I haven't been impressed with Flavor Queen compared to some other pluots. I am growing in a greenhouse in TX so YMMV. My evaluations are in writeup linked below.

Here is a link that might be useful: greenhouse fruit production in west Texas

I'm still waiting for my Nectaplum to fruit,but I've tried Flavor King and Flavor Grenade Pluots and I recommend both.Also Flavor Supreme.
There are so many.Fruitnut likes the Honey series Nectarines.
It also depends on your tastes. Brady

Here's what I would do:

I would plant a 'Double Delight' nectarine which looks stunning in bloom, and should ripen shortly before 'Spice Zee' and possibly overlap a bit. And I would plant a 'Flavor King' pluot, and add a 'Burgundy' plum for better pollination. Burgundy will overlap SZ, but hold really well, and FK should start ripening shortly after 'Spice Zee'. By bookending your SZ with the above selections, you will have a pretty steady harvest of outstanding fresh fruit through Summer.

The link below will give you relative ripening windows, but not precise timings, for most of what DWN carries.

Here is a link that might be useful: Fruit and Nut Harvest Chart

Thanks for all the awesome advice. My spice zee didn't have many blooms this year, although it's already 2 person tall? Not sure how long this tree takes to reach its max potential.

I tried to find flavor king but i think most nurseries get flavor queen instead because they said flavor king doesn't do as well? odd.

@mrclint does the double delight nectarine taste a lot better than the typical nectarine?

cyh527, the typical nectarine is pretty dang good in my book! That said, DD is much better than average and is a taste test winner at DWN. Regrettably, I had to remove mine as the location was less than optimal. I need to check on its patent status and perhaps graft it onto 'Goldmine.'

Just a bit of a warning...Dave Wilson sells some great trees. However, several of his "low chill" varieties are NOT really low chill for SoCal (under 350 hrs or so). Many of us have learned the hard way. Consider this...and "talk" to people who have first hand experience.

fireduck, curious which DWN low-chill varieties did not turn out to be so for you?

Serious? I am in socal too so I would like recommendations that are really low chill.

Where do you guys buy your DWN varieties? I can't find them at most places.

Try these charts:
* Tom's Picks - Winners for the Low-Chill Southwest
* L.E. Cooke: SUGGESTED VARIETIES - FRUIT TREES

Check for a local retail nursery. I'm in the San Fernando Valley and get DWN trees from Green Arrow, Green Thumb, Armstrong or Sperling Nursery. All locations have pro nurserymen on site to answer any questions. Best to shop for bare root trees in early January.

I found a non-big box nursery and they sell them (15 gals at 89.99 and up) Are armstrong or green thumb nurseries cheaper?

Hard to say for sure. All bets are off regarding price outside of bare root season. You may need to call around or price shop in-store.

Over the years I have axed several so-called low chill trees...and found out many other people have done the same thing with theirs. I would not criticize a variety just because there was an exceptionally warm winter or two...that would not be fair. Pettingill Apple, Autumn Royal Apricot, and Katy Apricot were the worst and most widely unacceptable producers by me and many other growers. There are some that the jury is still out on, too. I feel a grower needs to give fruit trees a fair shake to produce before condemning them. Obviously, the tree that requires spurs to form fruit (like apple, pear, plum, etc) need a couple of additional years to judge. Keep in mind...people that have just 100 more hours of chill than you may have different results. My area averages around 350 hours.

Yeah, nurseries sell these "low-chill" varieties that just do not work with my climate. How can you tell if a "low-chill" tree will work with your climate? They always list the chill hours at a range.

fireduck, I would view those sort of things as your mileage may vary, but certainly worth noting. I wasn't able to find Autumn Royal listed on the DWN site.

Nurseries sell trees that don't work all over the country. So low chill areas aren't being picked on. Further in Socal there are numerous microclimates. What works in one spot might not a half mile away.

I discard about 3/4 of the varieties I try and only really like even less than that. It's part of the cost of doing business unless you're really easy to please.

cyh....the list of good ones is pretty long, but I will give you some of my favorites that consistently produce great fruit in SoCal. I have grown these for many years. Plum: Santa Rosa and Satsuma (need pollinizer). Peach: Eva's Pride, August Pride, May Pride (early). Apple: Anna. Other people will pipe in and give their views...and that advice might be good. There are just so many that are marginal producers...and many variables. If you are young and have space/time...trying growing some of the new stuff like pluots or apriums. They might be fun. I am now concentrating mainly on my 20 avocado trees (16 varieties), and my container veges.

Avocado trees don't do well here, they start blackening on the top or on some branches? Not sure why. I water them plenty?

Hi All! I recently acquired a spice zee, beauty plum, dapple dandy. I already have burgundy, santa rosa, green gage, and maribelle. Can't seem to find a flavor queen anywhere.

Anyone familiar with the minnie royal or the royal lee cherries? are they even worth growing other than the taritan cherry?

Any suggestions for heavy producers?

I have a Minnie Royal/ Royal Lee pair in a raised bed that went in earlier this year. Fingers crossed. There is actually a commercial variety of low chill cherries that I would LOVE to get my hands on but they sell only to commercial growers. They are known as the "little darlings," Royal Edie and Royal Helen. They fruit later than Minnie/Lee. I have not tasted any of these myself.

I'm hoping to have five or six raised beds with 4 in 1 hole. I'm still collecting the trees, but by January should have everything.

4 "Royal" low chill cherries (Minnie/Lee, Edie/Helen)

4 Interspecifics, most likely:
Flavor King Pluot
Flavor Grenade Pluot
Emerald Drop Plu-ot
Bella Gold Pea-cot-um

A single Weeping Santa Rosa

4 Plums and friends:
Sweet Treat Plu-erry
Burgandy, Mariposa & Catalina Plum

4 Nectarines and friends:
Spice Zee Necta-plum
Snow Queen, Panamint, and Double Delight Nectarines

4 Peaches
Considering Sugar Giant, OHenry Mid Pride Eva's Pride
(Any input here?)

Maybe a avacado hole...
Maybe an apricot /aprium hole...

I tried Royal Edie and Royal Helen. Both have large fruit but didn't taste good here, a sulfurous taste. Also I'm thinking they aren't low chill. They are other cherries that are low chill but I haven't tried any.

Have tried Sweet Treat and Bella Gold. Neither were worth growing but at least Sweet Treat is very low chilling according to reports I've heard.

Darn Fruitnut. That is disappointing. I bought some pluerries this week at farmers market. I liked them but I can never be sure its the same thing.

I had taken Bella gold off my list but bought one today as an impulse buy at Armstrong. It was on sale. I may regret that.

Hopefully you'll have better luck with my rejects. I'm awfully picky.

You should add an Arctic Star nectarine. It's the best fruit I grow that I'm sure is really low chill. It's better than Snow Queen and slightly earlier. But Snow Queen was very good this yr at 26 brix.

Spice zee nectaum is the #1 fruit in Dave Wilson's taste tests. Flavor King pluot is the second, but you'll need Sabra Rosa or Burgundy as a pollinator.