What a great antique tool collection. If those tools could talk, they would tell us about hundreds of hours of dirt-work. Maybe they were there when the owners wore their backs out. lol. What a great way to display and honor what they represent. I would add a garden sign to the collection. "SWEAT HAPPENS". Or a quote from a gardening poet. "Sweat Doth Happeneth". There thats better. The blue bottle tree is so great and I'll bet looks wonderful as the continuation of the blue garden balls in the other tree. Your garden bench looks so inviting. The 'hopping steps' (log slices) make a very fun path to get to the seating area. Dont forget to paint loads of wood sealer on them every season. (I had some but mine were cut too thin and rotted down quickly) The headboard has a forboding look that says, it dares any of the woods to encroch any further. "May not grow beyound this fence". lol. It all works well and you needed that pop of white to prevent the shadows of the woods from swallowing up the designs of the bench and headboard. Thank you and Carol for providing a rose garden for your princess!!!!! Roses are gifts of love. I did not know that mini roses could live through the winter and come back! Let me know their proper name (it's probably Latin). I'm all excited about learning that. Great pictures!

I want to thank all of you for your comments! I am collecting for another tree (or two). My girls LOVE doing them. I used plain spray paint, nothing special. Just try something and if you don't like it, you can always paint another color. I am still looking for toppers for my two completed trees, when I find the "perfect" topper, i will post more pics. i will also post more pics of the new trees when they get going. Again, THANKS for all the good comments!!

Lou, I would be very interested in seeing the state of the roots for the tree you dig up. So if you are of the mind, post pictures of what you find. The first Sugar Maple I planted did not survive, so when I replaced it, I took the dead plant and cleaned the roots as an educational experience. Having this stump, and a good deal of research online about ornamental tree production taught me allot about what to expect from my new plantings. Particularly in respect to most trees in containers are containerized, and not grown in that container. Meaning, they are field grow, bare root harvested, most roots removed, then planted in a container, then given a growing season to recover before being shipped out that fall or early the nest spring. This was absolutely the case with the tree that did not survive. This solved allot of my questions as to why I was seeing the pattern that I was from previous years growth. Namely why the current years growth was so much less than previous years. Also taught me that the replacement will not behave normally for at least 2-3 years if not more. As for my own tree, I do believe it can be saved. The ground rarely freezes very deeply, or for a prolonged period, so it will have time to recover some before spring. Visually overall the tree looks good, but I recognized problems due to a pause in growth when it should not have, growth rate did not increase this year over last, growing leaflets paused turned black before growth again resumed after a few weeks, oddities in the trunk etc., and just did not grow as much as it should have. Fertilizer is not a problem, as the lawn gets what it needs, and it does not show any sign of nutrient stress, and I do I keep the grass away from the tree. I have also been working to improve the soil, and now beginning to find a small population of earthworms, along with some fungi appearing after rain. All of which tells me I'm making progress with the soil and it's ecology. I don't expect it to grow as fast here as for you in north Texas, but I'm sure it can do better than it did. It's nice to know what yours have done from a personal experience, it gives me a measuring stick to to speak. Anyway, I for one would appreciate hearing what is happening with yours particularly since they are from the same grower. Hope your others turn out to your liking. Also if you seedly does not change, and is consistent in a variety of environments, you just may have something worth developing. Arktrees

I had a few Callistemon citrinus growing in the garden for a while, but the last one froze out in 2004 when the temperature dropped to about 22F in the most sheltered part of my garden where it was planted. I also don't have hope for any forms of C. viminalis which would include 'Little John'. Last December was a good test for Callistemons when the temperature dropped to the range of 12-14F with nearly a week entirely below freezing early in the month. Undamaged by this event were C. sieberi (several forms), C. viridiflorus, Callistemon sp. aff salignus, and a few unknown dwarf ones that may be forms of, or closely related to, C. sieberi/pityoides. All of the above have cream or yellow flowers. The hardiest red-flowered species such as C. subulatus, and 'Woodlander's Hardy' mostly had minor to moderate damage, and though none were totally undamaged, I was impressed that these did pretty well overall. I would also place all forms of C. pallidus in this category. Everything else froze to the ground, including anything with purple flowers, and C. montanus, macropunctataus, rigidus, a pink form of C. sieberi, and several more unknown ones. Too bad. Callistemons are pretty good at growing back from the roots if they are cut to the ground, so perhaps they will return if summer ever arrives this year.