Brandon, before I invest time in trying to find the bits and pieces of information I've picked up over the years, such as that peaches have been shown to increase in actual size after more aggressive pruning compared to less (because of less energy invested in fruit production), I'd like you to steer me to a single piece of research based on cutting back bearing wood on mature plants at transplanting as opposed to immature plants. Not that I'd be convinced if you found the research that it holds true for all species, because I feel certain it doesn't, but it will motivate me to go to the effort. It doesn't matter if wood stores energy if it doesn't share it with the roots. Check the literature for what you do with a spur-bound apple or pear tree. You cut back the spurs (sexually mature wood) to encourage vegetative (sexually immature) growth. I have the benefit of watching the results of the removal of such wood on a regular basis and it is a routine treatment of some of the trees I manage. You remove enough of the spur wood and the trees start growing more vigorously. Trees that have been declining in size have started growing again. The reason immature fruit trees grow proportionately faster than mature trees is because juvenile wood doesn't spare energy for fruit and flowers which is very expensive and it is well known that regardless of rootstock you can greatly control the size of most species of fruit trees by accelerating the beginning of fruit production. The greatest managment risk in commercially growing fully dwarf apples is having them fruit excessively when they are too small- they often permanently runt out. Plants runt out when inadequate energy is being sent to the roots. Vegetative wood generously feeds the roots while fruiting wood is very stingy. I transplant hundreds of bearing age fruit trees on semi-dwarfing rootstock annually, and one of my biggest problems is having peaches runt out- the treatment- aggressive pruning. It is also the way to get them to avoid the problem in the first place. I know that all, and I mean all, of Carl Whitcomb's research was based on work with a few species of very young plants, so I can't go there for researched information. Show me where to go, Brandon, for some actual research on mature plants and I'll continue this discussion, but as it stands, I just have seen too many instances where pruning back has stimulated growth on mature trees. As far as blueberry plants, I'm not so sure one way or the other. When I got out of hort-school I had all the confidence as you in the research I'd been stuffing my head with (and a good thing- it helped me disguise my inexperience). Actual experience has made me much more skeptical of sweeping assumptions based on very limited research. Much more comprehensive medical research than research we are discussing here is often contradicted by subsequent research. I'm sure this would happen more with hort research if it was pursued with similar aggression and funding.

Dumb question... What sort of fellow is your friend? Is he a "Grow stuff" sort of fellow - or not? In general - If your friend likes the idea of fruit but has never grown fruit, and you don't really know what he likes... and you REALLY want to get a fruit tree of some sort... Get him a Blueberry... Nearly zero maintenance, they don't get huge, don't make a giant mess, and the odds of getting good fruit are pretty high. On to the rest of my opinion... One thing to think about maintenance wise is dumping piles of junk on the ground that your buddy will have to attend to... Your friend may well end up cursing you each fall as they have to go pick up a ton of spiny, bug filled, staining, or stinky debris off the yard.... ESPECIALLY SO with Chestnuts - as a mature tree will dump THOUSANDS of spiny witches eggs on the ground... These are extraordinarily painful to touch - much less if you happen to step on one... Picking them up off the ground requires gloves! Personally... My opinion - don't gift a Chestnut unless your friend really wants a Chestnut and knows what he is in for... Walnuts produce BASEBALLS with THICK husks that drop all over the place - and their husks produce a ton of black, stinky, permanent staining goo that gets all over everything... Black walnuts are especially bad in this regard... Their leaves also stain EVERYTHING! In this regard - I would consider a Pecan before a walnut.. Mess wise - many "Large fruit" trees can make a big mess if you aren't committed to cleaning up after them.... Think of all he old Apple and Pear trees that folks cut down because they shower the yard annually with apple and pear slime.... More so with Mulberries and their Purple Stain! Thanks

It's a very specific question. Actually, people are doing you a very big favor by not posting. Is knowing this is a good rose in South Carolina really useful information if you live a few thousand miles away? Published hardiness information on practically every rose is suspect. Unless you can track it back to a specific place, set of cultural practices, etc. it seems to turn into the absolute furthest north somebody has ever managed to grow the rose and have it produce a flower. This ignores the fact that most people want a bit more security than that, and that the northeast tends to be harder on marginal roses than the midwest. IMO, this is the biggest single cause of people having trouble with roses in this area - the inability to get reasonable information on rose performance in this region. It's one thing to try growing a difficult rose understanding that it is going to be difficult. It's another to totally underestimate the amount of trouble a rose is going to be because the growing information has been cribbed from a totally different place. My potted roses move into the garage any time the forecast lows are much below 30. They do need to stay out in enough cold to persuade them to go dormant. Keeping them on the dry side might help with this, but that isn't usually going to happen this time of year unless they are under cover. Lately, they've been going inside for a bit while we visit family for Thanksgiving, but go in for keeps sometime in early December. The pots tend to be pretty well watered at that point, and they will be fine until they break dormancy. That's the tricky part, since the garage roses usually start growing in late February, weeks before anything starts going on outside. After that, they will need regular watering, and it helps to get them outside during warm days in March. When they were smaller, I used to store them in cardboard boxes so they were in the dark. That just got too difficult when they started getting into 14"+ pots. A few years ago, I used to have Souvenir de la Malmaison in a pot. It was an end of season leftover from J&P found locally, and was never really in the best of shape. I had it for a couple of years, then lost it during a cold snap in the spring.

Good Sunday morning to you. Maybe something like Nishiki Willow? I've seen one in my neighborhood in NY zone 6, tree form and it puts on a lovely, very dense show. I think it only grows 15' or so and needs lots of water. Plus I'm not sure when they leaf out or lose their leaves or what kind of debris they may drop in your pool though. If you like the look of Nikishi, maybe someone more knowledgeable could recommend something similar yet more appropriate.