Yeah I live in Sydney around the same area as the Granny Smith apple originated. Not sure about what American zone our climate compares to I figured it was maybe a zone 9? Similar to some of the costal areas of California? San Francisco maybe? Regardless I went ahead and planted a range of apples modern, heritage, "low chill" English, American, French, Japanese, etc. I have about 34 different varieties at the moment. I have no idea what will work but I figure some will work and some wont. I can remove the ones that don't and graft on different types. It's fun. I based my original list of apples off the kuffle creek apple list and added some other that sounded interesting. I have the feeling that the guy from kuffle creek is on these forums but I might be wrong. I think that as long as you keep in mind that growing apples in our climate is a bit of an experiment and that they might not all work you might as well have a crack at it. That being said i would be confident that Anna and Dorset Golden will grow and fruit on the central coast. Good luck J Here is a link that might be useful: Kuffle creek apple list

Sharon, GW has a wonderful Christmas and Holiday forum. The people there are full of great ideas. Come on over and play! Here's the link. Here is a link that might be useful: Christmas and Holiday Forum

If you want to look at natives (and who doesn't) you might consider Diploglottis australis which has large, felty compound leaves and tasty fruit, or castanospermum australe, the Moreton Bay chestnut, which has very colourful flowers. Also consider firewheel (Stenocarpus)or tree waratahs (alloxylon) which have nice big red flowers. Tony

"To enhance the red colour on the NSW Christmas Bush (Ceratopetalum gummiferum), apply 50g of sulphate of iron per each 2m high bush in October." I am quoting a titbit I saved from somewhere but have never actually got around to using. My Christmas bush looks as though it will take forever to get around to flowering. It never gets watered, and I don't really think it likes it here. Best of luck with yours. Trish