I do many multi-grafts and have not yet had virus problems. The only problem I have had with viruses is that G16 is very sensitive to viruses and I have lost many of those which I did multi-grafts to. Cherries can easily be multi-grafted. I have only done a couple myself but they are fine. The main trick to multi-grafts is to leave enough room so each variety has enough space. If not you will end up with a big mess: lots of disease, and lots of wood being produced with no buds on it. Today I was out pruning and of the 200 or so closely planted (and many multi-grafted) trees I pruned today nearly all were fine but a couple were too crammed and I needed to take major corrective action (bend over a tree to the side, remove a tree, etc). Scott

Hi Konrad - thank's for the reply. I was thinking about having half of the tree be a mix of Pin Cherry and sweet cherry (Rainer, Lapins, Mont., Lapins) limbs. I wonder if the sweet cherry limbs will bare a lot of full-sized fruit. I have a native edible landscaping situation worked out in my yard - so I'd have the side with the sweet cherry limbs face my cultivated garden so that I don't see them when I'm in the middle of the yard (native persimmons, pawpaws, juneberries, the cane berries, plums, etc.) I want to make the Pin Cherry into a 15' wide colony, in a naturalistic effect. Maybe that's too little space and I'll just grow one and cut it down when it gets wider then 15' and replace it with one of it's clone suckers.

We normally graft either to Colt rootstock or Gisela if you can get it, so it seems plausible. John S PDX OR

Sandy, I can uderstand how you came to your idea, but have to reiterate that I think it isn't ideal. Again, I would put a shrub, or several shrubs there in the corner, because a tree is going to grow into/over the sidewalk, blocking it with branches, and gnerally getting in the way. If it's a BIG tree, then it may well also grow long enough branches that it needs to be trimmed away from the side of the garage. A shrub in that location will maybe get wide enough to run up against the sidewalk or possibly the driveway, but the right one won't. With a shrub, you can know beforehand about how wide it will get, but most trees aren't so obliging - there are exceptions, but... If you want an evergreen shrub, do you want a tall one (4-8') or will a couple of shorter ones (2-5') do, or do you want both heights? Either, coupled with an tallish evergreen tree by itself in the middle of the lawn, would give enough visual mass to balance the addition. Me, I think I might go for a mix, maybe a small or medium evergreen to provide winter mass, and something like a butterfly bush to give summer interest. You can keep Buddleias trimmed to the size you want, and in fact, should trim them in summer after a bloom flush to get better reblooming. If you don't want to cut a shrub back hard in the spring, and a couple of times in the summer, then a crepe myrtle could be very nice. Since you can chose cultivars that range in height from 3' to 40', and colors from white, red, purple and pink, you have a wide variety to select from. A rhododendron or a camellia would also give you an evergreen, with flowers in winter/spring, with azaleas at the base for lower fill-in. Selecting for height and color could give a very nice effect with either or both. The camellia can be trimmed, if you really want a formal effect at the corner. For a taller evergreen tree, out in the lawn, I might go with a conifer - NOT a Leyland or something that will get 40-60' - but an interesting one with a good form or maybe a variegated or color selection. I would LOVE to have a weeping Atlas or Alaskan blue cedar growing in my lawn! You could also go with another magnolia, or with a holly - some of them can get pretty tall. There is certainly enough room for a tree in the lawn, unless, of course, you like the expanse of it and don't WANT another tree out there....