Now I am very glad to be wrong on this topic - it's very good news to hear that breeders are actually focusing on taste. Jonagold is quite delicious. I read "The Fruit Hunters" and the author interviewed the Zeigers of Zeiger genetics. They admitted that most of the focus of their stone fruits has been on shippability, but they claim to now have changed their focus, and they are trying to improve on taste - the goal is to have a peach that tastes as good as the old heirlooms, but also ships well and stays good for weeks at a time. Yes, I am not sure I would even know how to grow apples on the East coast. I feel very fortunate to live in the Santa Cruz mountains, we have about the best climate one could ever ask for when it comes to apples. They are so tasty in my orchard, that is what got me so enthusiastic about apples. I spent years trying to grow all sorts of things from subtropicals like macademias to citrus and stone fruits. None rival the perfection of the apples in my orchard. We even get outstanding Summer apples because our Summers here (upper 60's to mid 70's daytime, mid 40's to low 50's night time in the middle of July and August) are equivalent to East Coast Fall weather. Our first apple to ripen is Anna around late May, and the last apple to ripen is Williams Pride in late January. Feb through April is covered primarily by storage apples. But we do get seasonal fluctuations here too that shift which apples end up tasting good. We get a period of hot Fall weather that - if it shows up too early tends to ruin the early Fall apples which seem not to like much heat. If the heat doesn't show up until October, then we get nearly perfect apples on all the varieties. Last Fall the Cox orange pippin harvest was ruined because the hot weather showed up at the end of August. They went mealy very quickly.

EEEEEuck! what vendor was this, I hope you don't mind me asking Susan? I think any band sent too small shouldn't be sent unless it has enough strong,large enough viable leaves to survive the UPS journey. Why some vendors don't follow this rule of thumb is beyond me. LittleTXYard, it's a great idea to keep taking photos just in case. At first when I was reading this post I was thinking what??? bands this late in the season? until I checked the zones and I thought ahhh, now I understand. I think as long as there's enough strong leaves on the band you should be o.k. It's when you get lots of shriveling and sickliness that's when I feel you are entitled for a refund or exchange, even if the rose were to survive a few months later. Weak roses take some time to re-cover and normalize and for cold zoners this is not a good scenario. To me a rose needs to be of decent health and size to be sent out. I have seen some of Vintages' baby bands and they look fantastic. In the future, if I ever go with baby bands I'm getting Vintage bands.

Most of the things about mail order plants you have learned the hard way. Been there, done that!! In my area of Southern Ontario, I can find most plants that I want either at local nurseries or plant sales such as RBG or the Univ. of Guelph. The companies that I would recomend ordering by mail from, unfortunately no longer do mail order, e.g. Mason-Hogue north of Oshawa, The Perennial Garden in B.C. Another one, Whitehouse Perennials no longer sends regular plants by mail, but they still send hostas and daylilies. These nurseries sent well-grown, mostly potted plants in excellent condition, and very well packed. I was sceptical about ordering from as far away as B.C. but these too arrived in great shape. At present I cannot personally recommend a place to order regular perennials by mail in Canada. I have ordered from Gardenimport in Toronto several years, but it seems every year they were "out of" certain plants that I ordered, so gave me credit to use the following year. Also their prices are definitely on the higher side compared to the equivalent plant bought on site at a nursery or plant sale. If you live near Hamilton/Burlington or Guelph, some of the very best deals are to be found at the RBG Plant sales, 1st Thursday and Saturday in May, and the U. of Guelph Arboretum plant sale, generally the 2nd or 3rd Sat. in September. Great plants, great prices! RBG has a list of their sale plants available on their web site before the sales so one can peruse the list and decide what to buy. If you check the RBG website, I believe they also sell plants once or twice a week throughout the summer, as well as having a wrap-up discount sale in September. The U.of G. Arboretum has a printed catalogue available a couple of weeks before their sale for the same purpose. It usually costs about $3.

Me too, my whitespire birches arrived dead!