edie: In the future, do not, rpt. not, prune your little apple tree in the late dormant period. By pruning now, you may have ensured that your tree will not bloom much, if at all, this season and maybe the next. The little "nubs" you pruned off may have been fruiting wood. Your pruning will result in rapid vegetative growth of multiple shoots at the pruned points, which will delay fruiting and require even more pruning next time around. Instead, prune your apple tree in late summer, say late July or even into August. Yes, I mean when there are leaves on the tree. Prune it, leaves and all. This will result in attenuation of the tree's vigorous growth, and encourage the formation of fruiting spurs that will grow in later in the same summer season that you prune. I hear what you are saying about your tree not matching any of the illustrations of the perfectly pruned trees in books and on websites. Very few of our trees want to look like that, but we can guide them in that direction. As for the stripped bark, it may cause no problems, but you can take another cut lower down on an uninjured part of of the branch. Get a shaper pruning shears (Felco is the best) or sharpen the one you have. And rotate the pruner a little on larger branches as you squccze to help obtain a clean cut. Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

Image and ID are in a different thread... Rosie Here is a link that might be useful: tswon first post

Beautiful Lucy! I'm jealous! Yes they make seeds, that is how I started mine last year. Karyn, I don't know if I sent you seeds, I don't remember if mine made any seeds last year..I thought I only shared cuttings. But I may be wrong?? Too many plants, not enuf brain capacity, lol. I had 2 trees I wintered over, but they didnt make it, and the cuttings I stuck in the ground early spring from those trees, still look exactly the same..they havent grown, havent put on new leaves or anything..they just sit there like they are fake..still the same little leaves as in spring. I didnt fert them at all..maybe that's why. I sent cuttings to a couple people..I am pretty sure Mike was one of them, I think I sent him 2..I wonder how his are doing? I think I am going to dig mine up and get them into pots today, fert them, maybe they'll start growing. I know they def wont make it if I try to overwinter them as small as they are right now. Maybe I can get them a little bigger before the frosts hit.

Becky, I'll chime in here with a few suggestions. First get the book 'The Flower Farmer' by Lynn Byzinski, I may have spelled her name wrong but she lays out everything very clearly. My favorite fillers are bupleurum, cerinthe, (harvest into hydrating solution), misty, statice, ferns and New Zealand flax. You wont go wrong with suns and zinnias. Try some asters for later in the season, they are easy. Good luck. Kat