The best rootstock is Lovell. If you want more than one variety and you don't have a lot of space, I'd recommend you get a three-in-one or five-in-one peach. Those you can typically pre-order from Dave Wilson, and you'd want to do it now. Our nursery here in Santa Cruz doesn't charge extra, it's $19.99 no matter what, but the multiple grafted peaches are more. Citation is better if you want to plant several varieties together, they will stay small enough and not compete, but they will also use more water. I know, lots of choices, my personal recommendation would be to get a single variety peach on lovell, and then find someone from the CRFG who'd be willing to graft additional varieties onto your tree. Carla in Sacramento heard the same thing I did: Baby crawford is supposed to be one of the best, I was looking for that one last Winter, now I just plan on grafting it. Babock is not a good choice if you want something with a bit of a tang in it. Most white peaches are sweet and less acid. White nectarines have more acidity, and yellow peaches have yet more acidity, followed by yellow nectarines, and finally, red fleshed peaches which have the most acidity. Snow beauty peach is truly an amazing peach, it's much more flavored and sweeter and juicier than babock. Dave wilson says this about it: Snow Beauty White-fleshed taste test winner: one of the all time highest-scoring varieties in blind fruit tastings at Dave Wilson Nursery. Low acid, high sugar, tantalizing flavor. Large, very firm, attractive red skin. Harvest early to mid-July in Central California. Tested as 96.5GF330. Estimated chilling requirement 750-850 hours. Self-fruitful. Pat. No. 10175. (Zaiger)

Before I got the rose bug I was all fuchsias all the time. The local growers here like 1/3 redwood compost, 1/3 potting soil and 1/3 aged manure+peat moss. Try to get horse manure. I turn mine into the ground and let it comopst for at least 6 months. Then I add 1/2 sand because my soil is heavy on the clay and that is what I use in the manure part of the recipe. If your potting mix does not have much perlite then add a few good handfulls if you are growing in a hanging moss lined basket or a redwood planter. I like clay planters for the ones that don't hang. My favorites are the tree ( standard) shaped ones. They are easy to make and take about 2 years to grow. In the ground, omit the perlite and add more sand plus the planting mix above. Put a sturdy pipe or post in to support tree shapes or large trellised plants. You don't want to break brittle wood later when the trellis starts wobbling. Some of the most beautiful fuchsias I ever saw were around SF and down near Newport Beach - Laguna. San Diego has some beauties too. It's a bit too warm here these days near Disneyl;and for great results with the fluffy ones. The smaller or long trumpet kinds take the hotter temps better. Fuchsias will collapse even when wet at temps above 95. Every year I lose approx 80 percent of the big fluffy ones. Dragging the pots into the garage with a swamp cooler helps but I can't always do it. In pots, try and keep the root mass larger than the top and in the ground, the bigger the better. To avoid a long stretched stem when you aren't making a tree shape, you just have to keep pruning and give as bright a light as the plant will handle without burning. If you have a stretched stem already, bury it in the mix recipe above and wait for it to root. Happy fuchsia paradise to you!

There are many good nurseries, both brick and mortar and on line. I always look for a nursery that does its own propagation. Sadly many are wholesale only, but if you look some will sell retail even when they say they won't, if you know what you want and are not just browsing. Some wholesale nurseries are in business to sell to landscapers while others sell mostly to retail nurseries. Those with the landscape trade are most likely to sell to you. Both Annies and Emerisa started out as wholesale only, but added retail when it was profitable. Al

GW. I don't know where you can shop in SF Bay area, but perhaps you should check out California Forums. To go there, click on Other Forums. Other Forums is located on the first page of each forum. Once the page downloads, click on GW Regional Areas. Scroll until you find California. Click on CA, and ask your questions. The majority live in CA, and most likely can suggest nurseries. Another option is checking Garden Watchdog. Good luck, Toni