Which Las Pilitas? The Santa Margarita store may have limited hours, since it's mainly wholesale, but the Escondido store is open most days from 10 to 4. I think they're closed Tuesdays and, probably, major holidays. All that said, I like Tree of Life better. The sheer quality of their stock is superior, they have better availability, and they are more open to questions about propagation. In fact, the main reason I got into propagating my own plants is because Las Pilitas (which is an easy 25 minutes away) were always telling me they were going to finally have some stock "next month," but "next month" never arrived. I'm talking about easy-to-grow things like "Dara's Choice" Salvia. So I just started growing my own to get the plants I want.

Many states, maybe all of them, (New York is one) have a Natural Heritage program that keeps track of declining native species of plants and animals, and gives them a ranking. So in New Jersey, a plant with 5 or fewer native locations is S1 critically imperiled (endangered), 6 to 20 locations is S2 imperiled, 21 to 100 locations is S3 rare, over 100 is S4 secure, etc. Goes state by state, so a plant that is S1 in one state can be S4 in another. You should be able to go on line and get a list of all the S1 thru S3 species In your state. It gets a little more complicated than the way I've described, but that's the general idea. So if I say a plant is not Heritage listed I assume it's reasonably common.

do not expect quality fruit.. from a self sown plant ... it might be... but who wants to wait 5 or 10 years.. to find out.. is a callery pear ... which is very invasive in some areas .... straight down pix are hard... and you seem to be afraid of the plants.. get a little closer next time ... [and your feet give away the straight down.. lol] ken

Heather Sanders, if you look at my profile page, there should be a button near the top right that says, "Message." Click on that. Let me know if that doesn't work, or if you can't find it.