Karin, It's a lady who's daughter owns a nursery in a smaller town outside of Indianapolis. So I guess she has her daughter bring plants in and they sell them. It's incredible!!! Good to know that I paid a fair price...I didn't know for sure, I just went crazy. LOL Good info on the thyoides, I'll keep that in mind when siting it. Still wonder what the specs (size, etc) are on it but nobody seems to know.

super work ... pix.. beds... stone work .. you name it.. you did super ... isnt that cedar a bit close to the foundation??? i am seeing a 6 inch flush.. and i am sure its not done.. and the distance to the wall getting eaten up fast ... or perhaps just the angle of the pic??? might want to transfer it out in fall and bring in something a bit slower????? regardless... you go boy and the rest of you lurkers.. chime in please .... its not just me, barb, dave, dax, blue and will .... ken

I know, that would solve soo many problems Barbara including keeping that creeping grass out. For aesthetic and laziness purposes I think the flat bed works better there though. Dax, I found some pictures of "Malonyana Aurea" and do very much like it. My usual source ForestFarm doesn't appear to have it. Do you have a recommended source? I'm working with a small area of the yard down near the street. My idea is an area 20 feet long and 10 wide looks right with the profile of the yard, sorta creates a border reference, and is easily mowed around. I hate having to back up or turn around riding the mower.

Hi Menno, Conifers need no wax, only deciduous grafts do. 50 degrees constant is perfect. Tent the grafts at supper time (dark) and remove the tenting early morning. Mist them 4-5 times daily (not at night). Use bottom heat. When preparing the understock, never cut more than 25% into the understock, instead, you want a thin cut but the flap you're creating should be a little longer than the prepared cuts on the scion. Insert the scion so that it is nicely snup and so that the flap is excessive/longer at the top so you know the scion wounds are completely covered. Keep the humidity up - you want high ninties to 100% if at all possible. Your knife should be sharp enough to remove the hair off your hand by scraping. Anything less than that sharp you're grafts will be very unsuccessful. Keep the knife clean with rubbing alcohol. (Periodically dip to remove built-up resin). Wipe the blade clean and dry. Deciduous grafts (side veneer) treat the same with a few exceptions: You use your bud tape (bud strip) but the grafts need be coated in paraphin. The entire "strip" needs to be coated. Do not tent deciduous grafts. After growth has occured on a deciduous graft (full leaf push on the scion), you must remove the understock. Cut just above the graft union leaving only the scion to continue growing on the roots of the seedling understock. Pot up your grafted plants and untangeling all roots early spring. Then and only then, add fertilizer to the soil mix. For the next couple years, keep these "fresh grafts" shaded. Under a large shade tree is perfect. For the conifer understock, snip back all but one or two main branches at spring pot up and leave the understock on for a year (this is debatable to no end) - and the following spring remove them just as you did for your deciduous grafts. These must also be placed under a shade tree. Keeping both out of full sun is very important and I want to stress this. Lastly I'll just say, when you make your understock cut, try your darndest best to make it exactly as wide as your scion - 'otherwise' - line "at least" one side of the scion up with "one side" of your understock flap. Tie it off and call it done! Dax