HI rovabay welcome to your new obsession. Santa Rosa is an excellent choice as a self pollinator. That was my first producing tree and there was no other plum anywhere near. Fruit was not large, and also few in quantity, but that's what happens without cross pollination. Now that she has a mate I have to thin out 90% of the baby plums or I get cherry sized fruit. One caution. I read somewhere that 3 diff strains had been released all with the Santa Rosa name. I've seen pics of other folks plums that look more red than mine. Mine are a very dark skin, very tart, but flesh is yellow and juicy. I can't vouch for other Santa Rosas ability to self pollinate. I love Asian Pears, and many folks are saying most are partly self fertile. I planted 4 diff kinds my first year so I can't agree or disagree with that. In all honesty I'd go Semi Dwarf on all trees and see if you can fit 2 into each spot. Lots easier to care for and more production that way. Pruning a combo tree takes a learning curve, and usually one variety takes over anyway. So if you hadn't planned for other pollination you'd be in trouble down the road anyway. My vote on Asian Pears is Raja if you can get it. I also love Hosui, but that tree takes a lot of work. Most folks love Olympic Giant, but just put mine in so can't comment on taste yet. It would however extend your picking season, plus OG is a great storage pear. I do have 20th century but haven't been wowed by it yet. However it's young, and they say some trees need to grow up before tasting their best. Pam in cinti

Growing most fruit from seed is a crap shoot. Peaches usually come close to the parent, or at least something desireable. Most citrus are polyembryonic, which means the seed has multiple embryos, making it possible that you will get the parent tree, or something close. Plums seem to be in the middle ground. Ive read greengage and other yellow/green plums will grow close to the parent. Japanese plums (especially the hardy ones) are usually crossed with the american plum (prunus americana (or prunus nigra/canadiensis)). They wont come too close to the parent tree. THe only way to ensure you get good "black ice" plums, is to get a tree, or at least get some scion. Ive read its possible to graft apricot to some plums (the asian types may do better, but thats a guess), and I think its possible to graft SOME japanese plums to european. I will say also, that you may not have much luck with peaches in s alberta. Ive lived in calgary. The thaw freeze cycles you get will probably make the trunk explode, or make it so you wont have fruit (the three years i was there, we had snow and frost into June. This means before, during and after flowering. THe best advice I can give if you decide to try peach (hell, I am!) is to make sure the trunk stays in the shade all winter, and that the tree stays cold until the threat of frost goes away. Even then its a slim chance, but who knows! You may have luck with "toka". Most sources state zone 3 or 4. Its a red japanese/american hybrid developed in south dakota, so it should be more able to survive the praries :D

Howdy Scottsmith, I am not sure just exactly what the molecular DNA constructs are for why salicina's do not like to pollinate themselves, but that is usaully the case. They NEED outside pollen. Their are a few salicina/americana hybrids that WILL be good pollinators, I think Toka, Kaga and South Dakota being a few of them. They may avoid disease for you too, if americanas do well in your area at all. I think Superior is considered a weak pollinizer as well, plus the fruits are supposed to be pretty good. Never tasted them myself, as my only graft of it expired after a year. I have noticed that some of the myro/salicina hybrids are self fertile, which means they would also fertilize the finicky salicina thoroughbreds. Compass is another good pollinator, if a bit on the tart side. Prunus besseyi being in its heritage. Never grown that one, but I bet it is tough tough tough. I have some of these if you cannot get them locally. I generally rely on Santa Rosa, tho, as I really like its taste. Wanna do some trading this winter?

All of these are varieties that are typically carried by local area nurseries. They should be fine for the Portland area. FWIW, there are sometimes issues with multi-grafted fruits trees and one or more of the grafts failing. It is a relatively common problem and one you might want to be aware of.