If you can handle apple scab, give Jonamac a look.
Great fresh eating apple for Zone 5.
Probably one of the best apples no one has had.
Sweet, tangy and spicy. Doesnt keep well, ready to pick 1-2 weeks before MacIntosh.

Milehighgirl:

Yes I have tasted PF24C Peach last September at a friend's
orchard. Nice size, firm flesh and fantastic taste. My friend was also happy about the size and flavor of the peach. Very hard to find this variety available. I think
the commercial orchards are buying all the tree growers out
on them.

Store bought Red Delicious taste bad? I second that comment. Does Hawkeye taste better? Many years ago two of the orchards I worked at (in the 1980's) grew and sold
Red Delicious. They grew many different strains. I found
only two of these strains worthy of eating. One was Hawkeye. The orchard I worked at sold them for a premium price. They are not a nice pretty red color but a yellow/red and striped skin. Sweet but nice flavor. I really enjoyed them.

C&O Nursery has PF24C.

Tony

I'm in zone 5, in WI and I put in a McKay peach this spring. I hope to try the fruit next year, and I'll let you know how it does. It seems to be susceptible to bacterial spot, since I've had some trouble with twig cankers and shot-hole leaves. Of course, I didn't treat it with anything this spring. I know next year I'll spray it with copper before it breaks dormancy.

I am only a little further east so I am also on the zone 4 zone 5 edge.
I do not spray so I am ultra cautious about disease resistance.
And I am getting older so I am always looking at nutrient levels too.

I hope your aunt will also consider some grapes (high resveratrol).
Beta, Oberlin Noir, Marquette, Trollhaugen, Louise Swenson, Skujinsh

She is in a dryer part of the country so it may be dry enough for Enterprise.
It is susceptible to mold.
Two varieties that are immune to cedar-apple rust:
Freedom is a good cooking apple and very insect free.
Liberty is a fresh eating apple but attractive to the curculio.

For cherries I have lots of the late bloom varieties so I always get fruit:
Evans and Surefire
But I also have a few of the early bloom varieties for better quality.
I accept that I will lose them regularly to frosts:
Montmorency and Balaton

Hopefully she will consider Red Mulberry (Morus rubra)
It also has resveratrol.

I grow Sea berry (Hippophae rhamnoides) and Rose hips (Rosa spp.)
for vitamin C

If you really want disease resistance you can go for the less domesticated varieties.
They work for jellies, jam, fruit leather, compotes, etc.
Aronia or Black Chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa)
Black current (Ribes nigrum) - Consort
Damson Plum (Prunus domestica insititia) - Merryweather, President
American Wild Plum (Prunus americana) - Monitor, South Dakota
Blackberry (Rubus nigrobaccus) - Triple Crown, Doyle
Honey berry (Lonicera edulis var. Kamtschatica):

Disease resistant apricot varieties ( but also not the best tasting ).
Harglow, Jerseycot, and Hunza

Peaches are rather iffy also, but very disease resistant varieties are:
Red Haven, Reliance, McKay

Here is a link that might be useful: Garden For Nutrition

Milehighgirl:

I was looking into the Balaton Cherry some, and I'm sure you've probably already done the same. Sounds like there are some really positive attributes (taste, size, color, firmness, crack resistance, etc) but I stumbled across a short article in Good Fruit Grower entitled "Boosting yields of Balaton cherries"

There have no doubt been updates since the article first appeared, as it was written in 2006, but the horticulturist for Michigan State University said there have been yield problems with Balaton that they were trying to figure out.

Seems to be related to pollen delivery during a short window, and whether or not it's cool and wet during this time frame. She indicated there is evidence that Balaton does better with pollinators...

Here's an excerpt: She collected yield data from orchards that had Balaton trees planted adjacent to sweet cherries or Montmorency cherries to see if there are benefits to using pollenizers. Balaton orchards have not traditionally been planted with other pollinizers because the variety is self-fertile. The data showed that other cherry cultivars appeared to influence Balaton yields in four of six orchards studied, but more data is needed to confirm the importance of alternative sources of pollen.

She also observed that supplemental hand-applied sweet cherry pollen consistently improved Balaton fruit set in 12 Michigan sites, suggesting that sweet cherry pollen was more efficient at pollinating Balaton.

So anyway, I don't know how to put the short link thing in here that would take you right to it (other than copying and pasting the whole link string - or even if it's acceptable to do) but do a google search for "Boosting yields of balaton cherries" and it'll come right up.

