I've purchased a few trees from Costco but I don't know if they were from the same supplier. My Greengage plum is out-of-this-world in sweetness. My Red Clapp's Favorite and Moonglow pears have not produced for me yet but the trees are quite healthy. My 4-in-1 cold-hardy plum has done well but I have not pruned it aggressively enough for all the grafts to produce. (It's on Toka and the Toka is taking over, but that's not the trees fault.) I just remembered that I bought an apricot, can't remember which cultivar, it was one of the last of the trees and discounted to $10.00 and it has done very well. I have noticed that the selections that we get here in Denver are all well adapted to our climate, which is really surprising. The trees are bare-root. The only issue I've had is that they put the trees inside and then they break dormancy too early, at least here in Colorado. When I bought my first trees the rootstocks were listed as, "semi-dwarf", but I believe they are now listing the rootstock on the label. I wouldn't hesitate to buy a tree at Costco if it was what I wanted, both cultivar and rootstock. Even with the sad shape that my $10.00 apricot tree was in it pulled through and even produced a few apricots its first season. And as you mentioned, Costco's return policy can't be beat, plus no shipping charge. The trees at Costco have been far better health-wise than Home Depot or Lowe's. I think the other stores just pot up the bare root trees and then let them break dormancy in the pot. At least Costco doesn't pretend that they were pot-grown, which I wouldn't want any way. So, if I were you I'd grab the Loring and Methley. This post was edited by milehighgirl on Wed, Feb 27, 13 at 14:43

fruitnut, According to Mr. Purvis, "Concerning the difference between the original and the Hoyt Montrose, the main difference is that the Hoyt's fruit is larger. Both the original and the Hoyt bloom late and ripen late, and both are self-fruitful." I have asked Mr. Purvis if I can share what he writes me and he has said it's okay, but I still feel wierd just publishing it. In this case I think it would be useful to just copy and paste what he wrote to me about when I asked if Hoyt Montrose was patented: "Rhonda, rest assured that the Hoyt Montrose is not patented. For that matter, Dr. Lloyd Rosenvold, who found the original Montrose apricot tree, never tried to patent it but instead shared freely of the pits and scions produced by the tree. A Mr. Hoyt (not sure of his first name) in northern Idaho planted one of Rosenvold's Montrose pits and found that that seedling produced larger and better apricots than the original Montrose, but he too made no effort to patent it. I obtained my Hoyt Montrose wood from Dr. Roger Eichman, DDS, who lives on one of the islands in Puget Sound, and I was fortunate to be able to graft and grow a tree of it. Dr. Eichman in turn got his scions from Mr. Hoyt, according to my notes. Here at my location, the Hoyt Montrose blooms even later than Zard although this is only based on one year of observations (2012). The Hoyt has also proven to be amazingly adaptable to wet conditions (NW Washington State and western NY State [Wayne County]). Fruit quality is good, but not quite as good as Robada, and it ripens late also. The situation with the bloom is that the Hoyt requires a lot of chilling hours as well as a lot of heat units to break dormancy and blossom, and for the latter reason it is very poorly adapted to the San Francisco Bay area. So take good care of the Hoyt Montrose; it is the apricot cultivar that is probably your best bet for Colorado's highly changeable weather."

