Now I am very glad to be wrong on this topic - it's very good news to hear that breeders are actually focusing on taste. Jonagold is quite delicious. I read "The Fruit Hunters" and the author interviewed the Zeigers of Zeiger genetics. They admitted that most of the focus of their stone fruits has been on shippability, but they claim to now have changed their focus, and they are trying to improve on taste - the goal is to have a peach that tastes as good as the old heirlooms, but also ships well and stays good for weeks at a time. Yes, I am not sure I would even know how to grow apples on the East coast. I feel very fortunate to live in the Santa Cruz mountains, we have about the best climate one could ever ask for when it comes to apples. They are so tasty in my orchard, that is what got me so enthusiastic about apples. I spent years trying to grow all sorts of things from subtropicals like macademias to citrus and stone fruits. None rival the perfection of the apples in my orchard. We even get outstanding Summer apples because our Summers here (upper 60's to mid 70's daytime, mid 40's to low 50's night time in the middle of July and August) are equivalent to East Coast Fall weather. Our first apple to ripen is Anna around late May, and the last apple to ripen is Williams Pride in late January. Feb through April is covered primarily by storage apples. But we do get seasonal fluctuations here too that shift which apples end up tasting good. We get a period of hot Fall weather that - if it shows up too early tends to ruin the early Fall apples which seem not to like much heat. If the heat doesn't show up until October, then we get nearly perfect apples on all the varieties. Last Fall the Cox orange pippin harvest was ruined because the hot weather showed up at the end of August. They went mealy very quickly.

Hi Poochella! As the say seeing is believing! I hope my photos will be as impressive when I get around to posting? I wrote the below and was ready to paste before I saw your 2nd reply with photos. Jim Hi jroot and Poochella and of course All! Thanks for your replies. I sort of thought someone would think I was not serious about the 8' tall Dahlia plants because Ive never seen them before either. But it is the truth as Poochella said. I candidly thought I was doing something wrong. But I will say this; my wife thinks their beautiful and likes looking out the window at them, plus my next door neighbor told my daughter when she sits on her patio she feels like shes at a park. Im so happy we missed the frost of Sat morning 9/30, here in the Syracuse NY area as I have a brother from Binghamton NY, actually Conklin which is 90 miles S of Syracuse who will be visiting this coming weekend. He too has never seen 8'ers. Amazingly with a 1½ degree southerly latitude difference between his home and ours, his area is classified as Zone 4a/b where ours is Zone 5a. So that could possibly be a great deal to cause the tallness factor. Longer warmth and as much as a 2 to 3 week more of growing season can make a big difference Im sure. I gave him a tuber this Spring but his never materialized to that height. I just went out to measure what I think is the tallest and it does measure just shy of 8', and Im sure with the temps in the low 50's to middle and upper 70's on a couple of days this week they'll reach beyond that height. I will get a couple of photos, hopefully today. Another thing I would like to point out is without trying to embellish is, first, jroot like you this is a favorite Forum. The learning content is great and the photos are exhilarating, and Im envious of the photography. To be so gifted. Second, as to the tall growth. I learned after the fact that its not so good to fertilize or should I say over fertilize. I'm sure it came via this Forum. Well, for the past two years Ive taken fresh horse manure, mixed it in a 5-gal pail until it was broken down and then added more until I had the pail almost full of manure. I then put this in my six cu ft construction wheel barrel and added collected rainwater. I fill the barrel at least twice and get possibly as much as 50 gals of liquid that I strain back into 5 gal pails. I also add five tablespoons of Miracle Grow to each pail. (Talk about over fertilization!) Then with a watering can I pour at the base of each plant and generally have enough left over and pour over the plant itself. I did this three times during the growing season. One thing Ive recently noticed as I pass a few properties where Dahlias are visibly growing, is the leaf structure from the stem base ½ way up on many or most plants have already turned brown and crumbly dead looking. I have very little to no brown on my leaf structure. The same areas of growing but why the difference? Is it the soil PH or the rich mixture? I have not a phantom of an idea. And 3rdly I have to add I enjoy reading the posts from this Forums Group. As much as I hate the thought of being just a few weeks away from Winter where our average snowfall is over 100", I cant wait to get caught up on the Groups Tips and Success after blowing out the driveway. Believe me, Id rather be Gardening, and the Gardening Forum is the closest I can get :>) Jim

