Looking into mulberries it seems most are Alba or Nigra, but many others exist. Morus Bombycis - Contorted Mulberry. Seems to be different cultivars. One reported as small is Morus bombycis âÂÂUnryuâÂÂ. I'm looking for small trees, so this fits. I have seen this reported as Alba also?? Morus Macroura - Gerardi Dwarfing Bush Mulberry Also have seen this reported as Alba?? So I'm a little confused on that?? Others seen are M. rubra (used in crosses with Alba) KOKUSO MULBERRY (Morus latifolia) Dark fruited Korean variety. Earlier ripening than Illinois with very high quality firm fruit. Reportedly even hardier than Illinois Everbearing and grown even farther North, up into Minnesota.

It surprises me how many people still don't understand the idea behind a climate zone map, including those who should know better. We had an article in our local paper today about the new USDA map (which puts most of Ohio in zone 6). They interviewed a manager at our largest (and best) nursery in central Ohio (which was previously placed on the border between zones 5 and 6 and is now all zone 6). He said he was continuing to tell customers that we are in zone 5, because we're still going to have extreme winters or severe storms from time to time. That's not the point of climate zones, which are determined by the average winter low temperature. If zone 6 gardeners see an wintertime low on average of -5F but are faced every decade or so by a drop to -20F, they are still in zone 6, not the border between zones 4 and 5. A severe cold snap might damage or kill susceptible plants (depending on site, drainage and snow cover) but it doesn't make sense to garden with these extremes in mind. Of course you could play it safe and only use plants that are semi-guaranteed to be rock-hardy in your area, but you'll miss out on a lot of great things. If (for example in my area) you get years of enjoyment from a Nandina or crepe myrtle but it eventually succumbs to a hard winter, you're still ahead of the game.

Well, I assume that they sell them because they are so close to 3 of the Great Lakes, so that they are within 20 miles or less of water on 3 sides and within 5 miles of Lake Erie. That makes a difference since the large areas of water will buffer temperatures considerably most winters. I grew up in Cleveland, and during the really cold winter a couple of years ago, it made it down to -11F while areas farther from the lakes throughout the midwest were getting to -20F to -40F. Officially the part of Cleveland (Lake Erie shore) where I grew up is zone 6, along with many other areas of the US north coast. Similarly, where I work now is within 10 miles of the Atlantic, and although only 40 miles away, it is a full zone warmer than I am. Which is a long way to say that probably a good percent of their customers are in the equivalent of USDA zone 6. I may push zones for perennials that are usually covered by snow, but I've learned that for taller, long-lived woody plants that sooner or later a bad winter will arrive and kill parts or all of the plant. A half dead tree is pretty ugly, and though it may regrow, IME it won't recover its original shape. I love redbuds, so I looked a long time to find a MN strain tree that I figured would have a reasonable chance of living out its full life in reasonable shape in my zone.

BTW, here is another interesting Latin naming issue, although there appears to be an explanation for it (?) Anyway, according to the ACS database: 1. Pinus sylvestris 'Glauca Nana' http://conifersociety.org/conifers/conifer/pinus/sylvestris/glauca-nana/ is a different plant from (note that the two words in the cultivar name are transposed) 2. Pinus sylvestris 'Nana Glauca' http://conifersociety.org/conifers/conifer/pinus/sylvestris/nana-glauca/ Although, in this case, the naming of plant 2 appears to have been necessitated to differentiate it from yet another different plant 3. Pinus sylvestris 'Nana' http://conifersociety.org/conifers/conifer/pinus/sylvestris/nana/ When plant hunting, make sure whether it is plant 1 or plant 2 that you are bringing home. Plant 1 is hardy to USDA zone 3, whereas plant 2 is hardy to USDA zone 5. It is all according to the ACS database, I am innocent :-)