The backyard garen here is all in varying degrees of shade due to a big, old white ash, middle-aged white pines and a 25-30-year-old red oak. I expect the ash to die in the not-so-distant future from either or both Emerald Ash Borer and old age, so I've been planting smaller, mainly understory trees that can survive the shade now but would also do fine if the ash came down. - Cercis canadensis 'Albaâ - I find the usual pink of redbuds a rather harsh color but love the ethereal look of the white ones. They just seem to float over the emerging spring garden. They look fabulous with the floaty blues of 'Jack Frost' brunnera flowers under them. - Dogwoods - I only have trees, not shrubs, although I did add one shrub ('Prairie Fire') last summer to the 'golden path' area I'm making. I have both the early-flowering native Cornus florida and a later flowering Cornus kousa 'Milky Way' (which is not nearly as nice as my next-door-neighbour's 'China Girl' one!) and a beautiful young 'Wolf Eyes' variegated kousa. - Chionanthus virginicus fringetree - wonderful white flowers and beautiful butter-yellow fall color. - Japanese maples - several different named varities ('Full Moon' is my favorite) but the best one is a seedling from the neighbour's now-dead tree, plus we now have a couple of seedings from another neighbour's absolutely fabulous old tree (no idea what the name is) - I hope those tiny seedlings survive this horrible winter! - Rhodotypos scandens - this is considered invasive in parts of the US but it's not trouble here as far as I know. I'm not sure if it is a problem in the UK or not. It grows well under the pines and looks lovely in flower in spring. It suckers so should be easy to propagate. - Clethra alnifolia - not a named variety; would probably bloom better with more sun but grows under the pines (even though they are supposed to like moister soil); suckers; nice scent and nice yellow fall color. - Kolkwitzia (beautybush) - bridalwreath spirea - Hydrangeas - 'Blushing Bride', 'White Dome', a couple of oakleaf (both big and small) that do so-so here, 'Tardiva', 'Bluebird',and a couple of others that I can't think of the names at the moment....! I don't like the mophead types but like the lacecap and paniculata types. - Burning bush - can't remember which one! - Fothergilla - Aronia melanocarpa 'Autumn Magic' (barely survived several years in too much shade but I hope it'll survive after moving it into more light two years ago. - saskatoon berry - too much shade for it but it survives and flowers - hollies - Weigela florida - remarkable that it will grow and flower under the pines with just a bit of morning sun slanting under the canopy! - flowering raspberry - suckers like mad! - serviceberry I'm sure I've forgotten some things here too...

you could try to encourage canes to break from lower down the 2 remaining branches. Make a small horizontal nick on the outer side of the canes, just deep enough to interrupt the sap flow upwards. This can cause a new cane to break just below the nick. You could also shorten the canes by at least a third as this will also encourage further growth. Remember, growth follows the knife, as a legendary old UK gardener was fond of stating (Fred Loads).

Righto Kim. I'd have to say that to me the albas are the most pleasing rose plants, specifically White Rose of York and Mme Plantier. However in the interest of full disclosure, I must say that WroY is on its way out (some kind of cane tunneler - for want of a better term) and Mme P is recovering from a too close encounter with Syringia lacinata, Cut-leaf Lilac. I like this because I can get my lilac fragrance fix and yet it does not get too big - about 6'. Kim, I didn't realize at first that you could use this information in your breeding. Cath

I've long thought that 'PJM' needed even better soil aeration than is usual with rhododendrons generally. As with plantings of other heath family shrubs here, including heathers, other kinds of rhododendrons and azaleas, groupings of 'PJM' seen will very often show a decline of part or most of the shrubs in a group. This is root rot. Heath family shrubs have special soil requirements and if these are not met they do not last. Many wild rhododendron species native to wet Asian climates are found mostly if not almost exclusively growing in nature on rocks, logs, live trees and other situations offering extra drainage and aeration. Even the locally native coast rhododendron is typically seen growing naturally on very coarse sandy or gravelly soils; these tendency may explain why extensive native patches are found only in certain portions of its range. When I worked at a nursery producing evergreen azaleas we potted these in pure medium grade conifer bark - almost as coarse and simple a medium as might be used for orchids.