pam, its mostly an eastern tree farther north they go (in other words not in the Dakotas), but when i was in Massachusetts they did indeed have spectacular fall color even in a area know for trees with spectacular fall color. I have never seen these trees in the south so i cant comment on their size. Yes it is freezing. It felt like spring one day, even a no-coat day, and then the next day i got frostbite after 5 minutes of walking into the prevailing winds, i don't remember it being this cold for a long time. There is a range map for this species in the link below, pus a wealth of information on this tree Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.na.fs.fed.us/Spfo/pubs/silvics_manual/volume_2/nyssa/silvatica.htm

There's been plenty of rain here this year. We got only a little below our yearly average last year, didn't have nearly the drought the middle and upper South experienced, and with almost 23" of rain so far this year, we'll probably exceed the yearly average of 65" this year. I'm finding a lot more seedling trees coming up naturally this spring than I've found in the previous two springs since the hurricane, especially dogwood seedlings, which I didn't find any of until this year. Maybe the good rain has something to do with that. I made a 13 second video of the stream at the bottom of the hollow - I love the sound it makes! Sherry

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.

I ended up just constantly chipping away at that rock until I was able to dig it out and then I ran into another huge rock right after that. Apparently our front yard consists of rocks with dirt dumped on top of it. The soil itself still is of good quality. One thing I noticed (and keep in mind that this is only my 2nd time EVER planting a potted plant) is there were a LOT of encircling roots around the potted soil. I cut off a lot even though it feels as though you will hurt the plant if you do that. Also, I've never received a potted plant in the mail and it was not mailed in a pot at all as I was expecting. Instead it was removed from the pot. The soil was covered in a wet brown bag, and then wrapped in plastic. Is this how potted plants are usually shipped? Thanks.