You will get many opinions with a question such as this. You need to decide what you consider important about an apple, then choose from varieties that meet your criteria. Some like them sweet, some like them sour, some like them to keep a long time, some don't care, some like cider, some like pie, some like sauce. The apple world is quite large and forboding, descriptions abound. Look around your neighborhood. Some varieties will thrive in your climate, some may not. My understanding of Goldrush is that they might take a longer season than you can give them. I picked mine in December this year. If you can get your hands on a Crimson Crisp you will doubless be impressed. I have pixie crunch which is a September delight. Honeycrisp is great, but perhaps not very disease resistant. William's Pride produces a nice mid summer crisp apple treat as well. I would avoid Enterprise unless good looks is all you require. Liberty produces a very versatile apple which can be very good or very average, even off the same tree. These, of course, are only my opinions. All in all you have many delightful decisions to make. Many wish they had your grand opportunity. Ted

I have Krupnoplodnaya (found it at local Menards two years ago and Arsenev (from One Green World). They both and the male are in a pretty shady spot under a tree house. Last year only the male bloomed, this year both male and Krupnoplodnaya have flower buds on them, so I should know how big the fruit gets this summer (knock on wood). No problems with leafing out or blooming too early so far. Though we are expecting 35 degrees and snow tonight and tomorrow night. But this weather is not typical. Check out One Green World, they offer quite a few of kiwi kolomiktas, they also have extra hardy argutas (Tatyana and Natasha are hardy to zone 3, I believe). I don't really have a good and big enough place to put one of those nor am I sure my family will eat 100 lb of fruit, otherwise I'd definitely order them. I might still do it once our yard is terraced ;) Here is a link that might be useful: One Green World's kiwi

Prickly pear sounds neat! I recall seeing some native plant registrars for Wisconsin done in the 1920's-1950's. Some counties in WI had stands of native prickly pear cactus. I always wanted to someday try and find them assuming they still exist. Supposed to be some in Adams county as quite dry/sandy. I have family there but never did find a cactus. When I was in grade school, a classmate had prickly pear at their house. How amazed I was as a 3rd grader seeing cactus surviving the cold/snow of Wisconsin. It blew my mind. I have never eaten them but did see how they burn the pads on some of the Mexican cooking shows on T.V. (hooray for PBS or I would have nothing decent to watch).

The book is older, but the classification doesn't change the characteristics. So now: Cimicifuga Racemosa = Actaea racemosa Cimicifuga americana = Actaea podocarpa Cimicifuga rubifolia = Actaea rubifolia Cimicifuga foetida is a european species. On the Actaea Racemosa, it mentioned that the flower have a sweet, fetid smell. On the other hand, there is a cultivar of Actaea Racemosa call Black Negligee which supposely have a tropical fruit smell. Unfortuantely, it's often listed as Cimicifuga Racemosa Black Negligee or Cimicifuga Simplex Bllack Negligee. I am unclear on if there is a difference between simplex and racemosa. Paul