Thanks for posting, great pics!! Joyce.

When it is finished I hope you take some pictures for us! Sounds great. By the way, I have a "White Pearl in Red Dragon's Mouth" china rose. I really like it. I'm glad you got to see one at the National Arboretum. It's a great little rose. I went to the Rose Garden at the Fort Worth Botanical Garden today. I was so impressed with the specimens they had of 'Souvenir de la Malmaison' and 'Kronprincessin Viktoria'. They had clusters of both of those two. And all of the 'Ducher' china roses looked very special too and spectacularly healthy & bushy. I must have that rose some day. I had a cutting of it this spring, but I wasn't able to root it. And I checked on the 'Hermosa' roses they have that have never had a single bloom on them on my previous visits. Well, those scrawny Hermosa plants had plenty of blooms today and they were beautifully formed with nice deep color. Randy

Also, the Arboretum doesn't have a space problem, it has a money problem. Since the azaleas are maintained by volunteers, they are not the problem. Good intentions of growing more native plants aren't practical since they would need funding which isn't there. There are many great native plants gardens. Just here in SE PA are: Bartram's Garden near Philadelphia, Mt. Cuba Center near Wilmington, Welkinweir near Pottstown, Bowman's Hill Wildflower Preserve near New Hope, Brandywine Conservancy near Chadds Ford, and Tyler Arboretum near Media. The main significance of the Glenn Dale Azalea collection is that it is the product of the most massive azalea breeding project ever undertaken and led to the first practical family of hardy evergreen azaleas. The Magnolia Plantation in Charleston, SC, came up with a proposal of last resort: Here is a link that might be useful: Magnolia Plantation offers to collect cuttings if the unthinkable occurs.

* Posted by coniferophytus Z6 Pa (My Page) on Thu, Nov 27, 08 at 12:03 How old might that Glyptostrobus be? Any chance it's seen the -10°F/-23C° low in 1982? Answer: I was at the Gotelli Collection during May of 2006 and I saw the tree being planted. It was in about a 3-5 gallon pot and approximately 5' tall. The soil it was going into was tan clay, pretty dry and also solid. Everyday they watered the tree while I was visiting, I recall. They're impressive collection does include a Taiwania cryptomeriodes at 20 or so feet. Never a cone crop yet..., here's a photo: Dax P.s. They're zone 7b. Also, Cryptomeria japonica cultivars looked like junk there except one 'Yoshino' planted in mostly shade. The others were burnt to a crisp. Maybe my favorite photo: Cedrus deodara 'Aurea' - The Gotelli Collection