I grow both pink pearl and hidden rose. I prefer hidden rose by miles, it's really a tasty table apple. Pink pearl is mostly a cooking apple, and makes a delicious strawberry flavored pink apple juice. Juice is all I use my pink pearl apples for, I have one tree of them, making about 5 gallons of juice. Pink pearl is not a small apple when grown properly. if you thin them, then they size up to the size of a golden delicious. Go for hidden rose, it's definitely the better of the two. Hidden rose is the mildest, sweetest and best tasting pink fleshed apple I know of.

Hi Jeff, Your photos are lovely, lovely. We do have some pink pearl azaleas here too. If you look at the deepest portion of your shot of the whole plant, that is roughly the color I remember for our blooms, but perhaps they do fade a bit as they age. One of what was labeled as a 'Pink Pearl' definitely isn't that, though I've not taken the time to try to identify what it might be. (One of the great problems in buying plants at a place like Lowe's; I wish we'd never done that--though the 'not Pink Pearl' azalea looks terrific too.) Thanks very much for the Dodd information. They look like people after my own heart; what a wonderful business they are in. I'll contact them if I do wind up with any Mother of Pearl plants that rooted. (I've heard nothing back on that yet and don't expect to hear anything positive, if it's going to be positive, until later.) Thanks for posting, Jeff! Best wishes, Mary

'coral bells' is one of the earliest to bloom in my area, if you think it is light enough in color for your site. (see link below for photo) it is supposed to be hardy to zone 6b and is very common in nurseries here. 'pink pearl' is one of my favorites and i have several. it blooms just at the end of the cycle for 'coral bells' and will be about at peak by the weekend. another beautiful pale pink is 'amy', which will be flowering in another week or so. the pics below are from mid-april a few years ago. incidentally, i don't see 'fashion' as a light pink. it is almost a light orange/pink or salmon color to me. 'pink pearl' 'amy' and 'ben morrison' 'amy' Here is a link that might be useful: 'coral bells' azalea

This warms my heart....I studied pomology in college and my professor was a huge fan of a group of apples developed many years ago by Albert Etter, Pink Pearl being one of them. Most of the Etter varieties were grown on the university's research orchards, so I got to sample them regularly! Pink Pearl really stood out for me! I'm thrilled that some of these older varieties are becoming truly marketable today. I'll be looking for PP in the stores.