I’m afraid I am 13 years late but I can say a little about those varieties. First, is that I would never trade a rabbiteye for a southern, and I have both. Rabbiteyes produce more, are more resistant to extreme climate conditions, diseases and accept fertilization better than southerns. Rabbiteyes can take drought and lack of nutrients better than southerns, also will adapt to different soils better than southerns. In no way southerns are better than rabbiteyes, the only thing southerns are "better" is the thin skin on fruits, because I dont even consider the seeds thing, blueberry seeds are already very small in rabbiteyes. Now, for the varieties. I dont have all, but I have some, Woodard is a must, simply, because is an awesome pollinator, it flowers so heavily and I'm sure its flowers have some smell on it because it attracts bees like no other. Climax is a heavy producer and the fruit does taste good and sweet when ripe, it will be gritty if you harvest too early, leave it hanging on the bush a few days after it turns blue. Briteblue is a beast, what it has in compact size, it doubles in production, big fruits, will tolerate Ph on the 6 range better than other varieties, fruits are more on the tart side, good for recipes. Delite will not blow your mind with production like Briteblue, but it is the most tasty among rabbiteyes, simply delicious. The ones that I dont have but heard good things are Powderblue and Premier. Southerns I have: Emerald, good fruits, a litte bland on taste, but big and beautiful, less feeble than other southerns. Biloxi, it only lives to one mission: produces in no chill conditions, the rest is a nightmare. Will go into shock with Ph a little over 5, get spotted with more than two rains, the growth is just desordenated, it grows too much and that is why its roots can never keep up with its metabolism, because it overgrows, it will require lots, lots lots, lots of nitrogen, but it cant take salts! So you go for organic matter, but it is slow release so you won't be able to keep its needs, how growers in Peru and Mexico deal with that? They prune the whole plant to the ground level every year, that is crazy! Yes the fruits can be delicious, but only a few because most will be tart due to its bad root system, the size of the fruit can vary a lot in the same crop and the crop is small. The few that are good are really delicious. Misty, also overproduces, in the case, too much flowers, so much that it wont have enough leaf to support and some advise to clip some flowers, the bush is just stupid to the point it does not know how much energy it should spend on flowering and growing, the plant is prone to fungus infection, the fruits are delicious, I give it that, the most sweet after Delite.

Thanks for the info bboy. I noticed the Supersonic seed after purchasing my plant and wondered if there was a relationship or just multiple uses of the same name. This tag certainly implies that this one is from a cutting from the original stock. I will ask more about the source next time I'm at Cistus. My understanding is that these are very easy to start from cuttings. Are they generally easy to start from seed or is there some novelty in being able to start a crape myrtle from seed? Or is it just the early bloom that is novel? Maybe nothing about it is novel and the Parks ad is just marketing! BTW mine is about 20" high and did not bloom this year. It has a lovely graceful tree shape which may have been the result of pruning vs being fully natural....perhaps accounting for no bloom this year. I did not expect bloom at this size/age but am wondering now since it is probably related to those in the Park catalog. Do you happen to know if cuttings from the original tree are also early bloomers? jwww

It's my second year vegetable gardening as well, and I'm loving it! If only the sun would come out! Fruit Trees: *Cherries *Melrose apple *Redfree apple *Peaches *blueberries (multiple varieties) In raised beds: *Lettuce/greens: black seeded simpson, green oak leaf, red deer tongue, Australian yellowleaf, cracoviensis, rouge d'hiver, merlot, arugula, spinach *Tomatoes: black giant, black, bali, red russian, eva purple ball, russian 117, yellow peach, stupice *Peppers: gypsy, jalapeno *Winter squash: small sugar pumpkin, potimarron, musquee de provence *Summer squash: ronde de nice *Beans: vermont cranberry, rattlesnake, purple, jacob's cattle, agate soybean *Peas: green arrow *Carrots: dragon, atomic red, scarlet nantes *Onions: rossa di milano, generic white sets *Potatoes (in wine buckets): russian blue, french fingerling, alaskan sweetheart, caribe, german butterball *Cucumbers: lemon, armenian, boothby's blonde, straight eight, tondo di manduria Herbs: *greek oregano *italian parsley *lemon thyme *rosemary *mint *cilantro *garlic chives Still to go in: *Rosa bianca eggplants (under lights) *Genovese & Christmas basil (under lights) *Long Island Improved Brussel Sprouts (from seed) Beans: Rossa di Milano onion: Greens:

@mishmosh Thank you, you clearly know what you're talking about so I really appreciate your help. You don't share the reservations about Outside Pride that I've seen? What do you think you would do, optimally, in my situation? Seasonal flooding, drought in the summer, dappled shade--I'm assuming that you're in/familiar with the area west of the Cascades, given everything. What about using some shade-optimized tall fescue (for the clay) or bentgrass (hardy, shade) too? Don't know if you're in Oregon, but PT Lawn has a biofilter turf mix for the shade that looks good (annual ryegrass, poa trivialis, creeping red fescue, creeping/colonial bentgrasses). Any opinion on that? BTW: I am not concerned about color at all, wish I had the luxury of that. Just want something to grow and STAY over the winter. Have you tried poa supina at all? It looks better than trivialis in a lot of ways, most importantly wear quality/durability over the long term. And if you add 10% to a mix of other grasses, it apparently ultimately takes over, which is cool. Check out, e.g., MSU (they are playing football on it, this is no fine fescue!).