Apricots are going to be a little iffy in our area. They bloom very early. Peaches are easy though - I'm not sure what kind I have but it's probably Reliance. It tastes great and I get peaches without doing more than a dormant spray. This year I'll bag the peaches with shoe store try-on footies to try to keep the bugs off them. Last year I lost probably 70% or more of my crop to insects, but I still had plenty of good peaches without doing anything. For cherries I'm trying Danube as I couldn't decide between sweet and sour. I'd probably get Montmorency or Meteor if I was getting a second cherry tree. You'll need to net the tree if you want to eat any before the birds get them. Last year I lost all the cherries (only about 20) to birds but one which I ate. It was good and I look forward to getting a few more this year. My other fruit tree planted last year is a Honeycrisp apple. They grow best in the Midwest with our cold nights during harvest. I'm going to try bagging the fruit so I don't have to spray it. I hope it works out as the apples are so very good.

flowering or fruit? google guerney or stark brothers nurseries for fruit small as in dwarf??? or as in cheap??? ken

Of those offered here to any extent 'Dawn' is probably most like what you want. It has been stocked by Wells-Medina nursery in recent years - don't know if they have any specimens right now - and Sky nursery, where I saw it on offer a few weeks ago. Source of following excerpt also has a color photo of one flowering in Seattle. 'Dawn' Originally from Japan and is said to be known there as 'Musashi-nono' but was named 'Dawn' about 1929 by W.B. Clarke. Still in commerce; among the commonest of all. Flowers about 1.5 inches wide, rich clear pink, very double. Petals exquisitely ruffled; delightfully fragrant. Blooms the first week February. Leaf hairless. Tree somewhat dwarf. Here is a link that might be useful: Arthur Lee Jacobson - Plant of the Month - March 2005

I don't care what the catalog description says about Velvet Red -- I tasted it and found it to have the rich, robust flavor of the good large varieties...I don't like sweet very much either... That's closer to the format I was looking for. Had posters in this thread stuck to terse, on topic statements instead of verbose blather filled with weasel words, all of the ugliness in this thread would have been avoided. I would buy Velvet Red but, you lost credibility with your next sentence. And your reasoning about squirrel tomato eating behavior is simplistic if you think that giving them small ones will entice them away from big ones -- they take a bite and move on because they don't like the flavor but will try another and another until they satisfy themselves that they all taste bad...if they liked them they would eat one at a time My reasoning is not nearly as simplistic as your reasoning that I would believe your explanation without evidence. Streudel, to lure off squirrels just climb into a tree and act like a nut Where is my thanks for granting your request to connect the dots, you ingrate? digdirt I did not say All tomatoes have a relatively narrow range of brix levels. FWIW, I said that, the point being in Carolyn's quote -- you cannot tell what a tomato will taste like by its brix level. Anyway, this is a futile discussion with someone who just wants to make trouble. I suggest we all move on and wallow in our blissful ignorance, as you say! How dare you blame me for digitydirt's mistake? I am not the one who is so vain that he thought that song was about him. In conclusion, I am going to buy Chocolate Cherry seeds.