I covered mine with leaves but they kept blowing off, lol. I have heard of people wrapping them with bubble wrap to keep the trunks from freezing. Gonna try that next year. I have some trunks that didn't appear to freeze all the way and have new growth at the base of most of them. I would take large cuttings and do the bucket thing so you have a large rooted plant to start with in the spring and then see what happens with the rest that you leave in the ground. That way you have backup just in case.

Bobby is fine with customers afaik. He has people just show up to look at his yard. Below is a link to an E.P. There are very few pics online. E.P. leaves come in quite red/purple and then it does green up a bit in the summer. Fall color on it has been a soft orange with some dark reds. It seems to be changing slowly and I think it will be a real beauty. Mine is about 5' tall and has a beautiful form. In my limited experience I'd put it in the top tier of sun handling maples. http://www.ncsu.edu/jcraulstonarboretum/photography/photograph_collection/photograph_collection_results.php?image=&date=&photographer=&personinshotnames=&country=&usstate=&city=&location=&garden=&building=&event=&keywords=&othernotes=&lecturetext=&allplantnames=&allcommonnames=&allfamily=&allplantnameserialnumbers=100155 Long link but it should lead to a pic of new growth on an E.P. at the JC Raulston Arboretum. E.P. has similarities to Bloodgood types. Orangeola has had the most new growth of any maple I got this year. It gets sun until about 1pm and is quite lush right now with multicolored late season growth. It really went nuts recently with growth. I love Orangeola for its beauty and vigor. I am also trying a few non-japanese maples just for the learning experience and some of these come from hot areas in SE Asia or Spain/Morocco. They are quite beautiful but very new arrivals so my experience is limited. Acer robustum acer buergerianum acer sieboldianum 'mikasa yama' acer monspessulanum Acer sterculiaceum (franchetii) Some of these look similar to japanese maples and I'm hoping to have success with them too.

Excellent question. I planted a particular variety of dogwood, Cornus florida "Spring Grove." Its touted as having more flowers and fruits than normal. The tree isn't big enough yet for me to pass judgement on that. Ive seen them eat juniper berries (native eastern red cedar), but you have to have male and female trees. Also bush honeysuckle, but don't plant as that is invasive. Bittersweet is supposed to be good to. A variety of plants would be good, just keep some open sections of lawn for them to feed on insects from as well. Here is a link that might be useful: cornus florida cultivars

Thanks very much, All. PnG and Robin - I did no monkeying with the pictures on the computer other than to resize and to take out the sun reflection on one. The "fuzzing" of the background has to do with the zoom, I believe - the depth of field. I've always found taking photographs to be more of an intuitive thing with me, rather than being able to recite the technicalities! Hopefully one of the experts on here can explain what I can't. As to the settings, I usually take everything on the manual settings, adjusting aperture, shutter speed, and focus myself depending upon the conditions and what I'm trying to achieve. Again, it's really not a formula...at least not to me. The science of it sort of leaves me cold and confused! Linda, I am in Jacksonville - but there are plenty of bluebirds in your area. The best thing to do is purchase a proper bluebird nesting box (you'll find all the specifics on the Bluebirding Forum with lots of wonderful folks that love to help you get it done right), mount it on a metal pole with a raccoon baffle, and I'd bet you'll be amazed at how fast you have some blue tenants checking out the facilities! Blues and other native cavity-nesters need all the help we can give them, since we are removing their habitat at an alarming rate. Good luck - I hope you give it a shot! Smoochies, Kathy and Janie!