In general, most fruit trees are sold at wholesale as bare root, which means there is a 2-3 week sales window in the spring, and the traditional way of doing things was to sell them that way at retail. However, many nurseries instead pot them up and sell them throughout the summer. This is convenient for all concerned but adds expense and doesn't usually improve the performance of the tree over waiting until the upcoming spring and getting a bare root one then. For some varieties there are some places that don't follow the bare root model and sell container-grown trees year around. Things may be different in really warm climates like yours.

Well, I finally did it...overseeded the 10-month-old TTPR/KBG lawn with TTTF and KBG...and it worked! So it can be done...but read on to find out how I did it...I was quite careful due to what people on here had told me about the PR messing with the germination of other seed due to allelopathy. I did this a little over a month ago now. I actually prefer the lawn consisting of a mixture of these three species, guess I'm odd since no one else here seems to like that three-way mix). We're at ~4.5 weeks now. The existing PR thankfully did not prevent or delay germination of the new seed. The TTTF started to come up within 6 days, and was fully up in about 3 weeks time. The KBG just started coming up last week. Perhaps it wored so well because the PR was only 10 months old. Or b/c it got heat stressed. Or b/c I mowed it to ~1.8 inches before hand on the last mowing before starting the project. I also thinned the lawn fairly drastically prior to over seeding, by utilizing heavy core aeration (three passes) and also verticutting (two passes). I brought up a lot of dead and living grass in the process. I'm currently touching up the few spots that need it with a little extra seed. Here are some photos of the project (same area plus or minus a foot or two) at the various stages for reference (I do consider it a successful outcome even if it was my first time doing it and I learned a lot!): The top photo is the before photo, taken on 8/17/12. The middle photo is about ten days after overseeding, on 8/29/12. You can see the existing PR and KBG, and the TTTF was in the midst of germination, but is hard to see in the pic. And the bottom photo is from 9/21/12, taken right after the first mowing and application of starter fertilizer (I decided to hold off on the fertilizer until after germination so as to slow the growth of the existing grass to prevent it from overtaking the new grass. I'm glad I did this). Here is what I used for overseeding: -TTTF (approx 75% Firecracker LS and 25% Bullseye) -KBG (approx 33% each of America, Bewitched, and Rugby II) -A low amount of the existing TTPR seed blend (see below) was mixed with the fescue and KBG seed; I only used this in those areas that were really bare after the verticutting/raking. In this way, I created a uniform lawn in the bare spots that blended with the old grass. (The existing lawn prior to overseeding was a blend of KBG and three cultivars of TTPR sourced from from Allied Seed: ASP6005, ASP6002, and ASP 6001.)

Hi Bunny, Irina, Thanks for posting about your experience. I was glad you mentioned Jean Pierre Croteau, because I just got that as a plant from LLG. It is in bloom. It is helpful to know that a leaf from it will be true as it has quite a complicated fantasy pattern. I have been reluctant to order leaves. But it is getting harder and harder to order plants from various hybridizers with so many no longer selling retail. When I put down leaves from plants I had, usually, the pattern did not reproduce, neither the chimera or the fantasy. I usually give the resulting plant away. I recently got a couple of leaves of a fantasy from Optimara. When they bloom, I will let you know. I like the hybrids of LLG, plus the plants they offer of other hybridizers. They are always large and usually in bloom. They package well and have great customer service. I like their solid color pale pink double called Southern Delight. It is carefree and easy to grow quickly. Foliage is beautiful and shiny. Blooms are large and showy. For those reasons, I often put down leaves to give as gifts. A very rewarding plant. They have had it for years, very strong stock. I have wanted to try other hybridizers, so I have been hunting around to find growers that offer them. It takes a while. People on the forum have helped. I would like to find a couple of Ruth Bann's. I am thinking, Irina, that CO is full of light with your "mile high sky." In my experience, when on the east coast, the plants knew when it was winter, no matter what I did, and slowed down and did not bloom. In Calif, they are much easier to grow with all the natural light and mild temps. I hope others with more experience with leaves will post on your topic, it is a very good topic now that the selling environment has changed. Joanne

Bringing up an old topic: does anybody know if Steve and Carolyn Bertrand still are active with Perennial Farm near Ionia? In its glory years, that was quite a place for plant freaks. But we were there a couple of years ago, and at that time there were just a few interesting plants in the greenhouse, and Steve had been having some serious health problems and apparently was mainly just wholesaling seed from their garden. This spring I left a voicemail asking if they were still open and never heard back. Guess more than anything I'm worried about them (him). I have always had a soft spot for characters...