hehe thank you brandon... well obviously these grew quite a bit more than 20" in one year. I don't know what is awkward about the way they are growing though. I will google some images. I like they way they are forming. Nice low branches that I may just have to climb one day to pick some cherries. I will be 55 and climbing trees, never put it past me. I like unique anyway. I released them from the ties today. I only tied them because earlier this Spring, we were getting constant heavy winds and storms from the northwest and they were beginning to all lean toward the southeast. I kind of wanted them to grow nice and straight before I started shaping them. When I planted them, which is in red sand, I dug a large hole in a low point where a tree was once before. The previous owner of this place removed a lot of trees years and years ago. So I let these spots of low ground be my planting points... back in our woods, my husband pushed up a bunch of brush and decaying matter in a pile... it sat for about 3 years... I added 2 wheelbarrow loads of this semi compost to the red sand. Last year, when I watered, I would just let the hose barely trickle at the base and soak in really deep. I will contribute that to the extremely fast growth. The very tall one was actually just 2 straight stalks. I topped it this year before it sprouted in hopes that it would branch out, in which it did. Awkward or not, I just love the way they are turning out. I will learn about pruning. I always apologize to them when I ever have to cut a plant. When I plant things, I welcome them home and wish them luck. If they make it, wonderful, if not, I plant something else.

I planted 50 leyland's 3 years ago. They were in the 5 gallon buckets, about a foot tall each. Now they are 12 to 14 feet tall. Not one has died, gotten cancer or been toppled. I live in Northwest Georgia. These trees have seen the most extreme weather our area has seen in years. Let me give some unsolicited advice, with all due respect. 1. Whether they are green giant or leyland or arbovitae of any kind: Make sure you know your soil, make sure you know your frost level, and make sure you PLANT AND WATER AND FERTILIZE them appropriately. If you don't have time to manage them, then don't plant them. 2. Plant them far away from structures you don't want them to grow into. i.e: fences, buildings, septic tanks, neighbors who hate their shade etc. 3. plant them double their pot width, ONLY to the top of the pot you bought them with and with 1/2 native soil and the other half conducive to your local weather and environment. Be prepared to tie them off with rope that have maybe some cut pieces of garden hose around the rope to keep them from choking and which will help keep them level in high wind times if you are in a high wind area. 4. Applying water and appropriate nutrients is huge, but easy. GG's and Leyland demand alot of water if on a slope with hard clay or dense soil. Down south if you are in red clay, then water them morning and night for the first month or two. If you are up north or in moist soil, once a week watering with any spronkler system is going to be ok, just dont overwater at night, stick to early mornings. I applied 10/10/10 in a circle about 1 foot out from the tree bole in early spring, and then again early summer, because my red clay is very acidic, hence the 10/10/10. Nice basic nutrients. 5. Don't flip out about the cancer issues that you might tend to google; you are planting a long term resource for shade and beauty and perhaps privacy, so pay attention to your trees....daily. If the branches are browning on the outside but green on the inside, that ok, it's just growth. If you see a ring around the trunk, then do some research, I won't go into detail here. Just watch your trees, and remember, if you are planting in a row or around fences/property, your soil may be very different from one side to the other. The pic below is a recent one of my Leyland's after 3 years. They started out at about a foot. This is in PACKED Georgia red clay with lots of rocks. You may experience some growtg difference, but if they look healthy, they are healthy. I must say: Your initial soil preparation is huge. Plant them well. The GG's and Leyland's have a tap root that if given proper care, will grow deep and delve for nutrients. Out of 50 planted not one has died or had a problem. I am not a tree doctor nor do I play one on TV. I am...a lover of oxygen.

Tiffy, my foxglove have stayed green all winter since the first seedlings went in the ground 3 years ago. They get buried in snow, get hit with a few nights of below zero temps as well as teens and single numbers without any snow cover. I can tell you this though. There is nothing prettier than seeing the snow begin to melt at the base of the foundation of the house and presto, last years green leaves of the foxglove are right there saying "hello, can you move this snow faster, melt it faster, warm up the temps already. Time to grow some new leaves, a bunch of stems and get those buds and blooms going already." Even if we get hit with more snow, it's a pleasure to walk on the front door and see that green there and now that those plants will keep on growing and keep on blooming year after year after year. I have no idea what kind they are. I got the seeds in a trade several years ago and where labeled "foxglove cream and pink mix". Apparently the seeds where either labeled with the wrong color or a hybrid and it does not come true to the parent plant. Either way, I love the colors I have. Next spring there will be a foundation of the house hidden by the blooms of at least 15 foxglove blooming. I've never dead headed them before. First year I had no blooms or stems from the seedlings, second year each had one stem. This past spring into early summer, each one had 3 stems and all of a sudden 2 more stems popped out of the plants and bloomed with a smaller show. that was a surprise. Blooming in November? Has it been really warm this fall for you? I've never seen that either? Fran

The best method I've found so far is to go to the bench grinder and just hold them between your fingers and buzz against the stone for a second. It gets through the shell in a flash and you don't have to file your finger tips off with a file. I get through about 100-150 in ten minutes that way. Then I soak them in water for a day or three and stick them in starting soil. I'm getting about 90-95% starts. If you use the peat pellet starters the roots will stick out the bottom within days of germination and you'll be potting them up within the second week. I'm currently starting about 3,000 seeds and expect flowers just before frost, or more likely next season.