Hi Pixie, When you posted about Little House on the Prairie I looked some things up and was planning to post but just haven't found the time! I'm glad you explained why you wanted to do the plains! At least now it makes sense! After you posted I looked up DeSmet on google Earth--to get the "lay of the land," and I think your daughter would be really disappointed with the "plains" we have out here compared to the terrain you'll find in eastern SD. The link I posted to a pic of "our" plains up above really is pretty accurate--there is simply nothing out there! If you do DeSmet I doubt that she'll actually be looking at "the land" very much when you do it, and she'll have all the Little House things, which is what she actually thinks of when she's reading the books. (Love it when kids are reading books!) So rather than taking her for a hot, dry, flat drive, and destroying her mental image of Little House, I now very definitely think you should skip the plains and enjoy the extra time in the hills! A couple things about the fishing if you're gonna stick that in. Wherever you do it you'll need a Colorado fishing license, so be sure you plan ahead for that so you're not disappointed. And if you do decide to go to the Poma Ranch near Pagosa Springs, you'd really need to stay there two nites to have time for fishing. Checkin is at 3:00, so that wouldn't leave much time on the day you arrive, and checkout is at 10:00, so there wouldn't be time on the day you were leaving. The Weminuche River that runs thru the ranch flows very gently and it could easily be fished wading or from the bank. Check out their Fishing page at the link below, and there's more fishing info on their FAQs page, including that they rent "basic" and "kids" fishing gear at the ranch. I don't really know anything about fishing so I'm not sure what all that would include, but if you're seriously considering it and have any questions, call the ranch and ask for Karen! Also, since the river flows gently--and is shallow (a "river" out here is not the same as a "river" in the midwest or east!) your daughter might enjoy wading around in it (probably with a pair of cotton tennis shoes or at least flip flops since the bottom will be "rocky")! But she probably wouldn't stay in too long since water in the mountains is COLD--it's melted snow--and the ranch is at 8,000'! Also, if you're seriously considering staying there, PM me and I'd be glad to send you some more pictures of the inside (and outside) of the Hideaway cabin! I've stayed there three times now so I have pics of the outsides of the other cabins too. This is a favorite pic! I couldn't help but smile the first time I drove in there and saw the Welcome Home sign! I immediately knew I was gonna love the place! (The sign is on the back side of the "bathhouse" building that has the "waterfall showers!") And before I got to the welcome home sign (on the small building on the right) I ran into this roadblock on the drive in! (If it looks gloomy, that's because it was raining on and off on the drive from Pagosa to the ranch the first year I stayed there! Then, right after I got there, the sun came out just in time for sunset!) This was a view heading out of Pagosa toward the ranch that year! The ranch is in them thar hills! I also highly recommend the "Cozy House" at Dolores for the Cortez part of your trip, and would be glad to send you a bunch of pics of that place too to help you decide if you're interested. One more thing since Zinnia brought up Dinosaur Ridge! Just a little further down the road, in Morrison, is a place called Tiny Town! Perhaps in lieu of Little House your daughter would like to see some "little houses"---and other buildings! I don't have time to live link these pages, but here's a copy/paste link to their site, and if you google for images of Tiny Town you'll come up with lots of pics of the buildings with people standing by them so you can get the scale. I haven't been out to this place since the late 70's when it was a run down (tiny) ghost town all overgrown with weeds, but it's been all spiffied up and is back in business, and this could be a real fun Kid Thing! You could plan your whole last day to do Red Rocks, the dinosaurs, and Tiny Town, and then head to the airport for your last nite's lodging! http://tinytownrailroad.com/ Out of time for tonite! I can't wait to find out what all you finally decide to do! Skybird Here is a link that might be useful: Fishing on the V. A. Poma Ranch!

I live in CT and still order frequently from KA in Vermont. We take semi-annual mini-vacations that includes a stop at KA's retail store in Norwich but seems there's always something during the year that I need (want?!). lol I'm using their organic unbleached flour and it's not yet available in stores and because of shipping costs on heavy items we get that spring/fall on our trips but it's the little stuff like cookie supplies they always seem to get me on. lol I order 'Tamaya Blue' roasted blue cornmeal from the Pueblo of Santa Ana in New Mexico once a year. Probably a good 60% of our food storage (all the basics) is mail ordered. Periodically, I order from Bob's Red Mill - not regularily scheduled though. When we first moved to New England I went into withdrawals 'cause there was no Mexican food available - not even a Taco Bell (can you imagine?!). So, I had quarterly care packages sent from 'home' and that's when I first got serious about learning to cook the cuisine. I order enough food mailorder that the recycle guys that pick up our cardboard on Thursdays are on my Christmas cookie list! :) /tricia