Try Page Road Garden Center. Its a small and fairly new center, but they can find and order almost anything you want. Another choice would be Logans, but I stay away from there due to an outrageous mark up on their stuff.

Niche Gardens in Chapel Hill has sassafras, fringetree, American beautyberry, sourwood, Fothergilla major, sparkleberry and winterberry. They have also carried Carolina Silverbell in the past, not sure if they have it now.

I have not been to Architectural Trees in Durham but I've heard good things. Homewood Nursery is a very nice nursery in north Raleigh. If you can't find what you want locally, Forestfarm, Gossler Farms Nursery (which I think is the source for the witch hazel "Christmas Cheer" at the JC Raulston Arboretum), Greer Gardens and Woodlanders are good mail order sources.

I got my swamp roses from Antique Rose Emporium in Texas. They've stopped shipping for the summer but will start again in Sept. The swamp rose they sell isn't actually the species but I think it's better. ARE also sells the Prairie rose. Sunlight Gardens, which is an excellent mail-order nursery, carries the Carolina rose. I have that in my garden and I love it. The flowers have the fragrance of roses and lemons.

Everything you have listed above should be fine in full sun as long as there's enough moisture.

A better investment might be to wait until fall to plant the bulk of your trees and shrubs.

I have 3 sparkleberry bushes in my yard, and although it took me awhile to ID them since they didn't flower at first, I certainly do enjoy them. Very pretty bushes (or trees) with shiny deep green leaves that hang on later than other deciduous bushes. Mine get mostly shade, but the main reason they didn't flower was that my soil pH was much too high. I have yet to see any berries.

I personally adore willow oaks over other types of oak. The leaves are hard to rake, but this is easily solved by mulching under and around them with pine straw; the leaves blend in with the pine needles quite nicely IMO.

I think of witch hazel as a wonderful shrub rather than a tree. Fringetree is a wonderful tree, but give it the space it needs. Those in my books become much wider than tall.

Happy shopping.

If you get winterberry or sparkleberry you'll need to get the male of the species to get berries.

Some witch hazels look like shrubs, some like trees. A lot depends on how old they are and how they are trimmed. The Christmas Cheer at the Arboretum looks like a bush, but a lot of the mature ones I've seen look like a tree that's about 2/3 the size of a regular crape myrtle.

The habit of a native fringe tree will depend on the individual tree and the amount of sun it gets. There's a lot of variation among fringe trees because they are next to impossible to grow from cuttings and are grown from seed, until nurserymen can get tissue culture going. All of the ones I have seen were beautiful. Many are fragrant -- I have a couple on my place with flowers that have a sweet coconut smell. Mine are not full because they grow at the wood's edge, but a one planted in full sun will be wider. The Chinese fringetree is even fuller than the native.

Winter is the easiest time of all to plant woody plants. If you do plant this time of year you'll be looking at more work. I'd make sure that if the plants are rootbound to cut all those circular roots out and then repot the plant until it can grow new feeder roots again. Drip irrigation would be your best bet for keeping everything evenly moist.

Lazygardener, Alicia7b and Laurabs,

Thank you for your responses. Do any of you know where I can find the willow oak or pin oak and the serviceberry as they were not included in your responses.

I wait until the fall/early winter to plant these trees/shrubs with the heat and the drought we are currently experiencing as I want them to have the best chance to survive and thrive in my yard.

Alicia7b, did you ever collect the acorns of the scarlet oak from the trees there in smithfield? From what I remember you said their fall color was magnificient.If so I was wondering if you have any trees developing from those acorns that I could get from you?

Again, thank you all for your help.

Pin and willow oak are two of the most common oaks in the trade, so I'd call Homewood Nursery and look at some other local nurseries such as Garden Supply on Old Apex Rd in Cary for those. If you can't find them locally Woodlanders and Forestfarm carry willow oak. Forestfarm also carries pin oak. Those trees grow fast so even if you have to get small trees they will shoot up quickly.

You can probably find serviceberry locally as well. If not, Woodlanders, Greer Gardens, Forestfarm, and Oikos all carry serviceberry.

I did get some seedlings from the oak trees in Smithfield. Be warned, however, they are small! lol I've got them in the ground for the summer and can dig in the fall.

I wonder if Laura and Alicia are talking about two different "sparkleberry" plants. Based on her description, I think Laura is referring to the Vaccinium sparkleberry, while Alicia might be referring to Ilex (which requires male and female plants). Common names can be confusing.

Good luck, Charles. Sounds like some good choices. Serviceberry is one of my favorite plants and it is more and more available in the trade (usually better nurseries, not the big box stores so much).

Yes, when I posted I was thinking of the Ilex "Sparkleberry", which is a winterberry hybrid and requires a male plant. Laura is almost certainly referring to the blueberry relative Sparkleberry (Vaccinium arboreum), which is famous for its drought resistance and red fall color. Perhaps hers are suckers from the same plant, or they're in a lot of shade? I didn't realize how much blueberries could sucker until I tried to dig up what I thought were seedlings but were actually suckers. The sparkleberries I've seen in the woods were not heavy fruiters, and the fruit is not edible. There's a bunch of sparkleberry at the top of the hill in the woods at the Botanical Garden, and what I remember most about them is the exfoliating bark and the fall leaves, and the fact that they look like small trees. They're really nice native plants.

