I'm in North Carolina, and our weather pattern has been similar to yours. March was warmer here (mostly low 50s), but still cooler than usual. April began with a blast of heat (upper 80s to around 90), and we're just now beginning to see actual spring-like temps in the 60s and 70s. My earliest rabbiteyes began blooming in late February, and several of my Southern Highbush quickly followed. I didn't begin to see any active bees until late March, and then only a few. Nonetheless, I definitely have a lot of developing berries, so pollination doesn't seem to have been a problem. As was discussed in other recent thread, bumblebees are very efficient, and one can pretty much take care of an entire bush in a very short span of time. So, I wouldn't count your early bloomers out. There might have been a few active bees here and there that you didn't see.

Thanks everyone! I am such an Austin addict that I have all of the above-mentioned DAs already growing in my garden, except for Carding Mill (which was also on my short list to order, I am a sucker for the apricots), and Happy Child. I am going to go with Harlow Carr because it does sound more compact and I like the disease-resistance touted for it. BS is an issue here but probably less so than for some in the south. If I spray 1-2 x monthly I can keep it at bay.

Lucky, thanks for the ideas. That's very helpful. You do raise some more questions for me, though. The area I've described is fairly long and narrow and there's a hillside of tall trees to the west, so much of the area would have quite a bit of afternoon shade. I think of pecans as needing full sun, especially for good production. How big a deal will the afternoon shade be for pecans? Another concern with pecans or hickories would be squirrels. Am I right in thinking it's a lot better as far as minimizing squirrel pressure to plant pecans and hickories in the middle of open spaces instead of next to woods? Squirrels don't seem to be as hard on black walnuts, and I know walnuts can do well enough on the edge of woods, so those seem like advantages for walnut, but black walnuts are of more limited usefulness, both in quantity and culinarily. Esh, I think I understand your arguments for natives, but thinking beyond strictly ornamental plantings I don't think the question is really natives vs. non-natives, but rather non-natives that I pay other people to grow for me or non-natives that I grow myself. Natives are just far too limiting to live from, certainly in any way I (and I'm sure you, too) would choose to live, especially given all the non-native pests and diseases that adversely affect natives. c2g, you seem to have misunderstood what I said about privet. It's already naturalized in this particular area and all over my farm and the surrounding area. Regarding bamboo, I've looked at some more online information resources in response to the warnings from some of you all here, and as long as the stand of bamboo is managed (which is my whole purpose for planting it), I don't see any real threat of invasiveness. What do you all think of the information in the following links? Here is a link that might be useful: Control and Maintain Running Bamboo

The x98 looks like a typical 2-part water borne finish with low odour and low VOC content (the information page indicates "less than 200g/L"). Cure time = 4 days. I would expect the odour to reduce or be eliminated by that time. This is typical for 2 part water borne/based finishes. http://www.pallmann.us/uploads/tx_dddownloadmatrix/Pall-X_98_PDS.pdf If Pallman is the only water based product the finisher uses, then you should be fine. Please ensure that they plan a total of 3 coats. Some refinishers will try to convince people that two coats are all that are needed....which is where we get the issues with finishes "not standing the test of time" = complaints. When it comes to wear resistance I prefer the Loba 2K Supra AT (2-part water based finish out of Germany that has ceramic nano-beads infused into the liquid). The scratch resistance is OUTSTANDING and the slip resistance is second to none (literally...it has the best slip resistance ratings on the market). And the odour is gone within 4-6 HOURS. Total cure is 5 days.