Definitely not opposed to chemicals. I had planted a lot of wildflower seeds last spring in that front right area, and it looked like a somewhat decent area, in that in was flowering, though a mix of weeds and wildflowers. This year, I just let it grow, so I wouldn't kill off any wildflowers... Well, I don't see any of what I would consider wildflowers, just weeds. So may do the round-up (did that before I planted the wildflowers), and then weedeat. The Rose of Sharon's will be at the top of the hill, and will be getting mid-day/afternoon sun, so I think they'll be happy. The Crape Myrtles in the middle, they have sun for now in mid-day and good portion of the afternoon.. Not planting anything else that'll be tall near them, so hopeful they'll be good :) Maybe rose of Sharon's and groundcover (juniper maybe?) on that front right hill. Juniper to keep the weeds down, and Rose of Sharon to fill it in. It's a major pain to even weedeat that front right area, nearly twist my ankle anytime I do it. Edit: OH yeah, add Forsythia Lynwood Gold to the list of possibilities.. I picked one up on clearance from Lowes a few months back, and just planted it out front. Never had one, but I have read they're even easier to propagate, and I think this one looks pretty healthy. This post was edited by kenallgood on Mon, Jul 29, 13 at 21:51

Resin, I have to beg to differ on that last comment. Red Spruce are a distinct species from Black Spruce, and while are similar are NOT the same tree. Also, Balsam Fir are pretty different from Fraser Fir. Even Canaan Fir are somewhat different from their very close relative the Balsam Fir, but they both look much closer to one another than they do Fraser firs. Seeing them in their native habitat, you can (well I can at least anyway) clearly see and tell the difference between the Fraser and Balsam firs. Similar, yes, but still fairly different. As for the OP, I would say that attempting to grow them in your climate is going to be a bit of a challenge. You saw them on the very highest of peaks in the Smokies. Typically above about 4,500 -5,000 feet or higher that far south. Here in Virginia and West Virginia, they also grow on the highest peaks of the Alleghenys / Appalachians and even a few peaks of the Blue Ride Mountains as well. However this far north they are able to grow at altitudes as low as 3,000 feet, and a few scattered stands can be found even lower than 3K feet, though they are not common. There are several reasons for this. First is the substantially cooler climate, even in summer. Where they grow the climate is so drastically different from most places that on any given summer day, it can be 90 down in the valley under 3,000 feet, but up on the high plateaus/ ridge tops it will be in the 60s/ 70s. Rarely do those ride tops see 90s, and often those ridge tops get into the 30s and 40s at night even in the hight of summer. Second is the mesic type habitat they do best in. These trees need WATER. While growing in standing water will eventually kill them, growing in high altitude wetlands, as well as open mesic environments on the high peaks is great for them. They are some of the closest trees the eastern US has to "rain forest trees" There are sections of WV, along the Allegheny front where they grow still (second growth forest except for one 150 acre tract) in fairly large tracts and numbers, but the environment is very high altitude for the east coast, is MUCH MUCH colder than most places on the east coast, and is much much wetter than anywhere on the east coast as well. Many areas where there are true Red Spruce forest receive almost as much annual precipitation as some of the temperate rain forests of the Pacific North West. The main difference being that much of the precip comes in the form of SNOW for Red Spruce. Were talking where they grow usually gets between about 150 and 200" of snow in any average winter, and has recieved 300 inches of snow annually at times. The annual liquid precip for most of the areas where Red Spruce grow exceeds 55 inches, which is considered the threshold for temperate rain forest in north America. Another thing to note about these trees is that in their native habitat the high mountain ridges they grow on are typically shrouded in coulds for a large number of days annually. Another thing to keep in mind with these trees is that when they are young, are EXTREMELY shade tolerant, and often will grow slightly better when in at least partial shade while young. In their native habitat, they are EXTREMELY hardy trees given the conditions they face: Extreme cold (20-45 below zero temps), many months of freezing, extreme high winds often on a daily basis (hurricane force sustained winds are common) as well as extreme heavy snow fall and coatings of ice for very extended periods of time ( think months on end). ALso, the soil make up where these trees grow is usually more acidic in nature. You CAN do it, but your trees will require special care, and LOTS of water. Relying solely on annual rain fall could do them in, especially if you have a drought year. One more thing to note is that they often will suffer from needle cast when taken outside of their native area. Not always, but it is fairly common. People used to dig them up in the WV highlands, and bring them home to use as landscape trees or wind break trees on farms 1-200 years or more ago, but often they ran into the same problems many at lower elevations do today, especially if you are on the close east side of a large mountain range in its "rain shadow". That said, they are quite beautiful trees. I personally prefer them to Norway Spruce as they often have a more narrow crown, at least until they get huge. While we can grow them here they are tricky even for us, and were very close to their native range. I feel very privileged to live so close (2 hours drive) from some of the best remaining Red Spruce forests south of NH / Canada. The trees you saw in the Smokies, while beautiful trees are not true solid Red Spruce forest. For that you need to go to mainly West Virginia , and even parts of extreme western VA. This is where the true Red Spruce forest ecosystem begins, and the stands are usually PURE. The highest elevations of the Monongahela National Forest, ranging from 3K feet, to 4,863 feet on WV's higest peak, Spruce Knob. If you'd like I can post some photos of that area and the native Red Spruce Forest. Just let me know.

