Feb of '06 I planted a 10 gallon size potted Black Tupelo at my daughters house in northwest Fortworth, zone 8. The first year the tree grew about a foot, but did not leaf out very fully. I thought that was very good considering that the '06 summer was a drought year followed by drought in the winter. This Spring, after the Easter freeze, it rained quite often for several weeks at her place, and the tree is now much better leafed out than it did in all of last year. When I first purchased the tree for her, I made certain to wait until I could get her one that was in its fall leaf color change. That way I could be sure that the tree I chose had good potential to produce abundant red leaf color change in the fall. She has been very pleased with her tree. It often gets very windy where she lives, so at the same time we planted it, we installed 3 "T" stakes around the tree and tied it to the stakes in a manner which still allows the tree to move with the winds, but not so much as to allow the wind to uproot the tree, or to break the tender new roots that have recently begun to grow into the virgin soil. We first intended to keep her trees staked for 3 years. Now, I am considering adjusting the ties so the tree can sway with the wind slightly more during each of the remaining two years. There are narrow growing hornbeam tree cultivars, and they are very durable and bothered by very few pests. But I do not think they are as nice in appearace aa the Black Tupelo, and I think they grow slower than the Black Tupelo.

Glad you found the linked thread of interest. Sorry about your tree, Red Rage is my personal preferred Blackgum selection. For whatever reason, Blackgum seem to be a bit on the sensitive side for several years after planting. Or perhaps it because of grafting, after all grafting is not something that would expect to happen in a wild environment. I have also noticed that the selections available of Blackgum seem to begin growing sooner than the local native population. This leads me to believe that they originate from a more southern seed source, which could make them more susceptible to winter,spring damage. My own tree is a seed grown tree, and begins to grow VERY late. This suggests that is it northern source tree. Whatever the reason(s), Blackgum seem to be a bit sensitive for a period of time after transplanting (another very un-natural event). I bring this up because the picture appear that your tree began to grow in spring and then was zapped by the mid-April freeze (I got to 18 at my house IIRC). If this is correct, then my guess is that this is the likely cause for the top dieback. We had a grafted Ginkgo in 2007 that this happened to. As for prognosis, it appears to be sprouting back from below the graft (hard to tell for certain). Recovery would be much quicker than growing from seed, but you will not get the same tree back in a single year. Blackgum CAN grow surprisingly fast under optimal conditions, and it will look much better after just a year or two. But it will require management and timing. My own tree grows about 15-20"/year in far from optimal conditions (lots of competition). Have seen them grow up to 3'+/year. One reason 'Wildfire' is so common in nurseries is that is is supposed to grow much faster, It is up to you want to work this one out, replant, or plant something else there. Arktrees

Blackgum has been a difficult transplant for me. Dies back in the first winter after planting if I plant bare root or from a local nursery's pot. The biggest cost the most and died back to a couple inches high just like the cheapest bare root one did. Notice I like the tree enough I kept trying. Now I have had one in the ground a couple years and no die back since the first. If I get a spot for Nyssa sylvatica, aka black tupelo, black gum, or whatever it is called in local vernacular, in the spring I would buy several cheap ones from a company like Musser and plant them in a circle where I wanted one. My goal would be to get one through that first winter. If not at least you wouod have a choice of five to pick from the next year. Here is a link that might be useful: http://musserforests.com/prod.asp?p=BLG

Easy....GreenValley Growers in Willis, Tx. is the grower of these. They supply Lowes and K-Mart stores. Simply ask them to special order for you. Remember to tell them that it is Green Valley who has them. If there is a Sears Grand around you, they are also a dealer of Green Valley products. Good luck, it IS a nice tree.. I planted 2 this year.