I put my Pterostyrax in the ground as a rooted cutting barely 1-foot tall in probably... 2008. It is now at least 15 feet tall, I think. It looks to me like the new shoots every year are up to 4 feet long. So at the early stages, I'd have to say "fast." This is with good soil and pretty adequate water. Since it is not described as a large tree, I imagine that the growth rate slows eventually. Mine has a very clear tendency to a single leader, and a single trunk; definitely a tree, not a shrub. The flowers are actually quite subtle in real life both in looks and fragrance, but the leaves make up for it (I'm a foliage person anyway, so at least I think so). The branch structure is lovely, very straight branches and consistent angles. It's also very tidy. The leaves stay on quite late into fall, don't do much colour changing, and then they're gone quite quickly. Granted, it's not above a deck so I might be missing something. I don't know how big crepes get but I have to agree with Ink that from the perspective you've shown, a variety of canopy shape would look more appealing than three all the same. And incidentally, what would allow them to grow bigger is the relief from root competition of the pears, probably not sun alone. I could also recommend Heptacodium, except it may be a problem with respect to bees. For me the fact that it attracts bees is a good thing, but might not be ideal on a deck. Mind you, in my yard the tree is close to the front porch and I can't say we have a bee problem. But again, this might be a smaller tree. I have a bunch of young trees so in terms of long term experience I am not very useful. But I also enjoy my Parrotia. Karin L

Please report back on which ones are sweet! In Iran I think all apricots I've had are sweet and delicious kernels. Perhaps you can find some Iranian varieties. I think Scott has found some Iranian varieties like Shekar Pareh and Zard perhaps from Afghanistan??? I just spoke with my grandmother actually she says I am mistaken--we have bitter kernels in Iran as well but they are less common and cheap fruit. Shes says the bitter kernel ones generally have darker yellow skin, smaller fruit, and poorer overall fruit quality. I wonder if anyone has ever tried Tomcot kernels!!! I am nursing my small Tomcot tree back to health probably won't produce for a few years.

If the graft doesn't take you just let 2 or 3 uprights grow the first season and graft all of them the next. Ones bound to take the second year. The graft will grow much faster the second year when the roots are established anyway. On 111 the delay won't have much affect in slowing bearing as long as you choose 3 scaffolds for the first tier and don't cut them back unless it's absolutely necessary to get secondary branching going. With most varieties you're not going to get a substantial crop until at least the 5th year anyway. Still, for a beginner the more dwarfing root stocks are easier to train. You barely have to master pruning at all. 111 is pretty high maintenance, which is good for me as I make half my living pruning fruit trees.

The heat gained in that location will not be a benefit for producing fruit on an apricot. It might allow a tree to survive a harsh winter but it will cause it to bloom earlier. If we lived somewhere that the wind didn't blow then maybe the heat could radiate from the garage all night and protect the blooms. The wind will blow the cold air in and it will still freeze just as hard in that location as it will on any side of the house. I am actually playing with the idea of planting my early blooming fruit in "winter only" shade so they MIGHT come out of dormancy a week later or so. You would benefit from a west side planting because the MT adds shade in the afternoon. I did plant one of the Tlor-Tsiran black apricots last spring, we will see how that works out. Fruitnut has a point about those 2 apricot varieties made for Montrose CO. Montrose and Denver are quite different climates, but those may still stand a better chance than other varieties. I wouldn't worry about the planting site being too close, but I would probably go dwarf or prune hard.