sherwindu wrote:

I go along with your feelings on dwarf trees. I don't know why anyone would
prefer a full size tree, especially on a small lot. I had a North Star, which
was
supposed to be a dwarf, but grew to great size and took up a lot of space.

Maybe it was a freak or got mislabelled somewhere in the process. Maybe
some do get large like those young 'uns I saw at Lowe's.

Seems mine grew to no more than 7' tall and 5' wide and stayed like that
for many years.

I
might
have kept it, but it never produced more than a handful of cherries every year,
so
I pulled it out.

I'd want rid of it, too, but I do hate killing trees :-).

Having two North Stars instead of one should help with the
pollination and result in more fruit, even though that tree is self fertile. I
still have my Montmorency, which has consistently produced fruit for the last 15
years.

They told me at the nursery where I bought the NS's that it required two
to cross pollinate. Now I've read that is not true. Anyway, your
satisfaction with the Montmorency is encouraging, and I hope mine will
do well.

I so wish I had room for a couple dwarf apricot trees. I have what I
thought was supposed to be a dwarf Moorpark, and late frosts almost
always kill the fruit, once they got wormy, and about 3 years ago loaded
with gorgeous apricots (somebody stole all the low ones I was watching
until they were just right to pick). It looks like a standard to me.
It's a crooked old thing now (because it had to stretch out to get to
the sun), I think I will give it one more year. I read Sungold or
Moongold are more hardy, but I could only have one.

Haven't seen any around for a long time, but when I first moved here,
two neighbors had some standards that bore tons of smaller fruit without
fail every year, messy, but delicious.

Nobody bothers much with fruit trees any more. Why don't more people
want fruit trees? New luxury homes have sprung up all around, but they
seem to want yards that are professionally landscaped. They all look
kind of blah to me, same old, same old. Some of it is practical. Low
maintenance. Reliable in our climate.