tasty but small -- pea size. They ripen early and seem to avoid pest problems. Sour cherry was not mentioned. I think the natural dwarf North Star is an excellent choice. I have had few problems with it. You will need to net it against birds, but it is such a small tree this is easy to do. Squirrels will strip pear trees -- it happens to me every year. I have also had codling moth on my pears. This can be avoided by bagging, but that requires more work. I agree that Asian pears are easy to grow and start producing early. I have not had any major fireblight issues. Squirrels will also strip fig trees, if the birds have not ruined your crop first. Persimmons are a big yes. But the earlier ripening ones, which means the non-astringent ones, do get hit hard by the marmorated stink bug (as does pretty much everything else that ripens, say, before late September). Late ripening astringent ones like Saijo are the way to go. I have had no insect or animal damage on these. Scott does not mention berries. Blackberries are easy to grow though may need to be trellised. They are attractive to birds though. Blackcurrants are easy to grow and do not appeal to birds or squirrels, or that matter, humans either when fresh, but they are superb as jelly and in various culinary applications. Elderberries are easy to grow, but again are not for fresh eating. Birds love them. Cornelian cherry are very slow growing. Russian pomegranates are now being sold by Isons, the muscadine nursery. I received very nice plants for very reasonable prices this year. They may be sold out now.

I can't really add much to the "taste" discussion, but I'll do what I can. In Rochester, NY, where my daughters live, many yards have "volunteer" mulberries growing somewhere. One of my daughters is a homeowner, and we discovered several while cleaning up her yard for the first time since she bought the place. I'm guessing they were white mulberries. It is quite confusing because white mulberries can be white, red or black depending on cultivar. Red mulberries can be red or black, but black mulberries are only dark. These volunteers in my daughter's yard were bearing black fruit that I would describe as bland or insipid. Others have described white mulberries as "insipid," so I'm guessing that's what these were. I started some rubus nigra, or black mulberry a couple years ago from seed I purchased over the internet. If memory serves, I think they came from www.seedman.com. They germinated very easily compared with some other seeds I purchased at the same time. I kept one that I planted in my yard. I asked the seller if they would survive in my zone (5). He wouldn't guarantee it, but thought they would. So far so good, though the leaves are definitely frost tender. We had a couple late frosts this year, and twice young leaves wilted and died from the frost before it was finally able to send out leaves that didn't get nipped. It didn't seem to hurt it much though, as it has grown at least a couple feet taller this summer. Too soon for fruit, but I'm looking forward to tasting it as the black mulberry is said to be the best tasting by many.

Greenmantle nursery has several red fleshed crabapples, called the Sweetmeat crab hybrids. The website is a delight to read, with interesting information on EtterÂs hybridization of apple trees. I asked the owner to recommend a red fleshed apple that was the sweetest (some can be very sour). He suggested the Rubaiyat as being one of the best reds, and the Muscat de Venus as being one of the best crabapples, although it doesnÂt have red flesh. They were only available as bench grafts. He doesnÂt wrap his scions of the graft in parafilm tape, so they die more easily than other nurseries. IÂm on my third Rubaiyat, with no buds yet, trying to get one to live. The Muscat de Venus has leafed out, and looks like itÂs going to make it. Kuffelcreek Nursery offers the Etter 16-32 Crab as a bench graft, as well as several other crabapples, but are sold out for 2008. All the bench grafts IÂve ordered from there live, and grow big the first year. The Dorset Golden I bought from there is fruiting its second year from a benchgraft. Trees of Antiquity offers two red fleshed crabapples, which sound like the sour kind ("makes good pickles"). TheyÂre sold out also.

Reviving this awesome apple thread. I was reading through what I posted and I am amused by how quickly things change. at least half of the apples I listed have fallen off my own list. I've grafted over most of my spigold because it's really not that good after all. Mutsu is also somewhat uninteresting these days. Here is my new list of favorites: - coconut crunch is extraordinary in our climate and keeps really well - sinta, fruited for the first time last Fall, delicious strong pineapple flavor - Fiesta, really good for a Summer apple - Williams pride, my tastiest Summet apple after Viking - Orin, great storage apple that still has that tropical pineapple flavor in March - alkmene, yummy summer August apple that tastes lime a cox but even better - kidds orange red, superb in the Fall - Haralson, fruits well here in California and its good - transparente de cronkels, delicious and high quality I still love gravenstein, hauer pippin and granny smith off my old list. I am curious what will stand out this year, as it surely won't be the same as last year. -