To go with the Kishu, I'd pick in order: Page, Gold Nugget, or Tango. And that's a hard call, as they're all very good. Kishu ripens December through January, Tango ripens February through April, Page is ripe from November through January and Gold Nugget ripens from February through June (holds very well on the tree.) So, you might want to think about a succession planting, to give you mandarins for the longest time possible. Your Clementine will be your earliest mandarin, October through December (Christmas mandarins). So, personally, I would plot out what will give you the longest mandarin availability. Patty S.

I have one from Rio Grande Nursery, and it was supposed to be a Page. I planted it after my oldest Page got freeze damaged in the bad winter of '09/'10. I assume it is on sour orange, but nothing Rio Grande does would surprise me very much. This is the third one I've had and this year it was actually not real bad. I don't think i'll keep it though. I think it is really in the ponkan group. The leaves look too much like a ponkan. I have been told they were developed from a Kino Kuni Kat mandarin. But they they have little in common with Kats. I have three Kat varieties and four of the ponkans. The Jamesons had a Satsuma farm in Pearland, TX and they grew a small ponkan similar to Kishu but the Jameson ponkan was a lot better. I have eaten small ponkans sold in Belle Chasse, LA that were very similar, but only slightly larger than, Kishu. Those were sold by one of the Becnels, but not Saxon Becnel & Sons. Patti, the leaves of Satsumas have veins that run different from ponkans. For example, we believe the Atlas Honey mandarin is a Satsuma x ponkan. It came from near where a So Himtra ponkan was growing on Jameson's Satsuma farm. The leaves look like a satsuma and the fruit looks 100% ponkan. So there has been a lot of study of these types around here.

Hi Laura, It is coming along, progress slowed a bit because we switched from summer heat to a cool 68 the last 2-3 days. I can see the pink emerging! Interesting, it is sending up a single bud for its first flower. Hi Alex, thanks for the photo:)... your oleander is stunning - I love it too - its so warm weather looking. When mine blooms I'll get my camera ready:) Pink to red are the best colors. Is there a yellow? Hi Wetsuiter - that is good information to know - it helps me gauge what to try here in Brooklyn. If you get there - take some photos.

Back in the 70's when I was young and, in the words of Moms Mabley, "just as cute as I wanted to be," I had a dress that suited me right down to the ground...it was a narrow winter white cotton sheath with a mandarin collar and a long, wide sash, and it was covered in big black Asian calligraphic characters. I wore it and wore it, until one day I was standing in the will-call line at the theatre, feeling fabulous, and a Chinese family walked by, did a quick double-take, and burst out laughing. I will never know what my dress said, but I didn't wear it again outside my house!