I'm just tossing this out there because I know you'd indicated you were looking for trees that maybe didn't require a companion tree.

Wow, you guys (and gals) have given me a lot to think about.

olpea,
I think Bob Purvis would make a tree of Clayton if he were sent the scion. I would love to try one too.

iowajer,
I really appreciate knowing about Balaton because I had never heard of this problem with fertilization.

GreeneGarden,
My aunts neighbor has a mulberry tree. I had never tasted them until about 5 years ago. When I did I thought to myself, why would anyone mess around with berry bushes when you can get a whole tree full of these delectable treats?

I've heard many good things about Jonalicious apple, but I find no data on disease resistance. Does anyone know how it is affected by CAR and FB? I bought one two years ago on G.11 and it seems to be not very precocious. I don't have issues with either disease here in Denver.

So my list has changed once again:

From Cummins:
Contender Peach
PF24C (if they get any in)
Montmorency on mahaleb
Debbie's Gold Apricot
Opal Plum
HoneySweet Pear
Chieftain Apple G.11/MM.111
Jonalicious G.11/MM.111
Wolf River B.9/B.118

From Trees of Antiquity:
Polly Peach
Jefferson Plum ??

McKay Nursery:
McKay Peach AKA: Wisconsin Balmer

Bay Laurel:
Montrose Apricot

It seems to me that Trees of Antiquity has just upped their prices considerably. I got on yesterday and now most of their apples are $35.00. I thought they were less just a week ago.

My aunt said she has never seen an apricot tree in Iowa and doesn't think they will grow. It seems to me that they should grow fine. She really loves peaches and so I'm hoping I can get some good selections for her. In the past few years we have been swapping canned tomatoes for canned peaches. I have been getting them at the farmer's market and canning them and then she gives me tomatoes, since I can't get any worthwhile tomatoes to grow here in Colorado. So far I have found O'Henry to be the best. My O'Henry is going to set it's first crop this year so I will see if they are better from the Western Slope of Colorado or my own back yard.

By the way, has anyone ever grown the Iowa~Indian White Freestone Heirloom Peach that I linked to above?

Speaking of apricots, franktank in La Crosse, WI has several varieties. I've seen him say that Tomcot was the best for flavor and reliable fruit set. It is apparently self-fruitful enough to have as a single tree.

I just planted a Mormon apricot (aka Chinese), but it's much too early for me to have fruit yet.

You could check out Raintree Nursery, I bought several trees from there this spring and they have a good selection, the shipping is a bit expensive east of the Rocky mountains, but their prices are lower than lots of other places. I was happy with the trees I received.

iowajer- how do you compare your sour cherry varieties for fresh eating? im thinking about getting a tree, montmorency is the only one ive ever had but i was thinking about getting something smaller like northstar

Hi mdo003,

If a smaller tart cherry is what you're after I don't think you'll be disappointed with a Northstar at all. I think the skin is a tad bit thicker than either the Monte or the Early Richmond. And like most tart cherries, if left on the tree to get dead ripe the North Star will of course seem less tart.

I eat quite a few of the Early Richmond out of hand as the tree nears it final harvesting simply because they become sooo juicy, and a ton more sweet - yet still tart too. (Once they become that juicy, it's easier to just eat them than to try processing them...)

One thing too, I noticed my North Star has suffered some cracking at times in the past, when the Early Richmond won't, and they're within 25' of each other.

But the dark red skin, meat & juice of the North Star is really impressive.

I bet you'll be happy with a natural dwarf North Star. Real hardy for the most part too.

Where's a good place to buy Early Richmond or North Star from?

Hi Milehighgirl,

I'm not really making a recommendation on mail order nurseries, only noting that I see Early Richmond can be obtained from Nature Hills, Smith Nursery, Dave Wilson, etc. And North Star from places like Stark Brothers, Henry Fields, Gurney's, etc.

I do think Early Richmond will be harder to locate. But might be worth the search. (Your Aunt is close enough I could get her a bag of frozen ones from the freezer and she could give them a try...)

