There has been a new plum tree called BlackIce developed by the UW-River Falls that is supposed to be as good as the California plums. This year it is now available to the public and can be purchased from Jungs Nursery. I have ordered one, since I only live 15 miles from River Falls, so assume it would do well here. Also the new honeyberries known as haskaps that have been developed in Saskatchewan are available in the U.S. for the first time this year. See my post from a few days back. They are supposed to be much better than the honeyberries previously available in the U.S. There are also some bush cherries known as the Romance Series developed at Saskatchewan that are highly touted. Only Carmen Jewel is available in the U.S. so far; and St.Lawrence Nursery in Potsdam, New York, had Crimson Passion for a couple years, but no longer. I am hoping more of the half dozen varieties available only in Canada will soon be available here. These should all be quite hardy where you are; and the honeyberries and bush cherries are supposed to be fairly low maintenance. New introductions don't always pan out to what they are cracked up to be, but the Canadian gardeners have given them good reviews on the forums. The haskaps would ripen at a time before most other fruits, which is another bonus, and when the other bush cherries become available, they have staggered ripening times for different varieties, too. You won't want to be tied down to an extensive spraying program and spending your whole time canning and freezing when you retire, so with low maintenance items, if you are gone on a trip or experiencing health problems, you can just tell a friend or relative to pick the fruit, but they won't care to do any spraying, pruning, or weeding. Also, with bushes you won't have to contend with ladders when you are old and your knees get decrepit. I can't imagine how retirees could eat 50 trees worth of apples, either, unless you will have lots of grandkids around or plan to sell them. I would go for zone 3 blueberries if I were you, like Chippewa, Polaris, or St. Cloud. That is smart of you to prepare the soil in advance. There are pears that should grow fine where you are, too, but it can be a long wait for the tree to mature. I have Summercrisp, Flemish Beauty, Clapp's Favorite, and Luscious, but none have fruited yet. Summercrisp is supposed to be entirely free of fireblight, very early, and quite hardy. I am also growing lingonberries, as they are very good for you, plus are a nice ground cover and can take a little afternoon shade. Your van cherries might be questionable. You might even be on the fringe of where montmorency will fruit consistently. If I were you, I would try just one of each to start with. I have a Lapins going on its third year now and figure if I get fruit even every third year I will be thrilled. Have also ordered a Kristin, which is supposedly hardier than the other varieties of sweet cherries. Also, avoid dwarf trees this far north, as they aren't as hardy. Semidwarf is okay for apples, but otherwise standard are recommended. With all the space you have, you might experiment with a couple apricots. Westcot, Jerseycot (if you can find one), Sugar Pearl might fruit for you at least some years. And of couse, there are the old standbys of strawberries and raspberries, which will give you fruit the first year. Don't forget to fence against the deer and rabbits, and net against the birds, which can cost more than purchasing the trees. Best wishes with your fruit adventures. Northwoodswis

Megamev: Your point on thinning is good advise. I always thin my peaches at least once in mid-june and often do a second thinning a week later to correct leaving too many on. This year was crazy as the apples and pears had 2-3 fruits set per cluster so they needed thinning too. My daughter and I spend about 1.5 hours per tree hand thinning each tree. We quit after thinning only once. No time to go back a second round. My peaches could have been thinned better for bigger fruit size but the flavor is good. My biggest issue is not having refrigeration for all the fruit. We got a new refrigerator two years ago. The old one was fine but my wife decided it was no good since I owned it before we were married. All married men know that anything you had before marriage will disappear soon afterwards as the ladies like to shop. Anyway I wanted to keep the "old refrigerator " just for fruit but my wife forgot and had the delivery people take it away. Time to can, freeze or share the crop with those we can.

Frank, I got it from the same ultimate source, Dave Wilson Nursery. I got it through Bay Laurel Nursery, one of the other nurseries selling DW trees online. I owe another installment on the fruits. Wickson - this little apple has been excellent. It needs to hang until the background turns yellow. It keeps a long time. The taste is more like a stone fruit: sweet/sour like a plum and the aroma of peaches and apricots. Yum!! Myers Royal Limbertwig - A very nice apple on the sweet side with good aroma as well. It has the pendulant branch habit of many limbertwigs. Rambour d'Hiver - a large French apple which is pretty obscure these days. It is actually not that different from many American apples, e.g. Stayman Winesap comes to mind. Not a strong aromatic favor but a very good sweet/sour balance plus an exceptionally good crunch. Gold Rush - not too many apples this year but they are all excellent - hard, flavorful, with this unusual anise/spicy flavor. A truly great gourmet apple. The quality of the fruit has been very good. The tree did well except it gets cedar apple rust - not sure why this tree touted for such disease resitance is a CAR magnet. Most of my White Winter Pearmain dropped to early, I think the tree lacked water (it sits on a raised area). But, a couple hung on and they are really excellent apples -- something like a Mutsu but quite a bit more concentrated in aromatic flavors. My Geneva 3 hardy kiwis are coming in now, tons of 'em. They are ripening unevenly which makes harvest difficult. I don't like them until they have started to shrivel, they are too acidic before then. Fully ripened they are very good, a bit better than a good Hayward. I had a big harvest of quince and made various compotes, jelllies, etc. I don't know how big a fan I am of them, it takes a lot of quince to make jelly and I feel like I am just flavoring sugar. My wife made a baked quince recipe which was very good. If nothing else the quince will be handy as pectin for other jellies and jams. Scott

Thanks Konrad! I wish it was a golden delicious as that is one of my favorites. We often go to a nearby U-pick orchard in fall only for their golden delicious as somehow I never got around to planting one in my orchard. My chip budding attempt with golden delicious also failed. I do like golden delicious for cooking (cut the sugar in 1/2 on any recipe used). They make a really great pie. My unknown apple ripens before our local golden delicious, does not turn a solid yellow and is more round than conical in shape. Since it does not color well and is not good cooked, I assume it is some heirloom variety not golden delicious. My brother in law got this tree from a nearby orchard that some doctor started as he thought he would grow organic apples as a hobby. When that failed and the land sold, the developer sold some of the young fruit trees as 2"BB for $70. The price was right so 5 trees were purchased and planted. However the developer had no records as to what variety was in each row so they were sold as "unknown varieties". I have managed to I.D. the Bartlett pear, Summercrisp pear, Red Delicious, and Northern Spy but no such luck on this unknown apple. It seems it will remain a mystery apple.