Jason, The reason that fruit trees are grafted has to do with fruit production. More often that not, fruit trees do not 'come true' from seed, meaning that due to the inherent variability of seedlings they will not necessarily produce the same quality of fruit that you might expect. This is often not the primary consideration when contemplating bonsai. Which is not to say that some bonsai are not grafted, they sometimes are, but not with fruit production in mind. For instance; the seed from a Crab Apple will produce a Crab Apple. But if you want a named variety it must be grafted or produced by other asexual means, such as cuttings or layers. Norm

would love to trade for Mind Reader, Spirit World & Devine I have Jesse's song, Lady Friend & Jurassic Park email shardshoe@hotmail.com

Guess it depends on where you live, too. I remember Fancy Woman winning the Cook Cup in Detroit back in '97. This was mainly a median show, but FW was in bloom in several gardens, and most of the conventioneers were TB fanciers. So, Detroit may not be affected by late cold snaps. The two tenderist irises for me have been Chocolate Vanilla and Skookumchuck. The least amount of cold in the spring after they had started to grow would kill them post haste, and there were no nubbins or small increases to try for a comeback. These accounts are not based on one season happenings. Both were replaced. I think I tried CV three times. Walter Moores

Cawfe, you just reminded me of my biggest pet peeve about my ex... Me: "What do you want for supper tonight?" Him: "Meh, doesn't matter. Whatever." So I'd make whatever I felt like making. Him: "Well I didn't want that!" Bwah!!! Then say "Meh, doesn't matter. Anything except ___ is fine" !!! That drove me up the wall!