But anyway, the reason I can't make a recommendation is that I purchased my ER & NS both locally from two different nurseries. (Well, I actually do have a 2nd Early Richmond that I did get in mail-order from The Arbor Day Foundation a couple years ago. I don't want to talk negatively about them as the do good things, but the fruit trees I've got from them a couple years ago were all really, really small. The two peach trees as well as my 2nd Early Richmond. I think now it's a case of you get what you pay for. I just thought I was getting a good deal for the money. In retrospect I'd have been further ahead to have spent more money and had a much bigger tree to stick in the ground to begin with. As much my fault as theirs I guess)

So anyway I'm hoping someone else who has had good success buying mail-order fruit trees will chime in with some good intel.

iowajer,

It's funny that you say that your trees were smaller than expected. I went with my dad to see his sister in June and he took me to see all the places he lived when he was younger. Then he took me past this beautiful old house with the most gorgeous tree in the yard. When he visited his old boss, who used to own the property, he asked what kind of tree it was. My dad's old boss said it was a Cucumber tree. He said it was the only one in the state of Iowa. Anyway, long story short, I found Cucumber trees on Arbor Day for $8.00. I figured they had to be sticks for that price. I brought home some branch tips that had fallen and they were rooting fine, but the heat has been a killer. I don't think they will grow in Colorado, but my goodness how well it grew in Iowa.

(Sorry, so way off topic!)

I usually get all my trees from Cummins or Trees of Antiquity but they don't have the cherries you mention.

Here is a link that might be useful: Cucumbertree Magnolia

I got a Northstar from Cummins this past spring on Krymsk 6. You may want to check with them to see if they just don't have their 2013 inventory fully updated.

Another place to consider is Vaughn Nursery. I got a couple peaches from them this spring. It is mostly a wholesale operation, but they were good to work with over the phone. Both trees were on the small side, but very inexpensive and have grown well. They list Northstar in their short list of cherries. They have a large variety of peaches and other stone fruit.

Here is a link that might be useful: Vaughn Nursery

Cummins has said that their 2013 list is up all except the trees that they buy.

The other place I was thinking about was St. Lawrence nursery, but they don't have any trees listed now on their site and I can't find my old catalog.

Here is a link that might be useful: St. Lawrence Nurseries

I think I'm getting close now. Here's my updated list:

From Cummins:
Contender Peach Krymsk 1
Castleton Plum Krymsk 1
Honeysweet Pear OHxF 87
Alkmene Apple G.11/MM.111
Chieftain Apple G.11/MM.111
Jonalicious Apple G.11/MM.111
Wolf River Apple B.9/B.118

Bay Laurel:
Montrose Apricot Myrobalan 29C
Tomcot Apricot Myrobalan 29C
Polly Peach Lovell
Ranger Peach Lovell
Early Richmond Cherry Mazzard

Cummins lists Contender at +20 days from Redhaven. Does anyone know when Polly or Ranger ripens?

MG,

Have you consider Indian Free peach. this forum really like it.

Tony

"Does anyone know when Polly or Ranger ripens?"

Milehigh,

Looks like Womack lists Ranger as about -12 Redhaven. It seems to be a popular peach in TX. I believe it's on the recommended list for TX A&M.

As a side note, I wonder how peaches perform on Krymsk 1. I ordered a Harrow Diamond from Cummins available only on Krymsk 1. I don't have any experience with this rootstock. I've only read it suckers and produces somewhat larger fruit. I'd rather just have the peach on a plain old peach rootstock (Lovell, Halford, Bailey). I know they perform well here with no issues.

olpea,

"I'd rather just have the peach on a plain old peach rootstock (Lovell, Halford, Bailey)"

You make a good point. I'm going to have to think on this a while. I found this information about Krymsk 1 on treeconnect.com:

* Reduces tree size 40-50%.
* Compatible with peach, nectarine & most European plums and apricots.
* Precocious w/good yield efficiency.
* Tolerates cold climates, wet and heavy soil conditions.
* Not tolerant to dry soil conditions, performs better with irrigation.
* Propagates easily with soft and hardwood cuttings.

tonytran,

"Have you consider Indian Free peach?"

I actually hadn't but now that I look at it it seems like a good choice, especially if it is peach leaf curl resistant.

I think Cummins will permanently ban me from ordering if I change my order one more time. I did already ask them to reserve a Contender for me.

Just my $0.02...we live south of Omaha and have a few fruit trees in our suburban backyard. All were purchased from Adams County Nursery in PA.

Peach: Garnet Beauty (planted 2007)
Nectarine: Redgold (planted 2007)
Apple: Enterprise (don't remember what rootstock - planted 2010).

All have done quite well for us thus far. YMMV, of course.

Jason

Milehigh, I am disappointed, no Virginiana or Pawpaw on your final list. These are usually disease and bug free.

