andrea, I believe Newton Sentry and Monumentale are two different cultivars. Pictures of Newton Sentry are much more like a Lombardy Popular than what is on Whitman's site for Monumentale. I read somewhere along the way that Monumentale is difficult to find due to the fact of propagation problems. This is due to the difficulty of obtaining scions from the almost total lack of branching. So assuming that is correct, then it would be easy to see why some grower(s) would want to use another narrow cultivar as a sub. All of which adds up to being very careful about where you acquire the tree from. As for the root control bags, they are very helpful for preventing circling roots. The ideal is that fine roots start to grow through the bags, but are chocked off, forcing new roots for sprout further back. The nursery industry as a whole seems to be slowly moving in that direction due to the reduction of circling roots, and the fact that these are better for producing trees with tap roots (i.e. white oak, scarlet oak) that can be difficult to transplant otherwise, as the root control bags force a more fibereous root system on those. Lastly, I bought a dogwood recently from Whitman's, and I am happy with what I got from her. Check her feedback on Garden Watch Dog. Also if you want to call her on Sunday, I don't think that's a problem. Before I ordered the dogwood, I asked when to call, and she said "anytime". Let us know how it goes. Arktrees

Of course... the third floret of the "outstanding sibling" Another sibling, with greenish flowers, which are bigger, one scape, 4 florets, 13+ cm in Diameter And a third sibling, with two scapes, 4 small florets each, just 11+ cm in diameter, and the flowers are conspicuously drooping.

TJ, yeah the "bad crotch" would be a big concern down the road for me too. It will literally be a narrow V shape that grows into itself. Right now the Norway seems to be the lead, dominant, and straight trunk, and the columnar blue spruce is kind of growing out of it off to the side at an angle that is also almost straight up. Below is a closeup photo of the graft. The trunk on the right is right is the Picea pungens f. glauca 'Fastigata' (Columnar Blue Spruce). The Trunk on the left is the Picea Abies (Norway Spruce). At least that is what the consensus seems to be on what the root stock for this graft is. So, knowing that one is going to be removed, and that one is likely to be the columnar blue spruce, when would be the best time to do this? Also, given this is not a standard branch prune, anyone know about how close to the trunk I should cut it off? I was thinking of leaving about 1/2". Thanks for all the help!

The specialty mail-order nursery seems to have been well established before the Civil War. Definitely by 1900, a pretty close relative of the mail order business as we know it existed. Nurseries would place ads in magazines, offering free catalogs for the asking. Customers would mail in orders, and receive plants by mail. Since there were no agricultural inspections in those days, international mail order was simply a matter of money, time, and interest. Unfortunately, there don't seem to be many old catalogs available on the web. Old horticultural magazines are findable in a hit or miss manner. You may want to look at scanned copies of 'Meehan's Monthly', a horticultural magazine put out by Meehan & Sons nursery of Germantown, PA. Among other things, they sold conifer cultivars.