Phormium tenax is usually naturally found in lowland and swampy areas perching on hummocks. Has very stiff and upright leaves to about 10', though some of the purple cultivars are definitely lax. Dark red flowers and seed pods. Will easily take moderate frosts down to about -8C. Usually grows out in the open, in full Kiwi sun. (High UV.) Summer temps usually around 20-30C. Phormium cookianum/colensoi is often found on hillsides up to about 1200m and in well-drained gullies. It has more floppy leaves, yellow flowers and brown twisted seed pods. Easily takes frosts and some snowfall, though not lasting. More of a bush-edge plant but also ok with being open, though it may not grow as tall. Both tolerate droughty spells. And frequent winter rains. Both have a very tough covering on the leaves, though they will fray if they suffer a lot of wind. Hardy by the sea. Possible over-wintering - cheat and remove a young fan from the rhizome. Trim it as you would a bearded iris - with the young growing tip being in the middle and the longest. Plant up in a gritty but moisture-holding brew so the roots will develop well. (If your summers are brutal - pot them on to something more moisture retentive.) That's insurance against disaster. If there aren't many pots then the inground proposal seems good - plus traditional hay bales around the edges and a thick cover of ag plastic, bubble wrap, fleece, old blankets - whatever is suitable for your area. When you bring them back for spring-summer harden off carefully so that leaf 'wax' can rebuild because that is what provides a lot of the hardiness. Mealy bugs. I would suspect deep droughting in the container or the lack of water-holding in the mix. Good drainage, yes, but not the sort of miserable mix that pretends to be wet on top while holding the lower reaches from rewetting. A possible solution (for some) may be the addition of pumice pieces of about 5mm to the mix. And repotting every one to two years, or adding a good organic mulch. They have extensive root systems and will quite quickly fill a container.

Sounds like you're getting sprouts from the rootstock. If you can take some photos of the sprouts and post them in your message, that would be helpful. If the sprouts are coming from the roots, this might mean the top of the tree - the scion - which is the variety that has been grafted to the rootstock may be suffering, so take some photos of the whole tree as well. And, if you can snap some pics of the orange, and include the underside if there's a navel, that is also helpful. Navels are in season now, so if you have ripe oranges with a navel, you have one of the navel varieties, most likely Parent Washington navel. You can upload your photos to Photobucket, then copy the HTML code of each photo (NOT the url, but the HTML code string), then paste that directly into your message body, and when you click "Preview", you should then see your photos embedded directly into your message. Much easier for us to answer you on the forum that way :-) Patty S.

I cannot just limit this to ten trees. So here is my second set of ten: 1) Katsura (Cercidiphyllum japonicum) - Fantastic tree. How can you not love a tree with heart-shaped leaves. The fall color on this tree is usually a bright peach color mixed with a little bit of orange or red. The tree gives off a distinct scent of cotton candy when its turning. You feel like you are in the land of Willy Wonka when it has this scent. This tree is finicky though. It does not like drought, sandy or compacted soil, or high wind and will start losing it's foliage in the summer in response to these conditions. 2) Green Ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica) - Some may be surprised to see this tree on anyone's list. It's considered a trash tree by many. I love it. If you drive down Memorial Drive in Cambridge in late September - early October, you will see all of the Green Ash trees turning their bright golden - yellow color. It's a beautiful sight. This tree produces good shade and is tolerant of just about any conditions. Several male cultivars are now on the market, which avoids the prolific seeding observed with the females. I do hate the fact that this tree is one of the last to leaf out in the spring and one of the first to lose it's leaves in the fall. 3) Norway Spruce (Picea abies) - I love these trees. Giant Christmas trees the whole year through. The have a very dark green color and I really love the way the branches curve up at the ends. It gives this tree a very graceful look. A very large tree in time. A fast-grower for a spruce. 4) Japanese Zelkova (Zelkova serrata) - Zone 5 is the limit for this species. It would be wise in that zone to get the "Village Green" cultivar which has greater cold tolerance than the species. The vase-shape of this tree makes it a good replacement for the American Elm. Between the shape and the tree's tolerance for just about any conditions, it makes a great street tree. Zelkovas are in the Elm family and consequently are not totally immune to Dutch Elm disease but they tend to be highly resistant and this disease is usually not a problem. This tree can have spectacular fall foliage (ironically they did not this year around the Boston - Cambridge area) turning a bright burnt orange color. The Village Green cultivar has the best fall coloring that I've seen. 5) Northern Red Oak (Quercus rubra) - Had to include a member of the red oak family again. Oaks are not thought of as fast-growing trees but this species is definitely an exception. Becomes massive in time. Fall color is variable but can be quite good. A very strong, shade tree. 6) Canadian Hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) - One of the few evergreens that tolerates shade. Very graceful foliage. Probably the most graceful of any evergreen. The tree likes moist soil (found in shade). The woody adelgid is killing many of the hemlocks in New England. Hope they find a way to eradicate it before it kills all of them. 7) Black Birch (Betula Lenta) - Absolutely beautiful tree. The bark is a shiny, dark grey and peels to a certain extent. The bark looks very similar to the bark of many cherry trees only with a dark color. Very ornamental especially in winter. This birch has very good bright yellow fall color, too. 8) Crabapple (Malus) - The perfect tree. An explosion of white or pink bloom in the spring. A ton of crabapples in the fall. Beautiful bark on most varieties similar to cherry bark. Hundreds of cultivars to choose from. Most of the modern cultivars have resistance to fungal diseases that were a problem on older varieties. These trees tolerate drought and bad soil rather well. 9) Weeping Cherry (Prunus subhirtella Pendula) - Beautiful tree. So graceful and very striking in bloom. It get quite large in time for a flowering tree. Not as prone to problems as most cherry trees. Needs to be sited in a moist area though. 10) Kousa dogwood (Cornus kousa) - Wanted to put cornus florida here but zone 5 is pushing it for that species. I like this one too. Flowers in early summer and can put on quite a show. The giant red fruit of this dogwood is more visually appealing than cornus florida. Fall color is spectacular. Many cultivars to choose from.

You will have to keep it inside if your winters are cold. Citrus will die in freezing weather. I live where big commercial citrus orchards grow, but they do have turbines in the orchards, and you can hear those things miles away when a freeze hits. They are LOUD! But this is Southern California, and these trees are in ground. Mine are all outside in ground. We are in a microclimate, so the clouds generate snow now and then, and it drops, but it's too warm here for the snow to stick. The citrus are fine here outside. You MUST keep your plant inside. I'd harvest those oranges now and have fresh orange juice for breakfast. That will give the tree more energy to just grow.