I live in southern maine and have 3 red and 3 golden ninebark.....the red ones are doing well....but the golden ones are like yours......they are in a wet area....that gets a good deal of sun. They end up looking dry and burned but it definately looks like a fungus or insect? problem....not sun burn. I was thinking of giving them a shot of miracle grow as a tonic.....I know its definately not organic...but sometimes it seems to help.

why dont you mail order them???? ... see link .. btw.. you are talking about conifers.. not shrubs ... anyway .... obviously.. for $3.50 you are going SMALL!!!! call girards ..... and see how much bigger they can mail and still be price efficient ... and.. keep in mind... EVERY conifer has an annual growth rate ... and most.. will continue to grow at that rate forever .... w/o researching.. i am going to guess this one is about 3 to 6 inches per year... MOST SIZE ESTIMATES ARE AT 10 YEARS .... and from 10 years on.. they will continue to grow at the annual rate ... [or... divide 3 feet (your est.) .. 36 inches by 10 years.. and your growth rate is about 3.6 inches per year .. go figure on that .. lol ] so its a matter of what size you buy them.. how well they prosper [might be questionable at a school] .. and how fast you can run away from the project.. lol ... i bet.. even with shipping.. you can mail order cheaper than buying local ... good luck ken PS: note that they have a secondary name for the plant at the link ... so search both names Here is a link that might be useful: link

Well, one advantage you have, ksgreenman, is that you don't have to dig down several feet deep and wide to move the wrongly placed rose to its new spot -- which also has to be dug 1-2 feet down and across in order to transplant the first rose. So far this spring I have had to transplant 2 roses, and I've got 2 more coming up here in the next few days. All you have to do is carry the container to a new spot if you don't like the old arrangement! : ) Kate

Mine is only three feet. I juts purchased it last year, and I prefer purchasing shrubs small so they can grow into their spot. I believe the thing that could potentially keep mine smaller than average is the fact that it is a tasty meal for something (assuming the ninebark beetle) which heavily defoliates it in late summer. Same for my Amber Jubilee. I'm sure that puts somewhat of a halt to its growth. Overall, though, my Lemon Candy is too young for much information. I'll add that I have placed it at the end of a shady walk, but the shrub itself is in the sun. The effect is that the shrub just glows in the sun, catching your eye while in the shade. I'm very excited for it to grow in the coming years.