Yes, Mayhaw will do fine for you, it's a native tree. Fall indeed is best, spring is okay too but summer is taking a risk. You can get Mayhaws from Hidden Springs:

http://www.hiddenspringsnursery.com/plants.php

Ike wrote:

They were about pencil sized seedlings when I planted them 4 months ago, and are now almost 3 feet tall, well 6 of them are

Wow, pretty amazing.

p.s. you might check out this web site http://www.themayhawman.com/ 

OK, thank you for the link, as well as for answering all my questions.

melikeeatplants wrote:

Yes, Mayhaw will do fine for you, it's a native tree.

After some failures with non-native trees, that's exactly what I'm aiming for now. :) I really don't know why Georgia is called the Peach State, since the peach is native to China. ;) And it seems if you don't spray your peaches, they always end up having worms or fungus.

Fall indeed is best, spring is okay too but summer is taking a risk.

Makes sense. Since posting, I also read that you might be able to swing planting a "containerized" tree in the summer, but not another type.

You can get Mayhaws from Hidden Springs:

OK, thanks for the info. I see that this nursery has excellent ratings on the Dave's Garden site as well.

Apparently this Web site offers quite a few varieties.

https://www.justfruitsandexotics.com/JFE/product-category/fruit-trees/mayhaw/mayhaw-varieties-crataegus-opaca/ 

It seems that Big Red, Georgia Gem, Maxine, and Reliable are all late-blooming trees, so I guess those would be the best bets for Northeast GA. If anyone has had experience with any of these 4 varieties, please chime in. :)

Incidentally, if you did plant multiple varieties, what would be the maximum allowable distance between the trees? 100 feet? 200 feet?

There is not good rule on spacing for cross pollination on fruit trees, and I doubt anyone has done any detailed studies on Mayhaws, as some flowers are more attractive to pollinators than others. Optimal for fruit trees is usually stated at around 30-50 ft spacing, though yield decrease in a non-commercial setting at 100-200 feet I suspect would be minimal, as distances are often measured in thousands of feet when trying to exclude cross pollinators. For another point of reference honey bees, a prime pollinator routinely range up to 2 miles from their hive, though they tend to follow a pattern and go back and forth roughly the same distance and the same direction until resources are depleted.

Thanks for the helpful info, Ike. I guess I won't be too worried about the distance between the trees then. :)

Last fall, I planted 2 Southern crabapples, which are about 300 feet apart. I suspect even that will be fine, especially since crabapples produce lots of pollen.

Mayhaw will do fine. There are mayhaw growers and even a festival in Georgia. Red Champ, Maxine, Surprise and Cajun are the latest blooming/fruiting varieties. There has been lots of research on mayhaw and our association has all the answers to all mayhaw question, Louisiana Mayhaw Association.

Mayhaw culture and varieties have been and still are researched heavily by our group but getting info outside of the Association has been lacking. It's not as easy to produce and harvest fruit as say figs, citrus, pear and requires some reading, but in that reading you'll find culture, varietal and all sort of minute details that make mayhaw so incredibly unique. Check out the tree growers and call to see who will ship to you.

mayhaw.org

Here are some notes on pollination

http://www.mayhaw.org/Resources/Article%20-%20Some%20Notes%20About%20Mayhaw%20Pollination.pdf

LSU Publication

http://www.lsuagcenter.com/nr/rdonlyres/1605ba84-ee8b-4482-b9e6-4516372d5922/2175/pub2484mayhaw2.pdf

Thanks for all the helpful info, ortegojeffrey.