Milehigh, I hope your aunt is in good health to take care this many trees and with good appetite to consume all the fruits all this many trees bear.

snidelywhiplash,

That's good to know. Do you have the harsh winds coming through all the time? Her property is not really protected from winds or other houses so I was thinking the hardier the better, especially for peaches.

bennyl,

"I am disappointed, no Virginiana or Pawpaw on your final list."

I had considered pawpaw but I was afraid they might take too much care in the beginning. I'm probably doing well to get these for her as far as space goes. I just read a post by treebird, I think, that said they find them wild in Iowa. I'd love to plant pawpaws but that will have to wait for a year or two.

olympia_gardener,

"I hope your aunt is in good health to take care this many trees..."

She is actually really excited, and she's only 8 years older than I am. Plus now I will have a really good excuse to visit!

Now y'all got me thinking about pawpaws. I'm wondering how I should choose a site for them if they need to be understory trees. My aunt does not have any mature trees except a seedling apple that I was thinking to either remove or graft to, it's about 25 years old. The winds are fierce there so I don't think using a shade canopy would work. I don't mind planting them under the apple for shade, but how would I cut the tree down eventually?

The only other thing I could think of was to purchase them and keep them in pots for a few years and then when they are bigger to take them to Iowa and plant them.

My potted pawpaws are still very fragile and I've had them for 4 years here in Colorado. Is the weather in Iowa more conducive to planting w/out shade?

Basically I am thinking about the new ones Cliff is selling; Halvin and Summer Delight.

Any suggestions?

Milehigh

Pawpaw does not need to be an understory tree, they produce much better in full sun. Many people say they need shade when they are young, but I don't shade mine and am pleased with the results. I sprout seeds in my sunny vegetable garden, and there are no problems. But if I paid for a tree, I think I would shade it.
I have tasted Summer Delight, and I thought it was very good for such an early fruit. Have not tasted Halvin,but if I chose Summer Delight, I would get another that was later in the season to spread the out the harvest.

I'm starting to plan my trip and I'd like to know when a good time to plant trees in Iowa is. I believe the nurseries will be sending the trees in March. I'm planning on having the trees shipped to me and taking them to Iowa so I have to coordinate the shipments. March seems quite early for zone 5 planting.

Also, I need to purchase the tree planting amenities such as posts and protectors. Is there a place that can be recommended in Omaha/ C.B. area? Should I just plan on taking these things with me from Denver?

What I decided on:
Alkmene Apple G.11/MM.11
Chieftain Apple G.11/MM.111
Jonalicious Apple G.11/MM.111
Wolf River Apple B.9/B.118
Honeysweet Pear OHxF 87
Castleton Plum Krymsk 1
Contender Peach Krymsk 1
Polly Peach Lovell
Ranger Peach Lovell
Indian Free Peach
Early Richmond Cherry Mazzard
Montrose Apricot Myrobalan
Tomcot Apricot Myrobalan

I'm thinking of adding PF24-C to the order from Cummins. I noticed that they have them in stock now.

If this goes well I will consider adding other things such as berries. I don't want to get involved with trellises or patches that spread. What kind of berry will work well there? Of course blueberries would be wonderful but I don't know if the soil needs to be acidified, and if so I will pass. Maybe currants or saskatoons?

MG,
In Council Bluffs, IA just of I-80, there are Menards, Home Depot, and Lowes.

Tony

Will blueberries grow well in Iowa?

Blue berries do not grow good here in Iowa. I live in the southwest corner of Iowa and have tried for many years and have have tried many methods. Blueberries are very picky! I found it to be hopeless. I'm trying saskatoons this year. Last year I had no luck with them either but I think it might have been the combination of drought and very tiny plants only 8 inches tall that I got from Raintree Nursery. I ordered from Rolling River this year, shipping is higher coming from California to Iowa but their plants are great quality and very sizable. Sea Buckthorns, Autumn Olives and Goumis do great in Iowa and even grow great during drought periods. Hope this helps. I would avoid blueberries.

I'm leaving this week to plant the orchard. I have plans to plant the peaches to the north of the house. I was thinking I would plant the apples to the east of the shed. There is one large apple tree to the south of the shed that is probably Antonovka rootstock that regrew; I plan to prune it extensively. Besides that I am at a loss as to where to plant the rest.

They have a friend come and mow the lawn on a riding lawn mower and he has mown down quite a few small trees that my dad had planted. I need to group the trees in such a manner that I can make it easy to mow around them. IOW it would be better to have them in close proximity to each other.

Also, there is a clothes line to the south of the house that she want to keep, so I don't think I can plant anything to the south of the house.

