Hi Kubotabx2200, Thank so much for your suggestion. I have been debating a lot between NorthStar and Montmorency. Its not an easy decision for me. I love the look of dark red cherries. And they say NorthStar bears heavily too. And it stays a small tree. But since I already have two red cherries, my husband is pushing to get the dwarf Montmorency. Besides, my neighbor has a standard Montmorency (I am certain its a Montmorency, he does not know) and the birds and squirrels don't eat the fruit and they are tasty when cooked. Can you describe the flavor of NorthStar to me if you a little time? Yeshwant, I got my Surefire from Raintree and I planted it in 2004. It is a small tree no doubt. Now its just about 6 feet or so and upright. Last year it had flowers but set only a few fruit that fell off. This year it had many clusters of flowers and all of them have turned to baby fruit. I have big hopes for this tree(!) I don't have a picture of the tree in bloom but I could still take a picture now. But for the life of me I can't figure out how to post a picture into a message? So the answer is I think you will have to wait 2-3 years for good fruit on the Gisella 5 rootstock that Raintree sold it on. I live around Riverdale. Some parts of my yard does seem like 7a but some parts are definitely colder. The trouble with Starkbros is not that they sell you poor trees but that they don't tell you what the rootstock is so I don't have some important information. But I still did get some trees from Starkbros in the past and I ordered dwarfs only. However some of my trees turned out not to be dwarfs, they are huge. So I find them hit-or-miss. I think your Suerfire will grow quite a bit more, specially this year but it won't be a big tree. If I figure out how post pictures I will share. Katyajini

bookjunky, you can keep any fruit tree, standard, semi-dwarf, dwarf whatever size you want by pruning. Even citrus trees. If you go to Dave Wilson Nursery's web site, you can see how to prune trees to keep them "pickable". DWN also has some great You Tube videos on how to do this: Dave Wilson Nursery You Tube Channel Although spring is probably preferable in your area, I have planted trees and shrubs in the fall when I lived in N. Indiana. As long as you make sure you take very good care of them and help them establish their roots, and with a little mulching, they should make it through the winter. I would talk with your local orchard or farm supply, or your highest quality garden center about how to plant fruit trees in the fall correctly. You can also check your local county extension office, land grant college (U of Ill for you) & Master Gardeners for how to properly plant and care for fruit trees in the fall. I've included a link for you from the U. of Ill Coop Extension about growing fruit trees in Illinois. Think they have a pretty good web site. If you need more info, check out Purdue Coop Extension's web site, as I know it is full of good info, as I because a MG in Indiana. Patty S. Here is a link that might be useful: U of Illinois Extension: Small Fruit Crops for the Backyard

Carl, I share your interest in cidermaking at home. I have already done literally hundreds of hours of research on the web regarding good English cider apple varieties, and what it all has come down to for me is really just a small handful of options. If you are like me, I think what you'll really want is a bittersharp apple. I mean, with the Red Delicious and Golden Russet, you have three trees already with very sweet apples, which will provide all the sweetness you need for your cider. So I think what you'll want is a bittersharp, which can be made into excellent cider on its own, or blended with your sweeter apple cider for a sweeter, higher alcohol result. The most reknowned English cider apple is a bittersharp variety called Kingston Black. It is available from U.S. nurseries such as Maple Valley. So you might want to start there. I've never tasted it, but it is regarded as the very best for cider, although you wouldn't want to eat it fresh or in pies. Unfortunately, this one supposedly makes for a small, sickly sort of tree and is not a strong producer. But, they say it's the best if you can get it to grow. My grafts of it all died, unfortunately. Another good English bittersharp is Foxwhelp. This one is available from Fedco and others. I have successfully grafted it onto one of my trees, but no apples yet unfortunately -- probably next year. Fedco says it is primarily tart, not very bitter, so you can actually eat it and make pies with it if you want. But should be a great apple for cider. And that is basically all the options available here in the U.S. commercially as far as traditional bittersharps. You could also try various crabapples, which have tendencies of being more tart and astringent. Wild crabapples are great for cider. But of course you wouldn't want to eat these -- strictly for cidermaking. You could also go non-traditional, and try Jonathan, Golden Noble, or Liberty. These are tart varieties that juice well, and you can also eat them and cook with them if you wish. If you do want to try a bittersweet variety, there are dozens to choose from. The most popular and available ones include Dabinett and Yarlington Mill. I think Arkansas Black would also make an excellent cider, as it is slightly astringent, although I have not tried making cider with it yet. Mollies are also astringent but extremely sweet. I don't know if you'd agree, but I think you've got enough very sweet apples already, so you'll want to try something different. All this being said... you might seriously just want to plant some unknown crabapple. I know it might sound crazy, but random crabapples usually make some really great cider. Whatever tree you get, you'll most likely want to get it on dwarf rootstock, so that it will start to produce in 2-3 years. If you plant a tree on semi-dwarf or full-size rootstock, it could take 7-8 years to start producing fruit, and if you're like me, I doubt you'll want to wait even 2-3 years, much less almost a decade!! Best of luck to you. There's a few of us cider geeks hanging around if/when you have more questions.

Hard to say, seems I've seen this tree before...looks like it's on the shady north side of the bush which is not the best location to improve quality, prune out some branches can help a little.