Here's what Bob Purvis had to say on the issue in response to an e-mail. Dear Alan, I can understand your puzzlement and frustration. However, I can possibly mention a few things that might encourage you or improve our understanding of what is going on. Richard W. Weidman was the manager of the U of Wisconsin's Peninsular Research Station in Sturgeon Bay, WI on the Door Peninsula. He and I exchanged a couple of e-mails back in 2002 when I was living in Minnesota. (The Door Peninsula lies just east of Green Bay, WI and is an area for commercial fruit production, especially cherries.) I distinctly recall that Dr. Weidman said that although in theory Harlayne should have been the best apricot for his location, in fact Harcot (which is significantly less winter-hardy than Harlayne under MN conditions) performed much better in this cool, modified-maritime environment. I might also mention that in SW Michigan, Herb Teichmann (the manager of Tree-Mendus Fruit, 450 ac, which grows all the tree fruits commercially including apricots) cited Harcot and Goldrich as their "bread and butter" apricots, the ones which performed best at their location, when giving me a personal tour of their orchard in July 2003. I was surprised that they had a lot more acreage of Harcot than of any of the other Harrow apricots. They are in a USDA Zone 5a location, or maybe even a 5b. So your comment about Harlayne's difficulties and Harcot's potential was perhaps in line with what Weidmann and Teichmann reported to me back in 2002-2003. Attempting to diagnose why a fruit tree dies when you are on the spot isn't easy; to do so from 2,500 miles away is even harder. To begin with, one question I would ask is, when you dug up the dead tree, what did the root system look like? Were there a lot of fine roots, or was the root system mostly big roots (which suggests that soil pathogens were eating the small ones)? Another thing that would be worth checking out is this: was there a lot of gumming on the tree, or problems that affected the bark, fruit spurs, etc? Was the cambium on the trees dead from top to bottom, or perhaps only near the base? We had dogwood borers in MN that would attack stone-fruit trees, and out here we have peach tree borer. Dogwood borers typically got active the first week of July in the Twin Cities, and peach tree borers here in Idaho around June 20-27 in an average year. I would wonder if the dead trees were killed by peach tree borer. This clear-winged moth can weaken established peach or apricot trees and kill young trees. The larvae tunnel around in the cambium near the base of the tree, leaving a pile of frass beneath the tree near the trunk. Here are a few other things to consider, based on comments by Apricot Interest Group members. Tomcot, even though it was bred in Washington State, has done amazingly well from Massachusetts to North Carolina because of its extended bloom period. I've had good reports about Stark SweetHeart as well, from Philip Rainville in central Massachusetts. He's a small-scale commercial grower. Stark SweetHeart is later blooming, but if there are lots of squirrels in one's neighborhood it might be a bad choice because its kernels are sweet. Both these cultivars are readily available from commercial sources. Also, have you tested Jerseycot at those locations where Harlayne and Early Blush died? Horticordially, Bob Purvis Chair, Apricot Interest Group, NAFEX

All good advice above, but I'll give you the simple answer: if it grows in Wisconsin, it probably doesn't grow in Florida. Don't fret, the true test of a gardener is the ability to toss your favorite plant in the trash and replace it with another. Here's the same advice I've been spewing for years: before you put a plant in the ground at your new home, take a ride around the neighborhood, out to at least a 5-mile radius. See what's growing well and why. Talk to the local nursery folk, not the big box stores; but do go to them last. Learn and be prepared to make mistakes. Welcome to Florida

My sister in law and I ended up stopping there and I really liked the guy. I would go back again as when I stopped I didn't buy. We rent right now and when we move everything comes with; I don't want to dig more than we already have. He had a decent amount of hostas there but yes it was different than what I was expecting. Hostalisa, I live near Wausau. I didn't get to experience Fox Fire but heard a lot about it. I'm always on the lookout for new places to go. Once we buy a house then I can do more buying. I did buy a Sagae earlier in the summer and it's taking right off. I did get a nice chunk though. Liz

Very sorry to hear about your experience aa1notary. I have no experience whatsoever with that product nor any bias one way or the other, but most often times water infiltration is due to installation issues as opposed to the product itself. The video has expired, but it sounds like perhaps you have horizontal sliders? Something as simple as caulked over or clogged weep holes could cause water to accumulate in the sill... Again, sorry to hear about your experience. I'd recommend having the installation company out to inspect, and possibly in conjunction with that manufacturer rep so that they cannot each blame each other when the other is not present.