t-ra: When you say your are "starting simple", does that mean that you planted the grapevine, peach and apple trees yourself, or did you inherit someone else's planting? If you planted them yourself, do you know what the varieties are? It could make a difference for the grapes and peach. Apples should be ok with no protection against cold, but what does "well established" mean in terms of years in the ground? Most grape varieties should be fine in a 5a climate, and some peach varieties will be too. But it will make a difference, particularly for the peach, if you are near a large body of water to moderate spring temperatures. You should supply your location if you want advice on that aspect of peach growing. For many people in the upper midwest, the biggest winter problem is chewing of young trees by rodents and rabbits. Wrapping with wire seems to be the best way to prevent this. If you have a deer problem, the only real solutions are to surround a tree with a strong wire fence, or shoot the deer. Shooting is a more permanent solution, and also supplies venison. Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

Krycek1984, I want to address a few points brought up in your post. First, there's really need for more personal attacks. There were enough of those already in this thread. While I sometimes disagree with iforgotitsonevermind, she certainly isn't generally ignorant, and even when she and I see things in almost totally opposite ways, I don't think she tries to be arrogant. Maybe she gets a little over excited, but don't well all. Iforgotitsonevermind's concern was not whether mimosa is currently considered an invasive pest in the area, but whether it had the potential to be in the near future. Your assurance that it "will not become an invasive species unless global warming goes crazy", falls short of convincing me. As I said above, I'm not convinced that it will ever become a problem, but your assertion, that it's not even close, doesn't convince me the other way, either, and seems to be based more on feeling than proof. Your question about who cares if you plant Bradford pears can have many answers including a number of invasive plant groups (which are concerned about their damage to the environment in many areas), neighbors (who worry about the trees falling over the property line onto their car, producing a foul smell, or making the neighborhood ugly when they fall apart at an early age), and those that want to share information they've learned from their mistakes or observations.

Grapes vary widely in their cold tolerance. Most won't make it through a brutal winter up north. I have been growing Mars and Reliance, both seedless varieties and both are rated for zones 5-8. In my zone 5 I get some winter kill every year, but enough survives to carry on the next year. I do not attempt to protect them at all. For your area I would recomend Jung Seed as a source for grapes cold hardy enough for up north. The other issue is that you need a short season grape otherwise the fruits aren't ripe before the cold hits. Hopefully what you have is cold hardy and will ripen in time once mature enough, but if not Jungs has a couple that will do well for you.

Vladimir, all depends on the size of the tree. Rick, Claire is right. planting it now would encourage the tree to put on some new growth which most likely will not harden off by the time the cold weather arrives. i would store your trees this winter just like you have in the past and then get them in the ground once they break dormancy in the spring as long as there is no longer a threat of frost. All my trees are in 20 gallon pots with maybe 1 or 2 going into the ground possibly next year. all my trees are 4yrs old started from cuttings. as for fertilizer, i give them spring application right around the time they are starting to wake up using Joe Morles recipe. then roughly a month after that i start feeding them every other week with a liquid fish fertilizer called Organic Gem. I stop feeding them mid august just so that they don't put on much new growth. i also sprinkle a handful of garden lime 1-2 times during the season into each pot. once frost hits and all the fig leaves fall off i usually leave the tree outside to get a couple more light frosts to help harden off the new wood. once majority of the new green wood has turned brown, i bring them into my detached garage where they will stay all winter. i dont cover them nor do i provide any heat for them. matter of fact every time it snows its my sons job to place 2-3 grapefruit sized snowballs on each pot to assure that the soil never goes dry. it typically take up to a week for the snowballs to completely melt. sorry for the rambling....