Sounds like a good idea,.. not everybody has a Apple which doesn't choke. Perhaps start with title....orchard pictures 2012 Frank, yes and no, in the city yes, but I haven't seen one ripened good. Season is too short. For me in the country no, ..still trying, most graft's die off. I have not one apple fruited yet, I finally put a graft on a tree here at the house this spring. For the odd year with a long nice fall like we had last year might have worked out.

Konrad, I wish you would start a new post with the pictures (f you have them). I have two dwarf rootstocks from trees that the grafts died due to girdling from rabbits; want to use some of the prunings from my standard trees to try to graft to those. Good pictures are so helpful.

Thanks all. Note that in addition to being a gardener, I love birds and in fact try to attract them to my yard via feeders, birdbaths etc. So I would never want to wantonly remove a haven for birds. However, I also understand the value of trees, which are unfortunately grossly under-appreciated, and their contributions grossly misunderstood, by most people in NYC. So this is why if I think a tree is at risk, that I should do what I can to save it. I also read a terrific book recently, "Bringing Nature Home: How Native Plants Sustain Wildlife in our Gardens", and it talked about this very thing...how non-native plants (such as English Ivy) can dessimate native plants/trees. As for those who mentioned that sometimes the ivy itself helps to anchor a tree, well I'd imagine that if a tree needs that kind of help in keeping upright, chances are it wasn't much longer for this world to begin with. But I'd suspect that in many instances, it's a case of ivy simply growing up and eventually masking an entirely healthy tree, and that eventually the ivy will block out its ability to take in sun. So at this point I still plan to cut as much of the ivy as I can without damaging the tree bark itself. Tx!

wonderful pictures and thank you Konrad. I'm going to look more closely at my bees this season and see what different pollens I see. How does learn what pollen is from what plant? I imagine if willows are the predominant tree in bloom, it would be a good guess. But what about when plant bloom is more varied?