To follow up on the original question of the post, I did some digging over the web to find out more about the ASPA pear. I did not find an official definition, but came up with two leads: Theory #1 - it comes from the village/city of ASPA in russia (look up Aspa, Permskiy kray, Russie, 617530 in google map) Theroy #2- After looking at this russian site (http://vniispk.ru/pear.php)which contains 191 russian pear varieties, I translated all the names in google translate. The only thing that contained something that looks like ASPA after translation would be the SPACE pear (A-SPA...) for the pyrus Kosmicheskaya. From the descriptions of two different sites, we might have a potential candidate for that mysterious ASPA pear. Check these out: http://vniispk.ru/pear.php?key=74 http://www.pitomnik-zelenogorsk.biz/pitomnik/plodovye/Pyrus_communis_Kosmicheskaya.html the translated desription: Summer grade obtained in VNIIS them. Michurin from crossing varieties Daughter letterhead and Russian Malgorzhatka. Authors: G. A. Lobanov and ZI Ivanova. Zoned and distributed in amateur gardens Central Black Earth and Nonchernozem areas. Deserves cultivation in industrial plantations as winter hardy and productive variety. Tree with a rounded-spreading or shirokopiramidalnoy gustooblistvennoy crown. Skeletal branches off the trunk at an angle close to a right angle. Shoots straight, medium thickness, brownish, with a few small lenticels. Fruiting mainly on long-term, fruit wood. Leaves are green, medium-sized, ovoid, with raised edges, sometimes elevated and tip sheet. Surface of the leaf blade is smooth, shiny. Fruit below average size, weighing 90-110 g, one-dimensional, kubarevidnoy form. Peel tough, greenish-yellow, with dark green dots and small subcutaneous blurred blush on the illuminated side of the fruit. Peduncle thick or medium thickness, long, straight or slightly curved, directly or obliquely, with a thickening at the base. Funnel small, wide, ribbed. Saucer wide, medium depth, krupnorebristoe. Calyx closed. Heart average. Stony layer around heart cells. Seed chambers closed. Seeds of medium size, dark brown in color, well executed, oblong-pointed. The flesh is white, fine-grained, sweet, good taste. Fruits contain sugar - 8.9%, acid - 0.16%, the ratio of sugar to acid - 56, ascorbic acid - 5.9 mg/100 g, P-active substances - 46 mg/100 g. The fruit ripens in late August. Marketability of the fruit is high, especially with young fruit trees. Fruits transportable. Consumer maturity coincides with removable. Term consumption of no more than two weeks. Fruit intended for fresh consumption, but also suitable for processing: compotes, jams, dried fruit, etc. Start fruiting 5-6 years after planting in the garden. At a young age bears fruit annually, with age periodic. Grade high-yielding. In some years the crop reaches 150 kg per tree. At high yield fruit shrinking. In Michurinsk grade high hardiness, Orel in winter 1978/79, it was noted freezing of wood and bark bole burns no more than 2.5 points. Pros varieties: high yield and hardiness of the tree; fruit scab resistance. Disadvantages varieties: tall, large-sized tree, the periodicity of fruiting, reductions in fetal weight at high load of wood, short term fresh consumption, the presence in the fruit around the stony heart cells.

There are 3 on Haines Road No., Gulf Coast just past 16 st.No., Esmeralda's at abt. 60 Av.No., and my fav. Kathie's Korner at 61 Av.No. just south of 62 av. No., a biggie , run by a great couple and they carry Orchids for $6.!!! can't beat that, I'm into Orchids now in a big way... another Orchid expert is Michael Polin at Art Stone, on Tyrone abt. 36 av., in the stone fountain place, he comes down to Sunken Gardens every month and does presentations on Orchid care...if you haven't been to Sunken Gardens what are you waiting for?? There are 2 nurseries out Central av, by Pasadena av., one is mostly fruit trees and the other kitty-corner is decorative plants & flowers, etc. can't think of the name.. Jene's Tropicals? Also a Twigs and Leaves near 2 av. and abt. 31 st. S., I'm not sure abt. these addresses, maybe somebody else can be more accurate??.... sally

I live in Wisconsin now, and moved here 3 years ago from St. Louis. The Adams Mark is a long way from O2 in St. Charles -- more than a 1/2 hour drive if traffic is good. You could take a taxi but it would be a high fare, probably more than $50.00, especially during a time of heavy traffic. It's possible to take a city bus, but it would take a long time. Not much from a floral/garden perspective to choose from in downtown St. Louis(location of the Adams Mark). I recommend Ahner's for houseplants/tropicals. But it's on Manchester Road in Kirkwood/Des Peres, about a 20 minute drive from downtown (location of the Adams Mark). The Missouri Botanical Garden is about a 10 minute cab ride from downtown. It's one of the leading botanical gardens in the world, and has an amazing collection. Not really any plants to purchase (though the Garden Gate Shop is very nice), but you can see lots. I highly recommend it. I've placed their website below. Here is a link that might be useful: Missouri Botanical Garden

15" depth was likely too deep. Your present planting sounds good. Would have preferred loosening the soil out to five times the container diameter with that drainage. I would have confirmed the root crown was at the top of the container soil before digging. I would have just used native soil adding finished compost only to replace the discarded grass volume that you removed. Any amendments to the soil must be homogeneously mixed into the soil or water impermeable layers will form. 1.5 days to drain is too long. I would classify that (>24 hours) as a drainage problem. Most likely the water you kept applying to the old tree was just piling (layering) up and going anaerobic. I would consider drilling/digging a hole down nearby to punch through any layers of soil. 4 feet deep would be ideal but sometimes it is hard to do much beyond 3 feet deep. People refill with all sorts of stuff. I am not convinced that any is any better than simply refilling the hole with the material removed having broken through the layers (compressed, clay, caliche). With flood irrigation I assume the soil has been compressed by heavy equipment while the soil was wet at some time in the past. It is unusual for flood irrigated soil to not be well draining. Mound or raised bed planting is an alternative. With flood irrigation on a new tree, I would water once in between. Soak long enough to hit 3 feet down. But here is the strategy. New in ground. Water every day for 3 days. This is to collapse any air pockets in hole. Replace any collapsed pockets around hole with more soil. Then stop until it needs more moisture. In a fall planting (from container) this will be infrequent. Your flood irrigation should keep up. Maybe in a hot/dry Sept or even Oct. I might water once in between irrigations. For a new tree, I like to put 5 gal right around the roots for the first few weeks. I use a cheap Home Depot type bucket with a couple of 1/64th" (?) holes in them that allow the buckets to drip out fast enough to not pool up on the surface. Then I double up with a similar watering on the other side. That can last from 8-12 weeks post planting. By then I assume the roots are established and start with the watering schedule found in the bottom link below. Hopefully the canopy reflects this. With flood irrigation adjust watering accordingly. There are differences between containers in Sept/Oct and bareroots in Jan/Feb. And flood irrigated property versus basin irrigation. I never stake trees without a reason and I've never had a reason on a newly planted tree. I paint mine but truthfully on peaches it likely makes no difference as their bark handles the sun pretty well. Though paint and keeping it painted as it expands may prevent borers overwintering their eggs down low in the trunk bark. http://wateruseitwisely.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/az1022.pdf http://wateruseitwisely.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Landscape-Watering-Guide.pdf