Well it seems you know about everything you need to know. But it just may come to you letting the grass grow there also. I cannot see why if you are going wildflowers. As for self seeding those along the road seem to do just fine without any help even when they get mowed down after their blooms are gone and the seeds have dried. It is as semi-root-parasite. I had one gowning in my yard with all the grass cut just like the rest of my yard. I only problem I had was one of those fools working for the city took his bush-hog and cut it below the soil level. This was the only thing he touched as I kept my yard cut all the time.

See that's why I'm so confused, its neither of those other trees and the flowers it gets are exactly like the ones in this webpage, http://bnsullivanphoto.com/2008_06_01_archive.html So it has to be something in that family. there is another one recently planted down the street. Ours in an odd location and it gets much wider than tall, so we cut back a lot of branches so it grows up. I also think its newer in stores because we found this at some local place and there were no others and I've never seen it at any other store since then. They sold it as a shrub but its definitely a tree. Is there a way to upload pictures? I have some if that would help. And im a really amateur gardener and I'm not sure what a host plant is, if you could explain more how to do it, that would be great!

I don't know where to find seed, but I did want to mention that I believe the plant is partially parasitic to tree roots (oak, I think)...so, I have to wonder how easily they can be grown from seed or successfully grown to maturity without this host. Just a thought. Good luck in your endeavor, and if you find more information or achieve success, please post a follow-up. David

I do think that some people mow the highway right-of-ways too early before the wildflowers can set seed and it makes me crazy. Along I-35 in Love County there are a couple of places that have signs that say something like "Wildflower Area" which is intended, I guess, to either let us know why it isn't mowed OR to let the ODOT guys know not to mow there. Does it work? No. Those areas get mowed too early too. We have so much Indian Paintbrush in our unmowed pastures that I've never tried to plant any, but I do collect and scatter seed to help it spread. I do scatter bluebonnet seed, and I usually order seed of the red "Alamo Fire" bluebonnet and pink and purple "Laura Bush" petunias from Wildseed, and I do plant those in my flower borders. I love the red-flowered Indian Paintbrush we have here. In parts of Tarrant County (Texas) when we lived there, there was some gorgeous Indian Paintbrush that bloomed in shades of pink ranging from a watermelon pink to almost a fuschia. I need to find some of those seeds and try to get them going here. They were gorgeous. Dawn