Today at "The Farm"

Still don't have a name for the 2 Acres in Battleground. I planted the final Paw Paw tree. The others have weathered their transplanting and are essentially unchanged from their planting appearance. The big leaves tend to catch the wind, and are a bit torn from that. Hybridizers take heed: The big leaves are an issue. The Paw Paw might do better with smaller leaves. I saw some much larger Paw Paws at a local nursery - no variety name. I assume they are seedlings. They also had persimmons the same way. Life is too short to waste on no-name varieties unless you have room for multiple trees. So I passed on those. I've been wanting to plant a shade tree. It's in honor of my birthday which is coming up. I figure a shade tree sequesters more CO2 than the fruit trees, so counts for more of a "thank you" to the world for supplying me with oxygen, and climate, and nutrition. I found some sale trees at a big box store. They look fairly decent - not much the worse for sitting in the lot for the summer. I chose a red-leaf maple to serve as my "Birthday Tree".

OK, I also chose a couple of their close-out fruit trees.

An Asian Pear (Hosui, a russeted type) to serve as a pollinator for the Asian Pear already on the property, and which had one - only one - yellow fruit, non-russeted. Not knowing the variety, by choosing one with a different appearing fruit, it should serve as pollinator. I think. Monrovia describes Hosui as drought resistant and heat tolerant - so once established should not need a lot of watering. The tree is a bit misshapen, but that is OK, it will either give it character, or pruning and training will change that.

Toka Plum, from Grandpa's Orchard, identical to the pic from Fedco. The site claims "This fruit was introduced in 1911 by Dr. N.E. Hansen at the South Dakota Experiment Station as a hybrid of the Japanese and European types" but I read elsewhere it is a hybrid of an "apricot plum" with an "American plum".

OK, I bought 2 Asian plums. The first was Satsuma. I saw a couple of other varieties, and wanting a pollinator and something different from the first choice, came home and googled on pollinators for Satsuma. Toka is listed as a pollenizer for Satsuma, on the Burnt Ridge Nursery site. Toka is also listed as self fertile. Seems like a reasonable pair, so now I have then both. Not all sites agree about these as a pollinizing pair, it is confusing.

I might plant at least some of these trees tomorrow and through the weekend. I don't know if I have the energy to plant 4 trees on one day. I've done it before, so maybe.