Uncharted- but there are lots of charts! Thank you Fruitnut for your experience and Ace as well. My J. plums still look absolutely beautiful as the cool weather we're having now is extending the bloom. I shall see this as a hopeful sign. Maybe the charts are precise in terms of the temperature the buds or flowers receive while I only get a reading where the sensor is. Common sense says duration has to be a factor as well. I still haven't pruned a few of my plum trees and will leave them alone until I am sure that all the fruit isn't on the tips of highest branches, which I would otherwise remove. Won't hurt to prune them late anyway- if it slows them a bit it won't matter. I haven't touched my peaches so I guess I'll wait on them as well. The problem with this strategy is that it wasn't really a still convection freeze and there was some breeze stirring things up. I hope to write and read stories of successful harvests in the months ahead from all of us who suffered this round of untimely frost. Good luck.

But here, Roxbury performs as the standout Russet of ones I've grown and really does much more than provide a distinct flavor eaten fresh. I have a client who has lots of Baldwins and N. Spys for gourmet sauce but once I brought him some surplus Rox's during jarring season. Now he asks for more every year. I had to throw a few grafts in one of his trees. Now he's starting to get his own harvests. Another client considers his RR's inexpendible for his cider (juice) which he freezes in quantity for an annual supply. They are excellent in storage as well. Many other russets are highly attractive to CM here and certain rots and don't usually bear as reliably. Golden Russet, for instance, has been a PIA for me. Takes forever to come into productivity on free standing rootstocks as well. After all, Roxbury Russet was originally from Roxbury CT.

I just tried this one and I liked it a lot, although the girls didn't care for the "custardy" middle part. It's from Cook's Illustrated but is not as picky and tedious as some of their recipes tend to be. I did not have Granny Smith apples so I used Jonathan, and it turned out fine but I think something like MacIntosh would turn to mush in the microwave. FRENCH APPLE CAKE (serves 8 to 10) 1-1/2 pounds Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, cut into 8 wedges and sliced 1/8 inch thick crosswise 1 Tablespoon Calvados 1 teaspoon lemon juice 1 Cup plus 2 Tablespoons all purpose flour 1 Cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar 2 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 large egg plus 2 large yolks 1 cup vegetable oil 1 cup whole milk 1 teaspoon vanilla extract Confectioner�s sugar Adjust oven rack to lower middle position and preheat to 325 degrees F. Spray a 9-inch spingform pan with vegetable oil spray. Place prepared pan on rimmed baking sheet lined with aluminun foil. Place apple slices into a microwave safe pie plate and cover, then mircrowave until apples are pliable and slightly translucent, about 3 minutes. Toss apple slices with Calvados and lemon juice and let cool for 15 minutes. Whisk one cup flour, 1 cup granulated sugar, baking powder and salt together in a bowl. Whisk egg, oil, milk, and vanilla together in a second bowl until smooth. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and whisk until just combined. Transfer one cup batter to a separate bowl and set aside. Add the two egg yolks to remaining batter and whisk to combine. Using a spatula, gently fold in cooled apples. Transfer batter to prepared pan; using an offset spatula, spread batter evenly to pan edges, gently pressing on apples to create an even, compact layer and smooth surface. Whisk remaining 2 tablespoons of flour into reserved batter. Pour over batter in pan and spread evenly to edges and smooth surface. Sprinkle remaining 1 tablespoon granulated sugar evenly over batter. Bake until center of cake is set and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Top should be golden brown, bake about 1-1/4 hours total. Transfer pan to wire rack and let cool 5 minutes. Run knife around sides of pan to loosen and let cool completely, 2 to 3 hours. Dust lightly with confectioners sugar, cut into wedges and serve. Annie

Yes, crabs make good pollinators for apples, providing the bloom times coordinate and the tree is close enough - and this one is :-) Often commercial apple orchards interplant with crabs to ensure proper cross pollination but often different apple selections are planted in close enough proximity so that occurs with the different varieties. I wouldn't rely just on it happening on its own - it usually doesn't - and research on growing apples commercially will confirm that: "All apple cultivars require cross-pollination with a pollinizer (not to be confused with a pollinator, which is a bee) to ensure commercial quality fruit and yields. Varieties differ in their self-fruitfulness. For example, Golden Delicious is considered partially self-fruitful, while Red Delicious is not. Regardless of the degree of self-fruitfulness, provide cross-pollination in every planting. With respect to cross-pollination, all red sports and spur types are considered the same as the parent variety. For example, Yorking is not a pollinizer for York Imperial. Closely related varieties may not pollinate one another—for example, McIntosh, and Early McIntosh. Triploid varieties do not pollinate any varieties. Otherwise, all varieties with satisfactory pollen are pollinizers of one another if the bloom periods overlap. It is advisable to have three pollinizer varieties in all Stayman and Winesap blocks." Orchard Pollination