Hey, John, Here's info from the Orchids Ltd. site on Ho Chi Minh flowering. "These plants typically bloom in the spring and summer months with 12 inch tall flower spikes bearing a single (sometimes double) flower of very large size to 4 inches or larger. The flowers last a little longer than a delenatii (3-4 weeks). It is our estimation that once mature these plants could bloom twice per year especially under lights." My delenatii flowers last about a month, but it blooms in the spring, and the cooler temps in the orchid room may extend the bloom life. Let us know how yours does. They're beautiful flowers. Whitecat8

i think ginko .. is still a conifer ... not a shrub ... there is a conifer forum .. though it looks like a few conifer friends popped over to see this post. .. regardless ... the reason i point this out.... we treat shrubs and conifers differently ... you would NEVER prune a conifer.. the way you prune a shrub .... so the words mean things... now all i need is some expert to tell me they re-classified ginko .. lol ... and you have to learn growth rates ... if momma has the potential to be a 300 foot tree ... then a dwarf of her.. might be a minuscule 250 foot potential .... its all in the growth rates.. minis growing less than 1 inch per year.. dwarfs ... 1 to 3 inches... etc.... check out the american conifer society for some good info regarding all this ... anyway .... good luck ken

The deciduous magnolias do come in a number of different cultivars, with varying mature heights and varying shapes. I have a 'Jane' (I think, the tag is long gone), one of the Little Girl series, which after 5 years in the ground, from a 1-gal. pot, in very good, built up soil in a flower bed, well watered, etc., is now about 10-12 feet tall and maybe 5-6 feet wide. It has a heavy crop of dark purple-y flowers in spring (now) before the leaves, and sporadic flowers throughout the summer. I THINK it is supposed to mature at less than 20 feet, but will have to wait and see. I have another of the series, possibly 'Jacky'?, which stayed in its pot for another year, and is planted in relatively unimproved clay with less watering. It is about 5 feet tall, 3-4 feet wide, with pale pinker flowers, only in the spring so far. A friend has another one (unknown variety and age) which is probably 15-20 feet high and about the same wide, with pale pink flowers. So if Marystem looks carefully, she can select the shape and size of magnolia that will fit her planned spot. But, I agree with Picea that the magnolia foliage may not stand out too well, since the deciduous foliage, in my experience, tends not to be as shiny as the evergreen ones. I am not sure a gingko is the best alternative, as the ones I have seen as youg trees are not overly attractive; in fact I think calling them gangly is being kind. Since 3 of them are growing for me, I am not against them, just saying they take a while to become attractive. But, mine are of unknown parentage, just generic gingkos, so some of the selected cultivars may be very good, even at a young age. Certainly, the fall foliage should be spectacular against the oaks! However, as far as the eventual height goes, unless there are shorter cultivars of gingko, I would be reluctant to plant anything that I KNEW would be too big. Eventually SOMEONE will have to deal with it, even if it's the next owner of the property. There must be some species/variety of tree that will grow sufficiently fast to make a statement in a reasonable length of time, without coninuing to grow beyond the desired height. I admit to being slightly inconsistent in this, as I am quite happy to plant short lived things like dogwoods, and not be too upset at the idea that I will have to take them out in 20-30 years for reasons of old age, but it really bothers me to think of taking out a perfectly healthy tree, just because it has now grown too tall for where it was planted, when I KNOW I will have to do this. And I get even MORE bothered at the idea that someone would then top a tree because it is too big! Just a personal idiosyncracy...

Great list of ginkgo cultivars! I also have several ginkgoes that I'd like to swap. Some are in very short supply but will hopefully be increased for next year, such as 'Peve Maribo'. Also, I have a thousand or so ginkgo seeds from 'Patio Umbrella' a 25' tall x 50' wide female which produces a wide variety of leaf types among the seedlings. It produces heavy crops of nice size seeds which are good for rootstocks or for roasting. Here is my current list: Mayfield Chase Manhattan Horizontalis Patio Umbrella WB Akebono Princeton Sentry Todd Spring Grove #22 Variegata Peve Maribo (very limited this year) Diane Dave (Dah vay) Chi Chi Mariken Elmwood Chub's Dwarf Bill Barger Jehosephat Majestic Butterflies Hope it Holds Scruffy Butterflies Some may be place holder names or names given to otherwise unknown varieties. I'll be grafting a number of variant leaf types from Spring Grove #22, especially the linear leaf buds. No way of telling at this stage of the game if the trait will hold. I'm particularly interested in obtaining scions of 'Peve Lobo'. Please let me know if interested in exchanging scions. Thanks, Charley Hunter ihunt2006@gmail.com