In the spring of 2012, I attempted to graft a Pear scion onto my apple tree using Winter Banana Apple as an inter stem. (All of he grafting i do is "Whip and Tongue" grafts wrapped in grafting tape. I then coat the wrapped union with grafting wax) The parent branch was a Winesap Apple branch with a grafted Winter Banana Apple scion from a few years before. (I actually have two of these paired branches.) I then attempted to graft two "Kieffer" Pear scions onto my two Winter Banana Apple inter stems. The "Kieffer" Pear scions started to grow, but died a few weeks later. This spring (2014) I attempted to graft this Apple / Pear union again using the same Winter Banana Apple inter stems. I had just enough branch on my Winter Banana branches to try this experiment one more time. This time around, I used "Sunrise Pear" scionwood. The grafting was a screaming success! (I had enough "Sunrise Pear" scionwood to graft two branches onto my apple tree, and two more onto an ornamental pear. All four pear grafts were a success!) I have no idea why this experiment failed in 2012 and was a success in 2014. I do not know if it had to do with the pear variety used, or if it had to do with environmental circumstances. I will re-post in 2015 with an update. There are a few different treads on this subject so I will be re-posting on those threats also. Below are pictures taken on 07/27/2014.

What type of experience are you looking for? Are all the adults into nature - hiking or driving around looking at the fall colors? Do you need to be near restaurants or will you be cooking all the meals in your rental place? If you are a group of nature lovers who plan to cook the whole time, you might look into the state parks. Some of them have cabins or lodges. They would have beautiful hiking trails just right out the door of the cabin. I've stayed in Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg several times. Neither of them would be my pick if I was traveling just my husband and myself. I'd much rather stay in a state park, hike, canoe and grill. But with a group I might prefer some place like Gatlinburg. There are a lot of beautiful trails nearby for the nature lovers, shopping for the shoppers, and lots of restaurants. Its also small enough that most people could get around just walking from place to place. Asheville is very nice, too, and I love the Biltmore. Pigeon Forge does have a lot to do, as Addyson_Anders says. If you have people who want to go to shows and do a lot of shopping, it's a great place. It's more spread out than Gatlinburg, as best I remember. Dollywood is nearby if your group enjoys theme parks. If all you want to do is enjoy the beautiful woods, walk the trails and see the waterfalls,then Pigeon Forge wouldn't be my pick. Someone mentioned Cherokee above. We stayed in Cherokee many times when my kids were little. They loved to play in the creek, it was close enough to Dollywood, etc. There used to be and probably still is a very moving play about the Trail of Tears. Having said that, if I just had a long weekend in the Smoky Mountains, I personally wouldn't visit Cherokee unless I just had a huge interest in Native American Culture. There is so much to see and do around the Smoky Mountains that I wouldn't drive to Cherokee if I was staying somewhere else. Sometimes when we've been there the roads around Pigeon Forge, Cherokee and Gatlinburg get so very crowded and the traffic is bumper to bumper. So if my husband and I are going to the mountains, we avoid those areas and focus on the nature trails. However, if they are having the play while you're nearby, I've heard it is wonderful. I think the name of it is "Unto These Hills". I hope you enjoy your trip.

Way back on Sept 30 I posted that prizes for winners would be sent over the next couple weeks. Well it is more than a month later and my shipment of bulbs finally arrived today. My sincere apologies to, Margo, Katie,Annie, Ruth and Shirley ( BG) for the delay. Mail will be sent Thursday and Friday and I will post DC #'s then. Best I can say, besides I'm sorry is what my Grandmother used to say about late BD presents..... "It makes the fun last a bit longer when it doesn't all come at the same time." Bethb

Thank you for the suggestion, NancyLouise. I believe that the trails on Mtn Agamentigus were where I walked my dogs a decade or so ago when we rented a house on the beach for a week. The beach is closed to dogs during the daytime hours, so they and I went to Mt A during the days to walk. It was very nice up there. I learned to time our walks so that the trails, which were also open to mountain bikes, were virtually deserted during school hours. Back then I was younger and able to walk further than now, and the 2 dogs we had back then were also young and good around people. Now the successors of those dogs are an older dog who would never make it down or up the concrete steps to the beach, and a young one who is frightened of people she does not know, so they're not great candidates for vacationing companions. They stay home when we visit Maine, and we just stay at a (non pet friendly) hotel on the water when we go to the beach for several days. Also we are both older now and a short walk is all we can do these days, so we prefer to walk on the beach. We have nice wooded trails here in Vermont, but no ocean, so the beach wins out, no contest! Maybe we'll take a car ride up to Mt A though. I remember it in a very good light!