While planting season is just gaining traction in the higher latitudes, it is ongoing in many places.  I would like to invite everyone to support our nursery and web presence by visiting and maybe even purchasing a tree, shrub, berry, or vine.  We have almost 40 varieties.  The plant descriptions are full of information and everything is searchable by zone, layers, pH, use (like hedge, fuelwood...), sun requirements and more.  We think we have a very good resource and invite you to visit.  http://www.jiovi.com ; The plants are at https://jiovi.com/collections/plants-for-permaculture-gardens-all
In quantities of 10, the following are $5.00 each.  Free shipping on orders over $100 and you can use discount code plantnow for 10% off (ends May 1). 

American Persimmon Diosp virginiana $5.00
Bearberry Arctostaphylos uva-ursi $5.00
Black Cherry Prunus Serotina $5.00
Black Locust Robinia pseudoacacia $5.00
Black Walnut Juglans Nigra $5.00
Chinese Chestnut Castanea Mollissima $5.00
European Filbert CORYLUS AVELLANA   $5.00
Korean Nut Pine Pinus Koraiensis $5.00
Manchurian Apricot "Mandshurica" $5.00
Nanking Cherry Prunus Tomentosa $5.00
Osage Orange Maclura Pomifera $5.00
Russian MulberryMorus Alba Tatarica $5.00
Serviceberry Amelanchier alnifolia $5.00
Siberian Pea Caragana Arborescen $5.00
Thanks very much - Tom - Larry

Do you know if the Bearberry or serviceberry will fruit in zone 9 ?

also, what time of year does the Russian Mulberry fruit ?
i have 3 types of Mulberry, but., they all fruit in spring (now)

I just placed an order. Thanks

Hi Wayne- I was wondering what trees you ordered (you are just down the road from my place). I ordered Osage Orange, Russian Mulberry, Black Walnut and Chinese Chestnut. We are zone 8b, I'm pretty sure the Chestnut tops out at zone 8 but I had to try some. I'm a little worried about getting the trees established as summer is coming fast, but hopefully watering will keep them alive the first year 🤞.  Do you have any tips for late spring planting here (this is my first season in farming in Texas). I placed order late last night and already have tracking number.

I almost didn't order cause everything here has leaves out. Mulberry is what I couldn't find earlier.

This year I planted pecan peach persimmons fig pear. Non trees i planted blackberry asparagus horseradish. This is a food forest area. Focusing on perrenial stuff. One and done.

Let me see what I bought here. Lol. Nitrogen fixers caught my eye.

I bought
Buffalo berry
Pea shrub
Apricot
Sea berry
Mulberry

I have no first hand knowledge. I scanned for which zone, was it edible, did it fix nitrogen. I also needed shrubby non tree stuff.

Don't know if chestnuts will work here. Pecan is my big tree. The king of the forest I'm creating.

I just realized that Osage Orange is horse apples. They are native to this area. Plenty of them.around.

Thanks Wayne - I didn't realize that horse apples were Osage orange, thanks for the heads up. Pecans will feature quite prominently here also, but I really want to see if I can get some chestnuts going. Spending time on Mark Shepard's place in Viola, Wisconsin really sold me on growing starch on a tree, and chestnut 🌰 is the premier species of tree starch. Even if I can just get enough for our family it's a start.

I read his book. He is my main inspiration.

Texas AandM shows Chinese chestnut to zone 9. Said it doesnt get the blight like natives, but can suffer from oak wilt

I want chestnut so bad. Everything I can find about them says they don't grow well in alkaline soils, though. If I hear about someone having success in an area with alkaline conditions, I'll definitely start working out where I can squeeze in a couple more large trees. Don't forget to get two trees for proper pollination, if you're getting the chestnuts right now. 

As it is, I'm trying pistachios from seed to see if they'll grow and fill some of the same culinary slots. I don't think they'll be as reliable or productive as a chestnut.

