lets think outside your box for a moment ... have you considered.. simply letting it be.. and watching mother nature renew the area.. subject to learning about the carp trees.. and simply discouraging weed plants ... [it doesnt sound like this is a sight block area] you have offered nothing more.. in regard to facts.. other than there is a hole.. and i must fill it ... i encourage you to enjoy this major change to your landscape.. and not hurry to 'fix' it ... tree planting time is either fall or spring ... not july/august.. so dont run out there now to plant trees ... your county extension office.. probably has a handy pamphlet about such .. ken ps: what would i discourage.. seedling tulip poplars.. lol ... cottonwood.. buckthorn ... etc ... and the list could go on for miles ... any chance at a picture??? sounds pretty cool.. just the way it is ...

That actually looks like a pretty strong possibility. I've yet to meet the acquaintance of S. japonica when flowering so hadn't considered it.

Thanks for the names guys! I'll have to ask why we don't carry them at Valley View, probably because we're close to the road, I've heard they don't like exhaust fumes. - Max

Hi Towsonite, I am probably very close to you based on your name :-) I have grown hundreds of apple varieties and can give you a few suggestions. First thing is you need to be doing 4-6 sprays each year for any apple variety or you probably won't get much other than gnarly rotten things. The main bug pests are plum curculio and codling moth. They may take a few years to show up but once they settle in they are there for good. Diseases are actually less of a problem than bugs. Apple scab is a problem in many parts of the country and is a major reason to get disease-resistant varieties, but it is not as much of a problem in our climate - it heats up sooner and fries the spores. Cedar apple rust is a problem, but in many cases you can just blaze through it - the leaves may look bad but few fruits will get damaged. But if its sibling, quince rust, shows up then you are in trouble because it likes the fruits. All it takes is one spray of myclobutanil at petal fall and you can nail CAR most years. The other disease to be concerned about is fruit rots, our hot muggy summers lead to lots of rotting. That is something you can select varieties to avoid. So, my #1 factor for disease variety selection is avoiding rot, and #2 is avoiding CAR. This does not line up clearly with the disease-resistant apple programs which are scab focused. For example, GoldRush gets CAR pretty badly in spite of being "disease resistant". #3 is fireblight - most varieties are OK on that but a few are super sensitive and you need to avoid those like the plague. You should generally avoid early ripening apples as they are prone to rot and watercore in our climate. Yes you can grow them but they are less reliable. The later the apple the better the harvest is going to be since they will be tough and starchy during the hot summer, and softening and sugaring up in cool weather. Some of my current favorite late and reliable apples include Suncrisp, Hooples Antique Gold, GoldRush (but note the CAR issues), American Golden Russet, Black Limbertwig, and Magnum Bonum. The last two are southern heirlooms, that is a good source for late reliable apples in our climate. The first three are Golden Delicious children, they tend to do well here. I wouldn't recommend Honeycrisp or Braeburn, they have lots of fruit problems nearing harvest and are "advanced" apples. I would start at Century Farm Orchards, http://www.centuryfarmorchards.com, in looking for varieties, as they are in a similar climate and only sell varieties that performed well for them. They are also a great place to do business with. But there are many other good nurseries out there. Just don't buy local, Valley View and the like are not selling good varieties for our climate.