I plan to take t-posts as supports and protection. Will I need to spray them once they are planted? She says there are not many rabbits but I think I should put hardware cloth around the base of the trees anyway.

I don't see that they are in the vicinity of any cicada outbreaks, but should I err on the side of caution?

Should I take fertilizer?

Here's a list of the trees. I also have a Goldcot apricot and a Moonglow pear, each are still potted and about 3 years old. They are quite large now so I'm not sure we will have room for them, would they be good additions?

Alkmene Apple G.11/MM.11
Chieftain Apple G.11/MM.111
Jonalicious Apple G.11/MM.111
Wolf River Apple B.9/B.118
Honeysweet Pear OHxF 87
Castleton Plum Krymsk 1
Contender Peach Krymsk 1
Polly Peach Lovell
Ranger Peach Lovell
Indian Free Peach
Early Richmond Cherry Mazzard
Montrose Apricot Myrobalan
Tomcot Apricot Myrobalan

I worried I'm going to forget some crucial element. I feel like I'm packing a bag for the hospital:)

Would it be really terrible to unpot the trees and take them bare root for the drive? We are short on space.

i'm running into issues I didn't expect: Deer and rabbits. I need a solution that's inexpensive to keep out deer, rabbits, and riding lawnmowers. I had planned to put down landscape fabric and then mulch but apparently they have issues with termites so wood mulch won't work.

Will remesh be tall enough to keep away deer? This could really break the bank.

I'm open to any suggestions; the cheaper the better.

I think if the tree's roots were wrapped in something like wet newspaper(shredded?) and then plastic,they'd be okay. Brady

I think you will have to buy fence posts and cage style wire and make little pens around each tree. Electric fence doesn't do much in the big picture.

I use 5' wide concrete reinforcing mesh (roughly 6" square). Home Depot and most building stores carry it in rolls. It seems to be the least expensive material, as it is self supporting. Just cut it to length and fasten it into a circle; place around your tree and secure it in place with edging staples. It will rust, but that tends to hide the wire IMO.

It has worked well for me in keeping deer off the trees. You will need to increase the wire circle as the tree grows, otherwise the deer will eventually be able to reach the branches.

We had thew same problem with deer and rabbits until we got our Great Pyrenees dogs. They will run off anything that isn't supposed to be there. we now have 4 and they are as sweet and loving as a Golden Retriever but as viscous as a Rottweiler towards unwanted critters. We should have pups this summer. They are great poultry protectors as well.

Well I can report that the mission was accomplished!

I decided to un-pot the trees and put them all in one pot for easier transport. This allowed me to get a really good view of the new root growth that had taken place while potted. I found that the Cummins trees had the most new roots, followed by the Dave Wilson trees. The L.E. Cooke trees showed no new root growth.

We decided to put down heavy-duty landscape fabric and then an old tire surrounded by 48â 2â x 4â welded wire fence that we supported with 2 U-posts. Each tree was painted and supported by tree ties. Hopefully this set-up will keep the rabbits, deer, and riding lawn mowers at bay. We will remove the tires in a couple of years and will probably have to add to the diameter of the fencing to keep the deer at bay also.

I had forgotten how difficult it is to work in constant wind. I guess the wind blows from the South all summer and from the North all winter. My father and I and two of my sons were able to get the job done in two days once we had purchased the supplies we needed.

I left a backpack sprayer for my aunt to use but did not leave any spray. I would like advice about spraying first-year trees.

Castleton Plum Krymsk 1
Alkmene Apple G.11/MM.11
Jonalicious Apple G.11/MM.111
Chieftain Apple G.11/MM.111
Wolf River Apple B.9/B.118
Honeysweet Pear OHxF 87

This post was edited by milehighgirl on Wed, May 22, 13 at 1:57

Contender Peach Krymsk 1
Polly Peach Lovell
Ranger Peach Lovell
Indian Free Peach Citation
Montrose Apricot Myrobalan
Tomcot Apricot Myrobalan

Early Richmond Cherry Mazzard

Mg,

Well done!!!!

Tony

Impressive planting Milehigh!

I wouldn't bother with them spraying this year, unless they see a problem.

Well that looks like a lot of well thought out work there. Great job!!!

I do pretty much the same deal, welded wire and T-posts. I take it all off after a few years and still, this past year I had bucks rubbing their antlers on my fully mature Haralson (planted in '94) as well as my State Fair (planted in '97).

But we have corn fields surrounded by timber and my apples are not even close to the house so...

I hope your Aunt realizes how lucky she is to have you doing all the research and plant selection, not to mention getting them in the ground.

