I'm confused Will - Where did you see zone 1 to 3 at? I looked everywhere and I saw anywhere from zones 1 through 6. I planted mine in the fall... This was one of the ones I think I lost because of the severe cold winter and excess rain/snow. It's showing a brown tint to it. I was planning on replacing it with another Blue Magoo this spring, but now I'm second guessing myself since I'm in zone 6. Do you have any pics so I can compare with the one I have that I think is going out? This post was edited by ricksample on Wed, Mar 19, 14 at 7:43

what tj said.. noting that if you dont force the leader up.. it will continue to grow like the branch it was cut from ... once we unconfuse it.. it will take over that all by itself ... blue is a wax coating on all plants... it basically reflects the blue sky ... it wears off over the season... especially if overhead watering is used.. hard rain on hot days... etc ... and never spray it with chems ... nor fert .. nor the hose.. etc .... if you bought it under that name.. i see no reason not to think its what it claims to be ... i checked my PBucket acct.. and i do not have a good pic of how it should be staked ... hopefully someone else does ... ken

I agree and thanks guys for pointing me in the right direction, I really like the curves compared to my straight lines on the dog bone bed. The curves on the bed connecting the arbor will make my picea pungens 'hoopsii' and Picea glauca 'pendula' really pop! I like this much more than the round circle I had before that made these trees blend in. Dave perhaps this fall I will take measurements off my yard and work on this over winter. Right now I just want to get a basic scetch of what I think could look good. I won't be putting these beds in until fall 2012. Tonight I'll lay the roundup down for the arbor bed, mark the spot for the plants, etc to get it ready to plant in 6 weeks pending weather. A garden hose is definitely easier to use and lay out curves, I just use rope because the beds are very large. Just an example, the bed I have to the right of my house, I have about 400' of rope down to create this bed. The cost of rope is much less than the cost of hose. When I add those 3 beds to the back yard I'll lay out all 3 beds at once just to make sure I really like it. If I do one bed at a time with my water hose, I may not like the overall design once all 3 beds are in place. What looks great on paper could look bad in person and vise versa. I use 1/2 pink hose, it shows up pretty good and I can easily see the layout from the second story window. I took your design and modified the middle bed to force the design to stay out in the yard and not so close to the house. I couldn't have it wrap around the kidney bed like you have it only because it would have put the small bed to the far right of your scetch in the back deck. With this design, I should have around 20' of space. I may or may not make the middle bed arch out on the other side a little instead of a half circle. It'll depend on how much room I'll have.

welcome chris ... in my sand.. in my MI... with 90 degree heat for july and august .. ALL my plants might need water during that time... especially in a drought .... i might presume in say the PNW where i hear it rains about every 45 mins ... i bet they dont need much additional water ... so how that all works.. in you LI,NY ... who knows .. lol .. so .. not only is most info location specific ... it can also rely on every variable in your garden. like drainage.. soil type ... direct sun ... etc ... when you are reading on line.. try to figure out if the author is in your type of area .. but when it comes down to all your yard variables... you are usually left with just trying it ... ken