None of my M27 have been real productive. I've done much better with full dwarf (B9/G11/G16), than mini-dwarf. I think M27 could be good, but only if you pay very close attention to it. Very few of my apples set very well this past year (on any rootstock). Only the Priscilla had a decent crop, about the same size as the year before, even though I had grafted over the upper portion. The apples from it were pretty good too- I'm not planning on grafting over the rest of it anymore. HGG would have had a good crop (see below). Sundance also had a moderate crop (1st time in year #3), with most others (including Goldrush and WIlliam's Pride, smaller in year #4 than in #3) having small crops. Some of it could be letting them bear too early. I thinned quite a bit, but more would probably have helped. While they are all well staked and mulched, I haven't watered them very much. I should probably give them a couple more good soakings during the dry parts of July. I got 5 in 2011 from Raintree: Ashmead's Kernel- never leafed out, but a single bud from the graft union did grow. After a year, I transplanted it back into a pot, which I later replanted after it yielded 2 apples and I verified that it wasn't just rootstock. Enterprise- looked like it had a good root system when I planted it, but it never leafed out. Akane- 3 apples in 2013 (3rd year) and probably a couple more last year. Hudson's Golden Gem- It has set big crops the last two years. In 2013, all but one of the dozen+ apples cracked and rotted. In 2014, I lost most of the ~20 apples to animals. The 3 I picked were very good. Red Boskoop- This is the biggest M27. Maybe 7.5' tall, it seems like a good size to me. It has been covered with blooms the last 2 years, but hasn't ripened a single apple. There were a few which made it into summer, but none made it all the way.

I'd like to put in a good word for Tradescant. Not sure if I can say it's my favorite, but I wouldn't be without it. I can't seem to figure out how to post pics, but I know Patrick (my enabler on that one) has some incredible pics of it that might be nice to add to this thread. General Jacqueminot might actually be my fave - at any rate, every time I see it I say that. Trouble is, it is very prone to BS. But, oh, the perfection of color (whitish-bluish blush backing) and nodding, full blooms... Celeste - love your pic of General Washington. It has long been on my wish list, but I have hesitated to get it, since so many HPs have disease problems and (to me) awkward plant habits. Is it a lot of trouble?... Souv. du Dr. Jamain is the second most remarked upon rose in my garden the first being Jude the Obscure). Smoldering, saturated, and trouble-free. I call it my Dr. Huey substitute. Am I the only one who actually really likes the old doctor? They are in bloom all around town right now, and I can't go anywhere in the car without taking long detours just to see them all. I know they'll look like hell in a few weeks, after bloom, but gosh, so will some of my HPs! :) Call me a simpleton, but Dr. Huey was actually the rose responsible for my interest in old roses. Since childhood I loved that mysterious, arching old rose that graced so many of the older houses around here. If I could only have one, I thought... Well, when I grew up and moved back to my small hometown, I went searching on the web for that old thing. Couldn't find it anywhere. But, I found lots of other gorgeous, smelly old roses and lovely specialty nurseries and this wonderful, helpful forum. And it was here that I finally learned the identity of my first rose obsession. And nobody likes it. Why? I still don't have one (nearly acquired one a couple of weeks ago, but that's another long story...), but sometimes when I drive about town, looking at all the spectacular Dr. Hueys, I think just for a moment that maybe my grand, elaborate rose show is still not the equal of a single mature specimen of the reviled old doctor. Am I just crazy? Over-romanticizing my first rose love? Or are there others who appreciate this rose too? With humble pleas for tolerance of my heretical views, robiniaquest (or should it be Dr. Hueyquest?)

Susan, That is odd about the pumpkin, because they tend to like similar conditions to the butternut squash, so it seems odd the latter is happy and the former is a dud this year! Go figure. (SOmetimes lots of green but no flowers/fruit is a sign of too much nitrogen --- I don't know if there was anything that fertilized the pumpkins but not the squash that might've been nitrogen-heavy? Just one possibility.) But the harvest sounds great nonetheless. And good for you for planting those fall veggies. I rarely can get my head back into a planting space by mid-summer so I often don't get much more than a quick crop of lettuce in. I am just in harvest mode!!! But I saw Ken planted a fall pea crop the other day and with you getting all those goodies in maybe I"ll be inspired to do a bit of fall planting.... Hope your recovery is swift! Zabby

pd728: I would (and I will) leave the feeders up until at least the end of September, and probably until close to frost. I'm still seeing hummers but when that's rare I'll take in the feeder from the deck and leave the feeder up in the front yard. The deck feeder will come in because the raccoons empty it every night and I have to refill it every morning. The front yard feeder only needs to be refilled every four or five days, depending on the weather. Claire edit note: I just saw this site The amazing tongue of the hummingbird