I have a Longan and Lychee I received about a month ago from a nursery in Florida. The Longan is suppossedly a Kohalo variety and the Lychee is a Sweetheart. I'm not happy with the trees at all but that is due to the seller and that's another story! Their idea of a nice tree is far different than mine...and far different than the pictures of the trees that they ship. I did a lot of research on these... especially the Lychee. I think they are the best tasting fruit in the world after a Mangosteen. I was introduced to these in Thailand and I had to have this tree for my own. There is a ton of info on the web all you need to do is a search on Google. The following sites are great sources of info as well as obtaining the trees themselves: http://www.lycheesonline.com/index.cfm http://www.tropicalfruitnursery.com/ The Lycheesonline has everything possible on lychees and articles as well. The Emperor is a grafted variety. Slow growing and great container choice. Fruit is suppossed to be very good. I wanted a variety grown in Thailand so I was looking into the Hak Ip, also known as "black leaf". Well sought after fruit in Thailand. There are some others even better. Looking back here at the choices, you have to take into consideration the characteristics of the tree itself, size of fruit, size of seed, taste, and production. The Hak Ip was pretty good but I ended up deciding upon the Sweetheart instead. The production was better and more consistent. As for the Longan...research showed that the Kohalo variety would probably be the best choice. Tropicalfruitnursery requires a minimum of two trees with the order. This may work out well for you in this instance since you are looking for one of each. You should call them first and inquire about the specific variety of Longan they have. The lychee varieties are covered in their "variety viewers". Doing it over again, Lycheesonline would be my first choice for a lychee tree.

thanks Vithun & tokyotech & stanofh for your valuable information. my zone is 10a in SF bay, unfortunely neither my car can afford such a long distance (6-7 hours drive) and nor I have driven that far. I did try to call some of nursery in southern CA, only one was willing to do the shipping order but only certain time he would have it for shipment. As a result, I haven't got it yet. I will definitely call Seafood City market in Union City (a suburb in the San Francisco Bay Area ) to see if they would have it in stock during summer time... I did order a lychee tree from an amazon seller; it is not dying or growing either... guess I have better get one from a well-known nursery instead. thanks again

Lychee definitely has more flavor and aroma. Longan, on the other hand, has a much milder melon taste. Longan fruit are also a little smaller than Lychee and have a harder shell that takes a bit more effort to remove without puncturing the inside fruit membrane too much. From this you might surmise that Lychee wins hands down. However, I find that eating too many Lychees (about 15 of them) starts making the back of my throat feel just a little "itchy" or "hoarse". I do not get this uncomfortable feeling from eating Longan. Longan is something I could continue snacking on forever, whereas if I ate a huge bag of Lychee I think I would start to feel a bit sick. I am told by a Chinese friend that in the part of China where he comes from they eat Longan throughout the year, but Lychee is considered a delicacy and only eaten during a certain narrow time of the year. In traditional Chinese medicine they are believed to cause too much "heat", so not good to eat in large amounts. In terms of growing, Longan is also supposed to be more drought tolerant than Lychee.

Hi, longanluva! Okay, here's what I found: "What can be Grafted? Most varieties of a particular fruit species are interchangeable and can be grafted. Because of differences in vigor, some are better able to support others as understocks. Plants of the same genus and species can usually be grafted even though they are a different variety. Plants with the same genus but of a different species may often be grafted. But the result may be weak, short-lived, or they may not unite at all. Plants of different genera are less successfully grafted although there are some cases where this is possible. Plants of different families cannot be grafted successfully." "Reasons for Graft Failure 1. Stock and scion were not compatible. 2. The cambiums were not meeting properly. 3. Scions were upside down. 4. Grafting was done at the wrong time. 5. Understock or scion were not healthy. 6. Scions were dried out or injured by cold. 7. Scions were not dormant. 8. The graft was not properly covered. 9. The scion was displaced by storm, birds, or other means. The graft was shaded too much by other growth. The graft was attacked by insects or disease. The graft union was girdled because tape was not cut or released in time." Longans are in the same family as lychees, so you may have a bit of success...maybe. Keep in mind that lychees are notoriously difficult to graft within the same cultivar, yet alone outside the genus. It's certainly worth a shot, though. You may just be better off growing two separate, dwarf fruit trees. Different longans, however, should all be compatible with one another, and the same goes for lychees. Here is a link that might be useful: grafting and budding fruit trees