Thanks for all the kind words, as always. Troicalgrower89: You are considering: carrie, alphonso, golden nugget, glenn and valencia pride. I haven't had Alphonso yet, but the other choices are all excellent. My personal favorites are Maha Chanook, Edward, Dot, and Cushman. The best tree ripened specimen of the above would win my taste preference contest on most days. There are many other mangoes, that, on a given day, at the peak of perfection of ripeness, that could crack into the elite line up. There are almost too many to name of the mangoes that I am growing that would fall into this category. I built my collection based upon mango selections that were either rated excellent in the early Fairchild ratings back in their publications in the early 1990's or, if I came across a variety that someone thought was the best mango in the world (and I thought they had any idea about what they were talking about). I do own an obligatory Tommy Atkins just for completeness of the collection (I am almost embarrased to say). Of the mangoes you are considering, I would still reserve judgment on Alphonso. Valencia Prida is one of those that I grow that, in a given year or day, it can crack the top mangoes. The others would be just below the elite.....still excellent and worth growing, however....IMO. LOL, I just went back to an old post to a thread in this Forum to see what I had previously said in answer to this question. Here's what I said.... In the very top group would be Maha Chanook, Dot, Edward and Cushman...in no particular order. These would consistantly rate 9.0 or higher on a 10 point scale. After these, there is a group that, while not always in the top group, can, on a given day rival those in the top group. These would include Julie, Carrie, Graham,Mallika, Cogshall, Pickering, Okrung, Nam Doc Mai, Spirit of 76, Ice Cream, Valencia Pride and Southern Blush. These would consistantly rate 8.0-9.5 on a 10 point scale. I also have a seedling tree grown from a Mallika seed that has fruit that has flavor with the best of the best...but is knocked down because of abundant fiber. At least I agree with myself. Best of luck with your Haden graft! John: Good question. I have purchased the Ohia, Ohia Red and Ohia Pink. I have two trees that I know are the original Ohia...that was before I ever heard of the Pink or Red. I have one other tree that is flowering for the first time which is either the pink or red...not sure which. Also not sure how this one will differ from the original Ohias that have flowered and fruited consistantly for many years. Stay tuned for further developments on this front. Ethan: No...no damage on the Dang Rasimi again this year after a second fairly brutal winter. But then again, I really didn't have much daamge this year on any jakfruit other than some peripheral leaf damage on the Tabouey x J-30, Mai 2 and the Borneo Red. Sheehan: No...you misunderstood what I had said. Two of the Maha seedlings have flowered previously. Actually, one flowered two years in a row. However, they have never set any fruit. This year they are all three flowering and I see small fruit development. Maybe I am just looking closer but I am very hopeful that we'll have some to try. In the interim, I would say that there are some fairly different characteristics that indicate individuality. In the picture you will notice that some of the pannicles are deeper red than the others. Also, there was some difference in the timing of the blossom push. Not that this proves anything as I have 4 grafted Maha's planted out and they are off considerably by a number of weeks as compared to the others in bloom timing. Also, the tree on the NW side has much shorter pannicles than the others. BluePalm: Yes, Rosiegold does seem to be very anthracnose prone and the tree habit is scraggly as you can see on all three that I have. Remember, the tree pictured was originally grafted by me and I was calling it the Martinez mango based on what I was told by the suppplier of the scions. I have come to realize that what I have is Rosiegold...so now I have three of them planted out and they all look the same...scraggly. On your question about that Brewster lychee. It was a wedding gift to my wife and I and was in a 15 or so gallon pot when it was planted out in June of 1991. Andrew: My Jean Ellen was purchased not this past Fairchild Festival but the one the previous year. So it has been planted out since around July of 2009....that is one year and seven months. Remember...that is the tree I used as an experiment in my "To prune or not to prune" thread. See link below. Here is a link that might be useful: To prune or not to prune

Maureen: I have quite a few people that think that Van Dyke is one of the best mangoes around. I bought it because the Fairchild Mango Bible (I call it), rated its flavor Good to Excellent. I had to aquire (I was physically forced) each and every mango that attained the excellent evaluation by them....and, of course, having accomplished that, I moved on to other mango varieties that have been highly rated by people I have respected in the mango world. Then after that I bought mangoes that someone I encountered, whether they were mango experts or not, thought was the best mango in the world. The thinking was that, at least for selling purposes, I would always have a buyer if there was someone out there that just had to have that mango. And, as I said, I do have regular Van Dyke customers. The tree is very fruitful and the fruit is very colorful. The flavor can range from good to excellent as Fairchild indicated. Is it in my top tier of mangoes.....no, but its no slouch either.....at least not in the best of years....especialy if you like a little undertone of resinous twang in your mango. It is not a dwarf tree and would not be a great selection for pot culture. So, would I buy it again and plant it out? Yes, I would. Is it right for your circumstances? Maybe not. Harry

Hello All, Well it's obvious from the looks of the Jujube and the Soursop that you have No Idea what you doing or how to grow fruit trees! Sorry, I couldn't resist. I definitely agree with Gary, thanks so much for all that you have done for so many of us, inspiration alone has kept many of us going I'm sure. As always I could spend forever just looking at the pictures you post Harry, and as always, everything looks awesome! Please keep them coming. Quick question, I have a Zill's Black Surinam Cherry that you sent me a while back and it is doing really. What is the flavor like?

Susie, Happy Anniversary, and lots of good thoughts going to Steven and Charles. RR, lots and lots of hugs to you, I've been thinking of you lots. Shaun, enjoy your relaxing weekend and scratch Ricky a couple of extra times behind his ears. Linda, hug that baby. Sorry about the snow, we got a little but it didn't "stick". Good thing, I've been fixing fence. Nancy, don't work too hard, those tourists will work you hard soon enough! Maggie, it does hurt, doesn't it? I got the heating bill a week ago, it's higher than the last one. Sigh. And I keep the heat at 55 when I'm home, 50 when I'm not, still costs me $200+ a month. It sucks. I'm sorry. Neesie, welcome to the Cooking Forum and to TGIF. I think you'll have fun here. Joanne, I was wondering how those driving lessons were going, it sounds like you'll be driving anywhere you want to go pretty darned soon. Good for you! Katie, my employee finished her last day today, she got another job. Now I have to interview, hire and train a new employee which is a pain in the a**. Ah well, it's worth it. At least she never "forgot" to come to work, like yours did!!! This weekend? Let's see, it started today, Elery was here and I took the day off. We went fishing for steelhead this morning, I got a fish but it broke my pole and got away, lure, pole and all. Darn it. Afternoon was a trip to the doc, I've been having some "issues" and today got a biopsy done. Results in 5 days. Right now I feel like cr*p, so I'm just hanging around, drinking a cup of hot tea. Tomorrow too, I think, although I may break down and bake something. Sunday is some more fence repair. Nothing exciting, just normal stuff. Annie