I love Vaccinium arboreum and have tried to relocate some off and on over the years. And I do mean TRIED. I have had success only this past year (we do a lot of authorized plant rescues) and I am thrilled to finally have a few growing. We found some growing in full sun on the edge of a new area being developed and it was loaded with fruit. For many of us, it was the first time we'd seen fruit on them. What tiny berries!

"Based on her description, I think Laura is referring to the Vaccinium sparkleberry,"

Yup! You're right. They are great and I love them. I wish they'd get berries for the birds, although there is also a nearby (wild) black cherry tree, and it gets berries.

I am actually considering digging one of these sparkleberry bushes up and offering it at a plant exchange because one is in such deep shade it isn't getting any sunlight at all, so no flowers.

They are in a little patch of trees between my neighbor's house and my house, so they be as old as the oak tree there or as planted as the Bradford pear (ugh) and white azaleas there. But when I moved in they were tiny little bushes, so the previous owner may have put them in.

If anybody in Raleigh would love to come get a sparkleberry bush, let me know. I'm sure you will have something to offer in trade, LOL.

i'd love to come and dig it up, but it would probably have a much better chance of being moved successfully in late fall or early winter. are you willing to wait til then? as far as a swap- what are you looking for? i have shade and sun and many natives. just let me know what you might have in mind...

esh- any tips for successfully transplanting them? sounds like they aren't too easy. i do some native rescue through ncnps, too.

The only tip is to find one that is actually a small plant and not a sucker off a big one, as alicia said.

But to increase your chances (and when you have plenty of time to work with it as in this case), I'd root prune them several months in advance of digging them up (dig all the way around them in a large circle to sever any roots connected to other plants for those that don't know that term). Water them well the day before you dig and sprinkle root hormone on any large root ends that had to be freshly cut in the transplant.

Vacciniums as a whole can be so challenging on rescues. But it just makes me treasure each one that makes it!

thanks for the tips, esh. i successfully transplanted about 1/2 of the lowbush blues that i dug at edward's mill extension 2 years ago. i have yet to get berries, but they have done very well.

laura, if it is a single plant and if you're willing to wait til fall to have me come and get it, do you think you could root prune it now ? i think the diameter that's typically dug is about the drip line unless it's huge. i've done it before in anticipation of digging dogwoods and it does seem to help. just let me know. thanks, tammy

laura, if it is a single plant and if you're willing to wait til fall to have me come and get it, do you think you could root prune it now ? i think the diameter that's typically dug is about the drip line unless it's huge. i've done it before in anticipation of digging dogwoods and it does seem to help. just let me know. thanks, tammy

Sure, Tammy.
It's nice and small. I will look at it and try to determine if it is a sucker. Another bush I have suckers, and this doesn't look like that, but I'll pull back the mulch and take a look. If it seems independent, I'll dig around it to try to help it make new feeder roots inside the cut. I've seen Paul James do it. There is no rush; I just think it will do more in a better location with more sun, and I don't know where I'd put it in my yard.

alicia7b,

I would love to have one or two of the scarlet oaks this fall. I don't know what you would want in return as the only thing I currently have are daylillies and hostas.

thank you so much laura! that's exciting. now, what would you like in return? you can email me directly if you'd prefer.

Laura,

If you have another serviceberry bush that you would like to trade I would be interested. I don't know what you would want in return as the only thing I currently have are daylillies and hostas.

Thanks

Charles,
Yes I can give you a couple of the oaks. They're white oaks actually, whose parents color like scarlet oaks. I'd be interested in trading for daylilies.

>>If you have another serviceberry bush that you would like to trade I would be interested. I don't know what you would want in return as the only thing I currently have are daylillies and hostas.I'm sorry, haliwa, but I only have 1 extra sparkleberry (a sort of wild blueberry bush). I don't have any serviceberry bushes. Maybe somebody else will have a volunteer of that you could have. Good luck.

I have a potted willow oak about 4' tall. And I have a gadzillion white and red oak babies, depending on how long you want to wait for them to grow. I have a sassafras and they really resent being transplanted if they are of any size. And, several small American Beauty Berry plants. Trade?

Nancy the nancedar

>

Nancy: I've already promised away my sparkleberry, but if the OP doesn't take you up on the willow oak or all your American beauty berry plants, I have groundcover sedums, taller sedums, flox, creeping jenny, prostate rosemary ... anything of interest to you?

And how big is the sassafras? Do those tolerate sandy soil and sun in Wilmington (where my MIL lives)? I remember seeing a lot of them in the mountains. Do you know if it turns red or yellow in autumn? I saw both fall colors in the mountains. Very pretty.

