A friend with decades of all plants knowledge grew Meader in/near Minneapolis. I asked him about it and he said, “Grew it from 1998 to 2011. It died that winter not from low temperature (it had easily survived colder temps before), but from some other “non-normal” factor(s). Every spring I would wonder if it had died because it leafed out so very very late. Never did find out if that was normal for the species (this is a hint, please…), I wondered if it was a perennial winter root damage problem. Anyway, it never had any winter twig dieback, and after the first year or two of sparse fruiting, it was quite prolific, and the fruit incredibly yummy. Up here, the fruit pretty much stays on the tree, even into December, and in my expreience, it ages and candies up best while on the tree.”
I would recommend you buy the largest tree you can for Spring planting.
Dax