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["Donna &/or Kieran" <holycow@cookeville.com>]

I picked a couple of Cydonia quinces from a neglected bush, they had big 
dark rotting places, so I had to cut out a lot.  I cooked them in 
combination with some other stuff, probably sweet potatoes, but the texture, 
flavor and aroma were superb.  (I have taken cuttings already. ) 
Incidentally, Hidden Springs Nursery has a plant of Meech's Prolific even 
though it's not in their catalog lately.  It's supposed to be more disease 
resistant than most.
   When I asked about the problem of fireblight in quinces for rootstock 
for pear, Annie Black said  quince has it's problems, but in their location 
fireblight doesn't seem to be one of them.  They have not only the heat and 
humidity that I contend with, but also poor air circulation.  I saw Housui 
pears down there with horrific fireblight, think they died outright from it. 
My problem now is that the damned mayhaws that bloom too early anyway have 
been spreading quince rust among the zillions of cedars on the property. 
I'm thinking that I can chop them off, graft on quince which will take at 
least 2 years to bloom (apparently with quince only the fruit are affected) 
and maybe give the CQR some time to start dying out.  Meanwhile I can track 
down some of the rust resistant cedar cultivars and learn to graft them, so 
we can both have our scenery and eat it too.  Otherwise I have the choice of 
quince to eat but no cedars, or cedars but no quince.    Donna