Charles - quite a wish list but I applaud you wanting to generate a garden using natives. I feel I am in native heaven here when I start listing what just grows here naturally. Then I go to another county and see all the stuff that is native there and doesn't sprout here! Thanks to Brenda_near-Eno I have Redbuds, Crested Iris, and Bloodroot - abundant in her forest, minimally existent in mine. I also have Viburnum acerifolium -the native colonizing maple-leaf viburnum, and Piedmont Azaleas (15' tall), but have not been able to propagate them. I do have a good deal of success with Sensitive Fern, Christmas Fern, Green and Gold, Yellow-Root, Golden Alexander, Blue-eyed Grass, Cardinal Flower, and Cranesbill (Geranium). Willow Oaks are scattered in the forest, along with Mockernut Hickory (wonderful flavor like black walnuts but needing a steam roller to crack), Scarlet Maples, Red and White Oaks, Beech, Sourwood, Tulip Poplar, Sweet Gum, Dogwoods, and even the wonderfully fragrant and quirky looking Umbrella Magnolia tripetala.

laurabs - All the plants you mentioned to trade I sell at the local farmer's market so I have lots of them already, sorry. I added a link to info about Sassafras to see if they would work in your MIL's garden. I know there are several in my forest and will go look for new ones since sassy's like to sprout in disturbed forest and I had a couple thousand pines removed from my forest 2 seasons ago - that was very disturbing. Since the best time to move shrubs and trees is in the fall I think I'll go out tomorrow with my flagging tape since all those sticks look the same in the winter. I love to trade and if trading is with other natives, all the better so I can put back what I take out, only different.

Nancy the nancedar

Here is a link that might be useful: Sassafras Info

Thanks, Nancy.

I also have some volunteer maples, but what kind and how they'll color up, I have no idea.

I'll check out the sassafras link. Thanks!

Thanks for the link. I don't think sassafras would be happy in Wilmington without a lot of other trees around.

Thanks!

haliwa- my friend finally got back to me with the info i wanted to post for you (and others!). there is indeed a nursery near clayton that specializes in natives. here's the info per my bud:

Tarheel Native Trees, 4339 Peele Rd. Clayton, NC, 27520, 919-553-5927

Just a reminder that this is primarily a wholesale place, but they've been glad to deal with me twice as a retail customer. Excellent quality.

so i hope you can find a bunch of the items you were looking for. i know she bought 2 nice sized fringe trees there for a reasonable amount couple yrs back. i keep meaning to call and see what else they have and prices, but get busy and then lost the info. good luck! tammy

Sassafras will happily grow in full sun in dry areas. Not sure about Wilmington, but I see it growing at roadside in Southern Pines all over (as well as around Smithfield).

Nancy the nancedar,

I would be interested in the willow oak and 2 of your American Beautyberry plants (that way both myself and Laurabs can get some american beautyberry plants) and a red oak (will they be able to be transplanted this fall as I am looking at doing the plantings this fall since it would be better for plants survival). From one of your post you said that you have some Scarlet Maples and Sourwood if you have any I would like to get 1 of each also.

What do you want in trades as right now I only have daylilies and some hostas?

Also that you for your information about Tarheel Native Trees. I will give them a call today.

Thanks

Nancy the nancedar,

I don't know if you saw this or not but I would be interested in the willow oak and 2 of your American Beautyberry plants (that way both myself and Laurabs can get some american beautyberry plants) and a red oak (will they be able to be transplanted this fall as I am looking at doing the plantings this fall since it would be better for plants survival). From one of your post you said that you have some Scarlet Maples and Sourwood if you have any I would like to get 1 of each also.

What do you want in trades as right now I only have daylilies and some hostas?

Thanks

Alicia7b,

I will be digging up some of the daylillies that I have this weekend and I wondered how would I get some of the daylilies to you for our trade.

I'll email you tonight for a time we could meet. You wanted the oak this fall or winter, right?

Alicia7b,

Yes I would want the oak this fall and did you ever get any fruits from the Blackgum tree? If so and if you have any available could I get one of those also?

If you want to meet you can give me a call on my cell phone at 919-454-3850.

Haliwa01 (Charles)

Charles,
Another azalea to consider is Alabama azalea -- also adapted to dry sites and typically has a wonderful sweet lemony fragrance. You may want to wait until you get some shade to plant the azaleas though. I've seen a couple of native azaleas in full sun (a coast azalea and a Florida azalea, both at the Botanical Garden), but I've had some of those same species that looked unhappy in too much sun.

alicia- any leads on where t find the alabama azalea? sounds great! when does that one bloom?

Niche Gardens carries Alabama azalea. They bloom about the same time as the Florida, pinxterflower, and Piedmont.

thanks! i hope to get out that way sometime soon anyhow. great tip. tammy

When would be a good time to get the trees and shrubs planted this year? I was thinking of having the plant material bought by the end of Augustor beginning of september and having it laid out in the area by the end of September to mark the spots to plant the treee/shrubs in and then have it planted by the middle of October. Does this sound like a good plan or should I wait for it to get colder before I plant the trees/shrubs?

For the least amount of work, winter is best. Woody plants can be planted any time of year but it's easiest to transplant them when dormant.

I agree with Alicia for sure. So much less stress for them that time of year too when the weather is lovely and mild. Adele