I think we are on same page...adobe is a special animal as the only way to make it workable is to add some organic material. If you add soil that is gritty, especially if it's sandy, you get cement. We also have to consider expense and expedience; we have the adobe, and we have the organic material (we run a 50-stall equine operation). So, we buy soil that is high in mineral content and low in organic material and mix all three when the adobe is workable (about three days out of the year!) WE've been doing this for years and seem to do fine. There is some minor settling but we berm and plant with that in mind. I'm part of the Farm Advisor team here in the county and soil issues are a big part of what we work on. Thanks again - I really appreciate your insight and I will make sure that we don't 'over compost'! Your comments are a good reminder for all of us, especially anyone starting to grow woody plants for the first time! This would make a good article for publishing on the conifer page, or maybe everyone there already knows it... I got myself into this by remarking that maybe 'Grace' was goofy due to 'amended' soil, which was a real stretch but I was looking for another variable that perhaps I hadn't considered.

The issue that I have had (and the reason that I asked the cultivar) is that one of the most popular, 'Grace', has C. obovatus as one of its parents and it can put on 15' in a year easy. The only way that I have figured out (with the help of a poster here, whaas) to contain it is to wait until it leafs out and THEN cut it back. At that point the carbohydrates are out of the roots and into the branch ends. If you coppice it in dormancy, it responds with a vigor that is almost out of a science fiction movie. The straight C. coggygria cultivars seem fine if cut back in dormancy or left alone. I love the leaf colors and the autumn display. Some I have trained as multi-trunked trees, others have handled as noted above. Ken's right - you can't kill it, and they are amenable to moving. Sara

I also have a Royal Purple Smokebush. Though I've allowed it to grow into a small tree, it has never smoked much, and the smoke (hairs) that it produces is a tan color. A better cultivar is "Velvet Cloak", which I also have. Its smoke is purplish and abundant. Also, it's form is more bushy.

Hi Bonnie, I totally see what you mean! I moved from Zone 6a to Zone 3/4 in Calgary and what a huge shock that was!!! I so missed my Japanese Maple (it was a lovely dwarf laceleaf one that was so graceful in my front yard in Zone 6a!) and roses that would grow there but not in Zone 3/4! Then the variety of trees that would survive in Calgary was much more limited too. When I first arrived in Calgary, as I got off the plane and was leaving the airport in a car, I looked around and my first response was, "where are the trees!?" I was shocked! Anyway, how big a specimen are you looking for? Could it be a nice shrub or would you like a tree? Do you need something that would look good with its branching structure during winter (then a shrub may be out!) or does it not matter? In terms of my "Japanese maple substitute" shrubs, I have grown elderberries that have done quite well for me in Calgary! I was in Aspen Woods in the SW, so I was up on the hill. I suspect that McKenzie Lake would be warmer??? Anyway, I have tried Sambucus Black Lace, the green one (I forgot the name! It has green finely cut leaves though!), and Sambucus racemosa "Golden Glow" amd I really loved them! I have found them to be more unusual (esp the golden ones) and yet underused in Alberta. The "Golden Glow" remained quite small for me (about 3 ft tall after a good few years) but it was a really amazing specimen shrub! I paired it with Sambucus "Black Lace" and it was stunning. If I find a photo from my Calgary yard showing this pairing, I will show it to you! Now, I have to say that I have NOT had luck with Sambucus "Lemony Lace" though. I grew 3 and all died on me after ONE season!!! So I am avoiding it now. I planted some Sambucus "Sunrise Surprise" last year and they have done amazingly well for me! So that is another golden laceleaf elderberry to look out for.