mom/teacher: Black knot cannot be got rid of once established. Infected limbs should be pruned off cleanly well below the infection. If this ruins the tree, then it's time for a new tree. Infections like black knot are best dealt with by prevention, not cure, and about the best you can do is dormant spray with a strong copper solution. Even this may not be effective in an area with high disease pressure, and you should tell us where you live so we can better understand what kinds of diseases you may be facing. Black knot is less common on cherry trees, but still possible. Cherries more often suffer from bacterial disease, which develops limb cankers as it progresses over the years. This can cause limb dieback and the eventual demise of the tree. The prevention recipe is the same, since nothing can cure bacterial diseases once underway. There are different perceptions of what is sour and what is not. Tart cherries seem sour to some people; others like to eat them right off the tree. The ordinary uses for tart cherries are pies, sauce and other prepared desserts that use some sugar. However, any cherry is edible if it tastes good to you. If not, leave them for the birds. If you want to plant a cherry tree of known characteristics and quality, order in from an online or mailorder nursery that can clearly identify the variety you are planting. No point in waiting years without knowing what kind of fruit will be produced. Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

Not in your climate zone so things might be different. BLACK GARNET is a stunning, stunning rose. It has that full thick form thats so unusual in a TH. Color is a deep black red similiar to Black Magic. It just doesn't bloom that much in my garden but I would never get rid of it. Black Magic would be the perfect HT if it had fragrance. Deep rich black red blooms that last quite well in my garden. My favorite HT. (because it blooms much more than Black Garnet). Black Cherry. I just can't say enough good things about Black Cherry. I have four of them. Deep rich red roses with lovely form. Blooms a lot. One of my favorite top five roses, my second favorite floribunda. Great glossy green leaves that always look fabulous. Black Baccara. Another rich deep black red rose. Maybe not to different looking from Black Magic although Black Magic does better for me (more longer lasting blooms). I will add LAVAGLUT which is the deepest red black rose in my garden. My favorite rose and therefore favorite florobunda (I have about 200). The spring flush on this rose is traffic stopping and the blooms last forever. Seriously, they last about two weeks. Never get icked up by too much rain like normal roses. Alas, no scent.

nurseries.. will be ordering in stock for spring planting time... in the next month or so .... i will yell ... ORDER UP SOME TOE CURLING TREES TO REPLACE THIS CARP... how about a variegated sweetgum??? .. see link ... red flowering chestnut ... a tricolor beech .. crikey man.. you are thinking of a plain old free freakin maple ... i dont care if it has pretty bark.. its a maple ... what.. you want surface roots ruining your lawn in 10 years ???? and ... BTW ... while the chainsaw is hummin ... take down the poplars.. the bradford pear .... and the foundation plants that are over the eaves .... as they said in Seinfeld ... so many years ago ... prove who is master of this domain .... find a quality nursery ... call them.. find out who supplies them .. e.g. iseli ... monrovia... etc.. and then peruse those websites ... yes.. a high end nursery will not be a bargain ... but i would NOT be living on hope and prayer .. that they will mysteriously .... order up something cool .... below is a pic of my tricolor beech ken actually this pic is focused on the blue plant under the tricolor .... Here is a link that might be useful: link

It came as a bonus pack in a national round robin trade several years before I grew it, and it was only labeled "Baby Beefsteak". At the time there was no info available; I grew it out and lo and behold, it looked just like a baby beefsteak. Whomever labeled that pack of seeds once upon a time called it as they saw it. Very practical. It's a wonderful tomato, I've described it well on the package, it looks just like a baby beefsteak but is more juicy and tangy. I liked them so much I've grown them a few times and have shared their seeds with the name they came with. I'm very serious about tomato variety names. I don't change the docmentation that comes with a home-saved OP; I think that's hugely unethical. This year I'm doing another growout of a variety that came to me a few years back only labeled "Purple Heirloom". This is a yum YUM tomato. I'm also doing one again that I named "Big Pink Volunteer" which volunteered from a bag of compost I bought at HD. It makes awesomely good big pink maters, hence the name. The history will be on the label. Should the season go well I'll have seeds of Purple Heirloom, Big Pink Volunteer, the ten USDA/GRIN tomatoes I'm growing and several others available on the site by late Autumn. It's a fabulous set of tomatoes in the garden this year. I'm definitely going to have to buy at least one more set of pidgeon holes ;-) Hope this helps, T