Know this is an old thread but read through, & had to post to fellow percolater JAVA lovers...Yes it does seem different, from when we were kids (even for my younger 43 yr old self) Ohh I missed fresh Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee, my momma, used to make on the stove, as a kid in south philly. I moved over to Pittsburgh for 20 years after I fell for college sweeheart, and moved close to home after she left. To mend a broken heart, I went to Jamaica(monn) in 2000.(They use sugarcane or plain white sugar there)in the Blue Mountain coffee..Best in the world, and I like french, italian, kenyan, etc..Met a nice woman there, whom I'm still with 11 years later ;) I just found a distributor out of South Philly that gets it fresh(within 3 days of harvesting beans he roasts them for you in front of your face ;') Using a "Burr Mill Grinder" is the only true method of grinding beans, at home. Those cheapy blade grinders really CHOP beans...bad., horrible for flavor, foamy goodness, etc.. 1 rounded tsp to each 6 ounce water & 1 for the pot. Use hot water and boil until it starts to perk. set to low and let perk for 8 mins ONLY remove from heat right away, & let sit for 4 mins. Pour that yummy goodness into a cup, use your favorite sweetner(if you choose & cream for those who need it) Enjoy, the Delish JC

Well, for as tired/sleepy as I am, I had a great giggle over all the comments! Please excuse any typos I might make. Made the mistake of cutting grass at noon. Not a good idea! Lou, thank you for the offer. I may take you up on it. Don't know how soon I'll get to them. We have our BIG family campout/antique gas hit an miss engine/steam show in a couple of weeks. I have the honor of getting two motor homes ready, preping any food in advance that I can, and do most of the cooking while there. Mom and Dad are only able to go if we all do all the work. DB & DSIL may not even be able to go this year, due to starting a new business. It's only about 20 minutes away for all of us, but if DB has classes, he can't close the studio. DD will help as much as she can, so will DS IF he doesn't have to work. Last count, with invited guests/famiy/friends, was 22 I think. Dad & I will move in on Wed. Show starts on Fri. Some prep we will do on Thurs, and have a steak fry that night. Breakfast menu so far is home fries by request, eggs, pancakes (the only thing besides a little meat of choice mom will eat for breakfst), bacon sausage, or ham. Lunch ham sandwiches. Fri night is chili, burgers for those who don't want chili. Sat same for breakfast and lunch. Supper is burgers and dogs. Potato salad for whatever meal anyone wants. Dad wants cauliflower with cheese on Thurs. Raw veggies available anytime. Sunday is leftovers! Any of you who want to sneak in, the WILL be plenty of food. I ALWAYS have food to bring home! Ann, no, wrong side of the family, tho my aunt did make them with that dough. Yummy! Lars, the whatever you called it sauce is cause I also asked for a cheese sauce to put over the cauliflower. Dad is remembering how his mom cooked! By the time I can remember her cooking, she was getting too sick for me to learn from her. Your cinnamon rolls sound fantastic, but I don't have the energy to go to that much work. Now, before I fall asleep at the computer, I'm headed for bed! I'm already wore out before the show even gets here! My fault. But I was trying to beat the rain on radar that ended up only being a few sprinkles. I'll get caught up on sleep and be off and running again. Then I'll sleep in a lot the following week! I'm happy to try to spoil him. We don't know how many more times they will be able to go. I said last year, I was going to do this the easy way this year. Well, the meat for the chili will be cooked and seasoned ahead and frozen. The burger patties will be made and frozen ahead. I'm taking the old roaster and dumping every thing in that for the chili and letting it go most of the day. Ham will go in a crock pot on warm with a bit of water for lunches first thing in the morning and they can eat lunch whenever! Will have to keep watch of Mom. She doesn't always know it's her sugar droppign when she doesn't feel good. Dad knows his. And yes, I know the cinnamon rolls aren't a good idea, but he will compensate for the treat. That's why I spoil him that weekend. Thanks all. Tami