Very nice!

Looks about how I set up my first 40 fruit trees, except for the tire. I used the 60 and 72 inch welded wire, and I went alot wider with my circle cage. The 48 in was not enough in my opinion. The trees grew tall and wide enough the first year that the deer picked everything off that poked out of the cage.

I took a small chunk of chicken wire and lightly wrapped it around each truck about 18 in high. Not wired on, just formed around it. Then I have been able to adjust for growth just by pulling on it alittle.

Eventually I had to give up on the wire cages and I just enclosed that whole orchard with 6ft welded wire, and 4 ft of barbed wire on top of that. With 2 ft of chicken wire around the bottom. THAT was expensive, but worth it! Even the does deer could do a flat footed jump and clear the 6 ft fence without touching it. I actually saw bucks clear the 8ft before I added the top 2 strands of barbwire.

Getting ready to fence in my whole new orchard (4acres) down by the state line. Figure I will go professional this time and get the 8ft deer fence, although I am intrigued by the thought of maybe a 4-6ft fence with the great pyrennees???

We decided to go with a tire because the guy that cuts the lawn has run over many trees that my dad planted. He did not put protection on them so hopefully the mower guy will get the idea that he can't run these things over.

I had a harder time than I thought finding the supplies. One guy at Menard's didn't even know what tree wrap was. I thought I'd have better luck at Home Depot and I purchased remesh panels but then they wouldn't fit in my van. We ended up at Bomgaar's and found the welded wire. Neither Home Depot nor Menard's had welded wire in decent gage.

Hindsight is 20/20. I just feel really relieved to have the trees in the ground. I don't have much hope for the Indian Free peach, but I put it in the ground anyway.

I think my aunt is a little overwhelmed, but I know how she loves fruit and I think she will enjoy watching the trees grow. Fortunately this first year there won't be too much to do. I only wish I had done this for my grandmother when she was alive. She used to scrounge from abandoned fruit trees in the area. The one apple tree I gave her when I was in my teens did thrive. We are working to rejuvenate it and bring it down.

My biggest regret has been coming home and trying to dig in my Colorado clay filled with river rock. What I wouldn't give for some of the good soil she has. But alas, the humidity is much lower here and that means a lot fewer pests and diseases.

Well it seems that the mature apple tree on the property is a Wolf River, and they don't need two Wolf Rivers, so I was thinking of replacing it with another pear.

The pear I planted is a Honeysweet, which is supposed to be self-fertile. I was thinking of getting a Magness, which is pollen-sterile. Will these two be okay together?

Milehighgirl my northstar cherry took a long time to produce and is not a heavy cropper in comparison to my carmine jewel cherries. The taste of northstar is slightly tarter. The carmine jewel produce some cherries the 3rd year whereas northstar was 6th year for the first 2 cherries. I do like my northstar which is a natural dwarf at 10'. The cherries of carmine Jewell are slightly larger. I have had no problems with disease on either.

Great job on the orchard Milehighgirl I had never saw this post until now. In regards to pear pollination I found the following article http://forum.orangepippin.com/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=1562
As you are aware honeysweet is self pollinating but produces larger crops with another pollinator.

Glad this thread came back up. How are the trees you planted? Did you avoid deer and rabbit damage? Having another pear would be great, but if this tree is doing well you could graft it over into another variety, there are a few of us here that could find you some scions. Perhaps still squeeze another pear in somewhere.

I have pictures from this spring but I haven't gotten around to posting them yet.

My aunt got several peaches and an apricot this year. The birds got to the cherries before she could.

I decided to get Harrow Sweet pear to replace the Wolf River apple. I forgot about the pollination problems and lack of precocity with Magness.

She has been so happy with her trees. It was a lot of work to get them and put them in but I think they will be much appreciated. I only wish I had thought to do it a few decades ago when my grandmother was living. She would have really loved them.

I am sad to think that my 90-year-old grandma had to drive her car out to the tree we now know is Wolf River, which is only about 100 yards, to pick the apples off the ground. She was leaning out of the car and must have hit the gas and the car took off down the hill and she fell out. The fall ruptured a hernia she had not taken care of and she died after surgery to repair it. She loved her gardening and her fruit so much. I wish I had planted her a whole orchard a long time ago. (I did buy her the mature Wolf River when I was in my teens, however)

What a tragic accident for your grandmother. Had to to be rough on you and the rest of the family. However 90 years old, still driving at least to some degree, still going after apples, living at home... I think I would take that deal for myself.