I live in eastern Waukesha County in Wisconsin and have planted 4 Sweetgum Trees (Moraine), 2 in 2006 and 2 in 2007. They were all B&B (Burlap and Wire removed before planting). The 2 planted in 2006 are exposed to all of the elements. They typically have 10-50% tip die back where either the terminal bud dies or the terminal bud plus maybe 1" of the branch dies. Typically they will have more terminal buds die when we have extended periods of freezing weather that causes the soil to freeze lower than normal (I think 3' down?). This really is not a big deal since they put on 1-2' of growth a year. The only downside is that you must remove the suckers on the lower trunk during the spring. The other 2 I planted in 2007 are protected by other trees and a forest edge. Typically they will experience less than 10% tip die back. They grow 3-7' per year. Years where they have grown 7', the top terminal bud will die. All of the trees leaf out late (usually with the bur oaks), and they change their leaf colors late and will hold on to their colored leaves for at least a month. The colors are all over the place (yellow for inner leaves, orange/red for middle leaves, and purple for the outer leaves). Mine have not started to fruit yet. My biggest complaint about these trees is their demand for water. The soil drains fairly well so if we don't get 1" of rain a week, I need to water them. So, not very drought tolerant which is probably why they die back in the winter. If you decide to plant one please make sure your soil is not alkaline. Best of Luck! -JON-

There are a few Wild Ones chapters in the Chicago area, check out their website at www.for-wild.org. I contacted the president of the Greater Dupage Chapter, knowing that they sometimes have sales. She said they are not this spring, but may in the fall, and they have an email list to join if you want notification of their sales and others in the area (contact Rich Whitney to be on this list: gowild@sbcglobal.net). She also suggested checking out the following groups online for possible plant sales in Chicago suburbs: Schaumburg Garden Club, Midewin, Kane-Dupage Soil and Water Conservation Disctrict, Wheaton Garden Club, Dupage County Forest Preserve. Also, for closer to Chicago itself, contact the North Park Village Chapter of WO. Happy hunting! Maifleur has a good point, too--it can still be cheaper than buying from a nursery (well, at least if you have I-pass!). What you need to do is get together with some fellow native-plant-loving friends to split the cost of gas when you're shopping! And if you don't have any such friends, you need to join a native plant group of some sort! Here is a link that might be useful: Wild Ones: Native Plants, Natural Landscapes

There are calculators that will factor it in, but you need the tax information so you can input it (they basically add it to the mortgage amount and then divide by 12 to give you the monthly cost). My personal opinion is that you should avoid escrowing taxes if possible. I know several people that have had issues with the bank paying it, issues when the loan is sold, etc. Also, when you pay monthly you are basically NOW for a bill that isn't due for months (in some cases 6-12 months). That means you are giving the bank free use of your money for that time. They earn the interest, not you. Think of all the money they hold for this and how much they must make. Same thing with insurance escrow.

hoovb, I don't think we've had any pictures of your beautiful garden lately. Not to belittle anyone else's, but I identify with your garden the most since we're not that far from each other, and I deeply admire how you've creating beautiful scenes everywhere with your mix of roses and beautiful companion plants. I need some inspiration badly, and frankly I'm becoming tired of taking pictures of my garden when so few other people are posting photos. I know you probably concentrate more on your blog, and could you please post a link to that so I can bookmark it? Rosefolly, just for clarification, do you mean deep watering with a hose in addition to the drip irrigation or letting the drip irrigation run for a long time. I've noticed that roses do best if I really flood them when I'm watering; that's what encourages the new growth.