Ken...this might be of some interest to you. One thing...I am under the opinion this conifer does not like harsh zone 5 conditions of Michigan which I suspect caused extensive needle brown out. Where it had protection it stayed green...I assume from snow cover. You will loose all those toasted needles but not all is lost. With the extension of this years candles yours will be back this year. With a little luck yours might acclimate. Mine did after about 3 years and now does brown out over the winter months. Of course my zone is 5b/6. This conifer is suited for USDA hardiness zone 6. and up. So I contend I am border line for for compatibility...so far so good. Dave Here is a link that might be useful: link... for Pinus thunbergii

Folks, Thanks so much for enlightening me on what I really bought. And thanks for all the hard work Ken ... you've really helped me so much, and your humor is sometime I look forward to. The place I bought it from told me Scots Pine but I figured she may not really know ... and she didn't. They had 3 of these originally ... and still have the other 2 sitting around (getting worse by the week). I had contemplated getting another for $120, which around here is quite reasonable for a 4' tree of any level of uniqueness. Mine looks better way better since landing a spot in my back yard. I think its funny (and sad) how nobody will buy these, even for $120 for a 4' tree ... because they only want plain old boring Austrian Pines ... for the growth rate only.

I got 1 of 2 or 2 of 2 to graft successfully, Ken.. however, the graft or grafts perished during summer. It's easy for me to conclude now that if I were to remove the grafts from containers and plant them in-ground each year I'd keep likely between 75% and 90%. It's keeping them in containers thru the summer that kills them. Every year it's a major bummer to get 90% takes in the greenhouse, then remove them to the outdoors under shade cloth and when fall comes along to see that 15-20% are alive. And, I judiciously care for them, 'each', on an individual needs basis; i.e. some need water more or less than others and I pick them up and water each individually. I live in the wrong climate for the aftercare, there are no two doubts about it in my mind. Dax

Mine gets about 4 hours of sun. It does quite well on that amount. This pine has very little needle drop. What it shed this year I could hold in my hand. It will color up some more. We have not had a hard freeze yet. This event usually sets the tone for finally coloring up. A 1 gal. Stanley conifer about 8 years ago. Dave