Hey Mike, I just got a Logee's catalog..To be honest, I've never heard of Acokanthera. I thought your new plant was Sweet Olive.. Where have I been? Preparing for Christmas. I baked several pounds of cookies and bars for family/friends, 'approximately 200' different types. Decorated, bought and wrapped gifts, cleaned, visited, addresed Christmas cards, blah blah..In the meantime, I've pretty much neglected plants which I explained in another thread. Regretting it now. Lol, on the darts..I feel the same..lol.. Mike, truthfully..I didn't know about the darts..I researched your plant, then came across information about the dart and sap. I have two perrenial bushes in the garden called Winter Sweet and Winter Shrub..at first I wondered if this bush was the same plant as yours, but since Acokanthera is a native of Africa, it'd never surive here, not outdoors, anyways. Did you say the owner gave you his plant??? Did he supply care instructions? For instance, when and what to fertilize, light, soil, watering, etc? It's a very very pretty plant, and fragrant, too!! Wonder why it can't be propagated from cuttings.. I'd try as an experiment..lol..Wonder if it's fast or slow-growing?? Hope it's not too much work keeping it alive, especially in winter. Well, good luck and take care, Toni

in his other post.. which he could have linked too .. i suggested daubs frosted ... is that ruled out?? BTW joe.. there are about 50 variations on this theme.. and frankly.. only about 4 people can tell them apart ... so dont go trying to find.. just the ones named ... you might never find them in the trade ... i mail ordered about half of my 500 conifers.. get something truly special.. dont hope to find something at bigboxstore ... there is a list of favored vendors.. e.g google : conifer kingdom ... to peruse a variety of offerings ... and when it come time to plant.. check back with us.. and we can help you with that ... finally .. at the link.. is an intro to conifers... check out the part on size.. and learn about annual growth rates.. that is how you pick a plant.. to fit a space.. for a long time... you can find a tree like this one.. that grows a foot per year.. in ten years.. it will be 10 feet wide.. in 20 years.. 20 feet.. they never really stop growing... but a look alike.. that grow 3 inches per year.. will be that much smaller in 10.. 20.. or 30 years ... presuming you can do the math.. or divide by 4 ... this is called enabling.. please peruse the 60 odd pages of posts... lol ken Here is a link that might be useful: link

4 looks like picea abies 'pendula' ... at least theat the name i know it under ... what we dont know.. is if any of them will have a winter color.. such as #2 ... if so.. report back .. it could be aurea.. or gold coin.. though i see no hint of such... same with 3 .. and 1 ... ken

i use whatever the local tree guy will dump in my yard.. wood is wood .... will .. local gas stations and bigboxstores sell cypress mulch here .... in bags. easy transport and all ... mulching does 3 things: 1 .... keeps that idiot with the lawnmower and weedwhip a couple feet away from the trunk ... 2... cools the soil ... which roots like .. and reduces water loss .... 3... retards weed germination.. and keeps the soil friable.. soft.. so you can pull out any weeds ... personally if God had meant for you to layer the soil with plastic stuff.. then your plants would be plastic ... most weed seed is wind borne.. or bird borne.. and one minute after you lay down fabric.. a seed is on top of it.. IMHO .. its a total... COMPLETE waste of money .... but if anyone else like it.. good for them ... anticipate settling .. i would put down about 4 inches.. hoping that after settling.. there would be about 2 to 3 of mulch .. ON MY SAND .... IF YOU HAVE CLAY.. SOMEONE ELSE CAN TELL YOU HOW DEEP ... AND IT SHOULD BE ABOUT 2 INCHES FROM THE TRUNK OF THE PLANT.. OUT ABOUT A FOOT BEYOND THE PLANT.. IF THEY ARE OUT IN THE LAWN .. KEN PS: using the caps for emphasis.. somewhat fails.. if you forget to turn them off.. lol