Overtis, maybe I missed something but I assume this is an indoor plant for now and when weather permits, overnight lows in the 50's, it will/may become and outdoor plant. Having said this, as long as it is warm and you've given it enough time to callous, it is safe to plant anytime. If conditions are on the cool side, it will just take more time to root. As Karen said, too much water before it establishes roots will only lead to rot.

Heres a Link: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/musings/saving-energy-manual-j-and-manual-d Even when they do the calculations, the results are usually wrong In his posted comment, Bailes raised an interesting point: the problem of “garbage in, garbage out” (GIGO) Manual J calculations. Several energy experts have commented on the GIGO problem, including John Proctor, Hank Rutkowski, and Allison Bailes. Hank Rutkowski, the mechanical engineer who wrote the original Manual J document, was recently interviewed for a profile posted on the Green Building Talk Web site. The piece notes, “Rutkowski estimates that only 10% of heating and cooling equipment sizing decisions are based on some type of Manual J calculation and that less than 1% of the jobs are based on an aggressive implementation of the recommended design procedures.” Rutkowski explains the GIGO problem this way: “Manual J is a good tool if you use it aggressively. Follow the rules and it will give you a reasonable margin of safety. But the average contractor says, ‘Better safe than sorry,’ so he fudges here and there. He adds 5 to 10 degrees to the summer and winter design temperatures, calls the building ‘average’ instead of ‘tight’ and doesn't take credit for shading by interior blinds and drapes. Then when he finally comes up with a load number for sizing, he throws in an extra half-ton of AC just for the heck of it.” For a high-performance home, sizing by Manual J may still result in oversizing Several years ago, I had a conversation with building scientist Joe Lstiburek about air conditioners installed in Building America homes in Las Vegas. “HVAC designers are committed to the institutional oversizing of air conditioning equipment,” Lstiburek told me. “The average system is sized at 150% to 200% of the requirements of Manual J. They oversize because they don’t know what they will get for a building envelope, and to compensate for duct leakage and inappropriate refrigerant charge. If you size according to Manual J, there is already a fudge factor built in. But most designers then add another fudge factor.” According to Lstiburek, their experience proved the high-performance Building America homes in Las Vegas could have had HVAC systems sized at about 60% of Manual J. To be conservative, his team recommended installing systems sized at 80% of Manual J. Does oversizing matter? There are strong arguments against routine oversizing of HVAC equipment. The best argument is simple: oversized equipment usually costs more than right-sized equipment. Oversized equipment suffers from short cycling. For example, an oversized furnace brings a home up to temperature quickly, and then shuts off. A few minutes later, it comes on again, only to shut off quickly. Many homeowners find the see-saw sound of a short-cycling furnace to be annoying. When air conditioners short cycle, the units don't run long enough to achieve much dehumidification ��" at least in theory. (During the first few minutes of operation, an air conditioner cools a house. But not enough moisture has collected on the cold coil or on the pan below for any water to have actually gone down the drain. When the air conditioner turns off, all of the moisture in the pan and on the coil just re-evaporates.) The conventional wisdom may be wrong, however Increasing evidence shows that energy experts have exaggerated the negative effects of equipment oversizing, however. Studies have confirmed that oversized furnaces don't use any more energy than right-sized furnaces. Moreover, newer modulating or two-speed furnaces operate efficiently under part-load conditions, solving any possible problems from furnace oversizing. Although there are ample reasons to believe that oversized air conditioners are less effective than right-sized equipment at dehumidification, at least one field study was unable to measure any performance improvements or energy savings after replacing an existing oversized air conditioner with a new right-sized unit. The bottom line The main reason to choose right-sized equipment is to avoid paying too much money for equipment you don't need. A Manual J calculation will ensure you don't spend more than necessary for your furnace, boiler, or air conditioner. Moreover, a Manual J calculation will provide room-by-room heat loss and heat-gain information that is essential to good duct design. Without good duct design, you're running the risk of comfort complaints.

It depends to a great extent on where you live, some trees do better in different geographic regions of the country. Too bad about that Elm, they can be very attractive trees but prone to disease problems, especially if there are many other Elms around the neighborhood. If you do want to plant a new Elm, I would rip the current one out if it has disease and wait a few years before planting the new one. (and be careful you do not use the same tools on the new one you used on the old one, or be sure to thoroughly sterilize them) Mulberry, European Oak, European Beech, Douglas Fir Another unusual option, you could go with a sweet cherry variety that is growing on its own roots (i.e. not grafted). These can take up to 12-15 years to begin producing fruit (which is why you rarely ever see them) but the trees can grow to be quite large. See if you can find pictures of the Tartarian cherry tree in the Owen Rose Garden (Oregon), it's well over 150 years old. Cherry trees grow fast in first years of their life and then start growing at a much slower rate once they reach close to maximum size, great for quickly filling in when you do not have a lot of patience. Unfortunately cherries are also prone to a cornucopia of different problems, much of this depending on the exact climate. The falling leaves can also poison pet animals if they eat too many of them (livestock think the leaves are tasty). Cherry trees can be beautiful yard specimens though, and the fruit they [will eventually] produce is just an added plus.

Conifers and flooding: deciduous ones are great at flooding - dawn redwood and baldcypress. for evergreen, options are not as good. Arborvitae as someone mentioned - although that is deer crack. You could try white spruce (needs lots of sun) or hemlock (tsuga). Red color: red maple (yours doesn't work - maybe a different strain?), black gum, sumac (small, needs some sun), amur maple (invasive), red oak Maroon: white oak, burgandy Norway maple (not a fan) orange: sugar maple, serviceberry, sassafras