Thanks everyone for your information! I am right now inclined to leave the tree as it is.... I do like the purple colour and I don't think that the other purple trees have foliage that matches this. The biggest hurdle for me is that, I don't know what other tree I want for that area!!! So I should just leave it alone and see what happens.... for now! I reserve to change my mind any time I want!!! LOL! Seriously, I do like the Ivory Silk Tree Lilac but it seems a bit boring when it's not in bloom. Amur Cherry would be beautiful but then it will eventually be too big for the small front yard. Sigh! I hope that I have made the right decision...... thanks again!

""Time for wine and cheese at Konrads house. Right?"" Yep!..I've been taking some out to Devonian at our annual fruit festival for tasting. I use juice only for wine. The cherries get frozen first...they're so much easier to juice after, I put about 1/2 a pail, [5 gallon bucket] with cherries then take one of those long 5 gallon paint mixer and stir until the cherries are all shredded,...the pits will come out. Then the whole soup I put through the spinner of my apple juicer, you could sift it with cheese cloth, 4 corners of the cloth tie to the chair legs, chair upside down with a bowl under, my mom used this method when making jelly. I fill the 50 L. stainless steel pressure keg, a little water, sometimes none when I have lots, sweeten with honey. [concentrated...it'll make a good hot drink with water in the winter] After I close the keg, at room temperature it might take one to two weeks until it reaches around 140PSI and stops farther fermentation,,... then I put it in the basement, in about 5 month it would be ready, there is a drain on the bottom, it'll come out as foam under this pressure....still nice and sweet for taste with about 4% alcohol. The pulp I dry....been feeding deer but now I want to use it myself for a cereal mix. ""Someday when I grow up I'll get a acreage I'll grow all sorts of stuff....."" Collin, when I was little I had this dream also, ...it got fulfilled, I'm very blessed...a labor of love thing but never regretted.

Wow! If I recall from your last year's thread, those are way ahead of time for this climate. How awesome is that? I like your clamp setup. I wonder why I didn't think to do that with my raspberries? Your raspberries are still producing now? Mine were finished a few weeks ago. I wondered why all the birds were lined up in a row on the fence this morning. Then I realized they were waiting their turn at the chokecherry tree =:)

Great! Are you near Jackson, Dawn? I live in Beech Bluff but work in Jackson. I will be happy to run by your house (or meet you somewhere, whichever you prefer) to pick up the figs! Maybe one day next week after work? I am doing raised bed vegetables (tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, etc.) as well as trying to find orchard fruit cuttings. I am also trying to start a little perennial garden to attract butterflies and bees for pollination. Thanks, Pam