I've found only one reference so far. It's listed as a cooler climate variety and described as maturing in the second half of July or first half of August, "very large fruit with golden skin and yellow flesh with a tendency toward redness, sweet and aromatic."

Hmm....maybe I should have grabbed that myself! I wanted to find a later variety but as I had never heard of that one, I guess I just ignored it :-(

Hey, neighbor! I grew up in LO.

From what I've cobbled together over the web it looks like Paviot is favored for colder climates because it blooms later. I could find nothing on required chill hours.

I have an old apricot tree that blooms too early most years but when it does set fruit, they are delicious. Across the street my neighbor had a later apricot that was much more reliable but she didn't know the variety. So, I could do with a later-blooming apricot. Hope our chill hours are enough for Paviot. Will give it a try, anyway!

I don't know whether you saw the chill calculator link in an earlier posting:

http://getchill.net/

You have to locate your nearest Wunderground station, but after that it's a snap to use. I was *shocked* at hours it gave for this area of Los Osos. I know it's been cold, but I always just assumed that being so near the water (5th and Ramona) we wouldn't get that much (have only lived here full-time for 5 years).

Try it. You might be surprised. I took a gamble and added "Nugget" to the quartet of apricots I'm constructing. My trees will live in deep cold shade in the Fall and Winter so I'm hoping for a little boost. So far it seems to be working with some cherries (Stella and Lapins).

Thanks for that link, I didn't know about it. What fun! There's a station quite close to our place.

I just picked up a couple cherries yesterday from Bay Laurel: Minnie Royal and Royal Lee, both on dwarf rootstock. A friend in LO has had these two in the ground for about three yrs now and she said the fruit are quite tasty. What do you think of Stella? I considered it but didn't bite.

I have stella in VA and am not realy happy with it. Cherries are small, but tasty. They are slightly yellow. The tree has developed splits in the truck that causes some of the branches to die.

I also have Minnie Royal and Royal Lee. Both flower like mad but generally when it is rainy....So far just a few cherries from both and they were good. My Stella and Lapins are containerized ultra-dwarf specimens and fairly young. I got a few cherries from each last year but they were good and seemed normal-sized and colored to me. No issue with wood or rootstock.

The Minnie Royal and Royal Lee, on the other hand, have had terrible canker problems. I've had to carve out lots of places to try and beat it back. Probably the trees were bad to begin with, but our damp weather in LO does not help.

I also just grafted some Cristobalina cherry onto a rootstock, hoping for a take. Spanish heirloom, self-fertile, 200 hrs.

Charlie: sorry to hear about the trunk splitting on your Stella, good to know though that the cherries taste good.

Steve: disappointing to hear of trouble with Minnie Royal & Royal Lee, both the canker and early blooming. Good luck with Cristobalina.

I have a friend in AG with Lapins and Royal Rainer and she says they do very well and fruit reliably. Wish my garden were bigger!