Brad Mayeux wrote:Do you know if the Bearberry or serviceberry will fruit in zone 9 ?

also, what time of year does the Russian Mulberry fruit ?
i have 3 types of Mulberry, but., they all fruit in spring (now)

Hi - Ours are Saskatoon Serviceberries and will grow and fruit from zones 3 to zone 10.  The Bearberry plants are good from zones 2-7 so unless you have a nice cool microclimate place, say a shady place near a brook, they probably wouldn't do well in your zone 9. The mulberry trees will fruit in May and continue into June.  I'm not aware of any that flower and fruit later.  The exception might be an ever-bearing variety like  ‘Illinois Everbearing’ we don't have that, Stark Bros. does. 
Links:
Stark Bros. Mulberry https://www.starkbros.com/products/fruit-trees/mulberry-trees/illinois-everbearing-mulberry
jiovi® Serviceberry https://jiovi.com/products/saskatoon-serviceberry-amelanchier-alnifolia
jiovi® Bearberry https://jiovi.com/products/bearberry-arctostaphylos-uva-ursi-plants

Trees that I ordered from Jiovi arrived this morning. All 60 trees I ordered look great, they are just coming out of dormancy. Roots were bagged with moist shredded paper to keep them from drying out. The trees bend easily (Not like the brittle suffering specimens seen at box stores). They are labelled properly and shipped with planting instructions. This is well appreciated (by me) as several amazon orders of plants I recently made shipped with no tags at all. As I had 4 different varieties of comfrey and a bunch of other plants coming many different vendors it was a bit of a project to figure out what the unlabeled varieties were when they arrived. A couple times I had to search my amazon account using the tracking number on the box to identify what was what. Jiovi won't do this to you, their trees were packaged right.



And here they are soaking (My 3 alpha code applied):



I'm going to put them in a shaded 'nursery' part of the yard until autumn as Texas will be seriously harsh weather wise very soon. They will get transplanted out to windbreaks in the pastures when it cools off.

All in all I highly recommend Jiovi- Great looking trees packaged professionally, and very fast delivery from order to arrival. Jiovi delivered on their part of the deal 100%. Anything that happens from here forward is my part. 

Just had a look, your site looks great. What theme are you using? I will have a look at the seeds!

Mine came in. Everything looked good.

Angelika Maier wrote:Just had a look, your site looks great. What theme are you using? I will have a look at the seeds!

Hi - It is Launchpad - Star a free theme on Shopify.  .

Thanks Josh for taking the time to say some nice things.  We always try hard to do well.  The big addition this year is a walk-in cooler we made using a cool-bot.  It takes a lot of the work and worry out of trying to keep things fresh and dormant.  Thanks again - tom

We love Jiovi! A good portion of our burgeoning food forest has come from them and everything is doing fantastic, whether from seed or live plants. Outstanding customer service, knowledgeability, and awesome products are what separates and elevates Jiovi from others we have purchased from.

Josh Kunkel wrote:Thanks Wayne - I didn't realize that horse apples were Osage orange, thanks for the heads up.

Why would someone plant those on purpose? In Texas, most people wish they didn't have them (although I have seen fruit disappear from the trees which I presume the horses ate).

Tom DeCoste wrote:Thanks Josh for taking the time to say some nice things.  We always try hard to do well.  The big addition this year is a walk-in cooler we made using a cool-bot.  It takes a lot of the work and worry out of trying to keep things fresh and dormant.  Thanks again - tom

Hi Tom,

Do you only sell primarily for spring planting? I have some people telling me that it is better to plant in the fall in hot climates while others think it is better to plant in the spring. Because our weather varies so much, I suspect it all depends on the year.

We had spring in February this year. I kept expecting a late hard freeze because we got on on April 19th last year (with April 15th being the average last freeze date). It never came. We had very mild winters the last two years with almost no snow. (Normal is a little bit of snow that stays around a week or so - assuming there is any such thing as "normal".)