Hi all, first time posting on the daylily forum. I found this thread when looking for info on specific cultivars I'm considering ordering. I'm located about 45 minutes south of Georgian Bay in Midwestern Ont., so by your standards, I'm northern. My new acquisitions get watered for the first couple of weeks after planting, other than that, they're pretty much on their own, unless it is severely dry. I generally do not fertilize. New beds are amended with composted manure from our pile which our stock consistently adds to (funny how that works, isn't it) and wood shavings. In some areas of our yard, the topsoil is only 2-3 inches thick, and then it's like digging in the driveway! Elegant Candy gave an impressive performance here, it's second year. I think it had about a dozen scapes (didn't actually count the scapes, so going from memory on this count) but the scapes averaged over 30 buds per scape. This was counting all buds on all scapes, both first and rebloom. Precious D'Oro (don't think this one is registered) is a bud builder, with blooms measuring about 3" or so, polychromed. I marked it this year as having an average of 37 buds, with 4 way branching. I know last year (in our drought), it had many scapes at 50 or better. Come Out and Play (a Polston intro from '06) has scapes like tree trunks. It starts blooming around the first of August, with instant rebloom, so blooms well into September for me. First bloom scapes average 30-35 buds, with rebloom lower. Branching is 5 and 6 way for me. I don't use photobucket or such, and not sure how to upload photos, but so far, these have been the best. This is the year that I consistently started paying better attention to bud counts, and have many new additions that will take next summer or the following to really hit their stride.

Evening all! Just got back from baseball practice...DD is orange from head to toe from the clay. DS happy, he got to play second base. It was 84° today! Hello? Where did spring go? I will NOT complain. It is suppose to rain here for the next 3 days. My truck's air conditioner has leaked all of the coolant out so now I gotta get that fixed. We had awful storms here Sunday evening and into the night. I hate storms during the night. Glad ya'll liked my bunny family portrait. Anita, I wasn't 'wide open' this time, LOL! I took my Sago kitty back to the vet this morning for a check up. He is healing well. After the swelling went down, I saw puncture wounds on the back of his head, like the bottom teeth went inside the ear and the upper teeth got the top of his head. Whatever bit him had a big mouth. I got his shots updated today too. When I took him out of his carrier, I found that he had pooped all over himself, GAG! So, I had to clean him up the best I could before he could be examined. Then I had to hold him down with all my strength for the shots. I struggled to get him back in the carrier and turned around to talk to the vet, plus keep up with DD. The carrier flips off the exam table and lands upside down with the cat inside!!! I freaked! I turn it back over and pick it up, turning beet red and appologizing to the kitty. The vet then said that he landed feet first, and that he had never seen that happen. The carrier has a big crack on the top now and the vet tried to sell me a new one, LOL! I paid the bill and slunked out of there. The good news of the day is I found a variegated Hoya compacta at Lowes! 6 inch pot stuffed full for, get this, $5! Oh, Jo, I found Iris confusa yesterday!!! A nursery out in California had a similar Iris for sale, so I emailed them asking about it and they said that they had confusa, just not listed because they did not have enough. They sold me two pots! The website is allthingsiris.com. Terri is SUPER! All the prices on the website includes shipping. Angie, I have the code for Brecks somewhere and will email it to you. Deni, have to tell you about the fern you sent me. I had potted it up when I first got it and last week I decided it was ok to plant out in my shade garden and I found poison ivy growing in it, LOL! Good thing I am not allergic to it! Get well soon! I hope everyone that has anything gets better. Spring is here, it is not time to have the crud! I have to mention also that I got a phone call from G this afternoon. I'm telling ya, as soon as I answered, I could tell you were a California girl and not from this neck of the woods! Flu and all. You did sound rough and I hope you get to feeling better. And, ya'll, she talks just like she types, mispellings and all, j/k! I brake for yard sales! I had just mentioned to my son while we were out yesterday that it is about time for them, and all I got was a big groan out of him. Melissa, great news for your DD! Diabetes is a scary thing to have to deal with. I'll be starting the next thread in a bit. ~Canna