Jim: Your best bet is probably Lapins on Gisela 5 or Krymsk 5. Lapins is self fertile. And those two rootstocks are the most dwarfing and earlist to bear. However, if your soil is the least bit droughty, you will need to water once a week in dry spells. Try Raintree nursery. They have sent me very nice sweet cherry trees. The fruitnut

Ace: Don't mean to discourage you here, but the likelihood of getting a cherry tree on any of the new true dwarfing rootstocks at that price is very low. Dwarfs on the Gisela series are usually in the high 20's to low 30's in $. What Miller calls dwarf is probably on Mahaleb or Mazzard rootstock, which means a mature height of around 25 feet or more, absent continuous pruning. Give Miller a call and just check to be sure. If they can't or won't tell you the rootstock, suspicions confirmed. Pruning can be done, of course, but the real problem with trees on these more traditional roostocks is their extreme slowness to bloom and bear. Expect anywhere from 5 to 8 years, maybe more. I have taken out 7-8 sweet cherry trees because they started cankering even before they had borne a single cherry, and they were already quite large. True dwarfs are much more precocious to bear. I have a couple out there on Gisela 5 and 6, planted in spring 2007, that have set a considerable amount of fruit now, and it looks to be holding on. I paid $32.95 each for them from Gurney's, not one of my favorite sources, but they were nice trees, and I may not have 8 years to wait. And I am dormant spraying with copper (Kocide) now, which I expect to delay the bacterial canker. Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

I'll second fruitnut's cherry recommendations; not that I have much personal experience. I remember a Texas A&M prof on a radio show was asked how sweet cherries do in Dallas. He gave them a "D", said the fluctuating temperatures in the winter caused too many problems for sweet cherries. But when has expert's advice ever stopped me? My Lapin planted about 3 years produced a couple dozen cherries last year. I'm hoping my Royal Lee & Minnie Royal, planted last spring, do something this year.

Jagodka very early, very compact det. plant, 2' high, with oval shaped (grape) large red cherries, 1 oz, very good flavor 70-80 days, det., regular leaf, small plant, large grape shaped cherry. Very good tomato taste, more sweet than acidic. A must nibbler