use the search for BUNKERS.. another newbie who claims to be in CO zone 5 ... what we told him may help you ... the link will take you to a conifer intro at the Amer Conf Soc .... tutorial on growth rates ... you PROBABLY DO NOT WANT DWARVES .... you can put about 100 MINI's in a very small yard ... think of it this way .. if momma is 300 feet tall ... a dwarf of her can be a mere 200 feet tall ... in whose lifetime is an issue for another show .... anyway.. the key is in the growth rates ... from the tutorial you will see that dwarves can grow upwards of 6 inches per year ... which will make a big tree in 10 or 20 years ... minis grow 1 inch or so ... ALSO NOTE... MOST GROWTH ESTIMATES ARE AT THE 10 YEAR POINT.... year 11 they will be that plus the growth rate.. probably for the rest of your life... so double it for 20 years.. etc ... nothing magically stops growing at some predetermined height ... you also dont mention snow cover ... if consistent.. many minis make it better through winter under a blanket of snow ... rather than being subjected to sun and wind.. etc ... in ground freeze areas .. like my zone 5 ... as long as the soil isnt frozen.. it isnt too late [nor too early] to plant ... so i think you might be wrong on the timing of your planting as a cause of death .. the issue might have been whether the plant had been previously weakened somehow.. that it didnt make it through winter ... we would need more facts to analyze further .... i lose a couple conifers every winter... its the cost of doing business .... and with most of them.. it is impossible to say why ... i have lost 3 different crypto's.. as far as i am concerned.. they are NOT ZONE 5 plants ... and i will never plant another ... i am sure there are peeps with micro climates.. who think they are zone 5 ... that can grow them.. but i would bet a buck their micro is at least z6 ... i am not a soil expert.. so i cant comment on that part ... i never heard of needing protection from altitude regarding sun .... is that really true ...??? .. seems like there are a lot of conifers lining mountains all over the world that dont seem to care ... but i have lived my whole life near sea level ... so what do i know .. though it makes sense for yellow tissue plants.. i dont see why green conifers would care ... almost all conifers need full sun ... and i am wondering.. pure speculation .. if you are trying to protect them from sun.. and actually putting them in too much shade???? .. a lot of conifers.. that tolerate shade in gardens.. started life in full sun.. when the shade trees allowed such .... but putting a babe in the shade.. might not give it enough sun.. to generate the food .. to grow the roots to thrive .... finally .. you dont mention the size of stock you are buying... for every 10 one gallon pots i buy or mail in .. i expect to lose at least one.. and never really know why ... i blame it on graft failure [always try to find someone else to blame.. lol ] .. who knows... which leads me to wonder if the spaans .. being all green.. just didnt fail for other reasons ... rather than the location??? and if you have to harden off stock to a zone.. and if the altitude sunshine is an issue.. do you take the time to 'harden them off' to the light .... e.g. if you order from some sea level nursery in cleveland OH .. do you temper them to your sun levels??? the only thing for sure.. the more you learn.. the less you know for sure.. good luck on our quest.... ken Here is a link that might be useful: link

Where do you get your heaths and heathers? Do you have any erica or is that the same thing? ===>>> none of them will live in z5 ... well.. to be totally correct.. they will live until a z5 winter ... unless you just want to play the zone pushing thing .... though i would not be surprised for someone to roll in here and claim there is ONE that will ... you better learn quickly .. to read a responders ZONE .. before you go off.. half cocked on their recommendations .. let me suggest that Will FFB has thousands of things in his zone 7/8 garden .. that you can dream and drool over.. that will never be good for you in z5 ... just like i have lots of things in my z5.. that dave cant grow in his z5 st louis .. or kansas city.. or wherever he is today .. lol ... [how in the heck can you have a town in two different states .... with the same name .. WHAT .. the peeps on the other side of the river could not come up with a different name.. what.. was sobriety an issue back then ... well dduuhhh.. i cant think of anything original .. lets just use the same name .. whats that all about.. but i digress] ken

i dont know about the angry part .. lol ... with most plants.. full sun is 8 hours or more ... counting dusk and dawn as less intense ... so i would suggest that its not necessarily ... a requisite 18 hours of direct sun ... its just enough sun to color properly.. frankly.. do it and find out.. the thing isnt going to grow so fast.. that after a year or two.. you couldnt move it.. plus its an arb ... frankly.. not one of the foo foo plants ... also.. just dont tuck it in to close to the foundation ... one must count ambient light in the formula ... as long as its not in dark shadow.. it will get light the hours its not in shade ... ken

i would venture yes.. e.g. a picea abies is a picea abies.. WHEN DISCUSSING GREEN PLANTS .... when we deviate from green to yellow or white tissue ... there is the burn issue.. but i think i addressed that ... IMHO .... conifers are full sun when green .... or blue [but there is a wax issue with blues in heat] .... when you remove chlorophyll for white or yellow .... late afternoon shade MIGHT help that tissue .. all presuming the plant is zone appropriate ... however for me.. with snow cover ... i can get dwarfs to zone push .. under the snow ... no wind. .. no sun ... in winter ... but for that one winter where i get no cover .. and lose some .. the problem i have with sun.. is winter sun ... and its ability to thaw tissue on a sunny day.. which refreezes when the sun disappears .. and i have to say... its hard to find winter shade ..... your sun issue is NOT dis-similar .. in that you have to define the suns impact on tissue ... [i have gotten 3 calls and 2 cable guy visits while trying to write this.. forgive me if it is disjointed ] .... otherwise .... look to heritage for guidance.. IMHO ... my only visit to CA was to stockton .. go figure on it being your neighbor city ... all i recall about the trip is having to drive hours and hours to sightsee .... lol ... ken BTW: you asked for help on a stanley order.. i never chimed in.. because your zone is just so foreign ... all i can add is general observation.. with the caveat that my zone.. aint your zone ...