Millie, When I started with berries I used the search at the bottom of the forum, and found all threads about the subject. I read them all, and found most of my questions answered. Now the plants are purchased, and I'm waiting for the rain to stop. It's been to wet here to do anything outside. garbird

I don't know how Methely performs outside my area but there is absolutely no doubt, from my experience at maybe 25 different sites, that it is extremely susceptible to black knot and more so than any of the other 20-25 varieties of plums I grow at multiple sites. It is, nevertheless, a useful plum here except at the worst sites for this disease. Just expect to have to do a lot of cutting out of black knot and maybe replace the tree after about 10 years (if your site is bad for it). Also, ask any of those commercial growers what is their most difficult apple to grow and I suspect the answer will be Honeycrisp. I have spoken about it to the Crop Production System"s main consultant to commercial growers in the Hudson Valley. He call's Honeycrisp twice as difficult to grow as any other major apple but worth it because of the high price per bin it receives from distributors. This year at mine and two other sites where I grow it on 6 different trees and three different rootstocks, 90% of the crop rotted before it achieved decent quality. I am not providing calcium sprays (as commercial growers do) and there may be something I haven't pinpointed that I'm doing wrong, but no other apple I grow gives me so much trouble. These trees performed well before they reached full maturity with well established root systems. Scott, I made a mistake when I wrote Queen Rosa, I was actually talking about Ruby Queen, although I do manage a small QR as well, which has excellent fruit but may also have the same reliability issues as Santa Rosa and here, the same susceptibility to cold related cambium damage. I will correct my initial statement to say that I consider Ruby Queen to be an excellent and easy to grow J. plum and the best late season J. plum I grow if you factor in overall performance including resistance to bacterial spot. It was also bred for the south and seems to be highly regarded for both quality and reliability there. People that want an extremely sweet plum may be disappointed with it, though. I sometimes wonder if your evaluations also include input from other friends. I am certainly influenced by the opinions of my customers and friends of fruit from their own trees and what I supply them to sample. I have customers who believe their own Methely trees produce the best plums in the world (maybe not the ones who've sampled a wide variety of other plums, though). It appears that Satsuma is going to require at least annual sprays of copper here to help limit bacterial spot. This is not an issue with more common east coast plums I grow here- at least at most sites. My main tree was healthy for the first 4 years but has gotten increasingly infected in the last 2.

contact your extension or soil conservation district COUNTY office ... and ask if they sell small cheap stock for such a project.. i am presuming you are not looking for named cultivars ... also .... most conifers prefer full sun ... for most vigor ... best growth ... its hard to tell by your words alone.. but that might be something you have to plan out.. for understory trees ... ken

Amysrq, There are many restaurants in Hudson, There is a very large population of ex-Manhattanites so the taste level is pretty high. We stayed away from the finer dining places. We just weren't in the mood. But we did enjoy Tortillaville, a seasonal Mexican place, seasonal in the sense that it is a cute little 50's style aluminum food truck that sets up on a vacant lot right on Warren St. (the main street)with picnic tables and umbrellas. It was fun and inexpensive and my teens loved it. We also ate a lunch at Brunos, a tiny little lunch place also on Warren St run by two sisters. Terrific organic carefully prepared fresh food. Bruno was a much loved family pet and the restaurant name is to honor his memory. Baba Louie's is another casual place, organic spelt flour flat bread pizzas and terrific salads, everything organic and fresh. My teens loved the original small brewery type fruit sodas they served here. They have three locations, Hudson, Pittsfield, and Great Barrington. I can also highly recommend the ice cream at Lick. Artisanal small batch ice creams, very rich in interesting flavors. My daughter loved the lavender. Ask for samples before you decide on a flavor. All of these places are on Warren St, the main drags. My daughter's about to leave for college so we just went through the whole campus tour routine. Good luck!