I am so glad to enter this community of like minded people who are growing plants from seeds to ensure the specie survival from disease mutations as the hybrid cultivars continue to ever multiply! I am just starting to try growing fruit trees (yikes, scary! to think that I will get to eat my own fruit before the rats take them!). So the 1st tree I have set my eyes on is St. Edmund Pippin apple tree the Trees Of Antiquity, CA, sells. Any thoughts on growing this apple as a 2 year old plant to a novice, please advise! Since St Edmund requires another pollinator, the TOA nursery suggested to grow White Pearmain or Newtown Pippin as the pollinator apple. Any preferrence? I am in Zone 9, yes, drought has been a problem for decades!