Thanks Ken...yes, excited. Can't wait to see this fill in. :) Lol Those are my supervisor shoes. My husband digs the holes and plants. I just prune,weed,and water. Trying to decide what to do with that sucker on the wisteria tree, since it has a bloom. Allow it to continue to grow? And how would I remove it and it be safe for the main tree doing so while having success with keeping the sucker alive? Figured maybe potting it in a year or two. Thinking...it maybe to late to so it now. (With it too pushing blooms) Or...ground planting best for it once removed. Wish I had taken photos for the comparison of the wisteria trees. The one I got produced suckers. The rest...that were multi stemmed/twisted trunks that had crazy vines all over the trained trunk area. But...now that I think about it. The spent bloom stems on mine...were much shorter than the one on those. So maybe just a more invasive vine than the one I have? Though...I have read that single trunks of wisteria are easier to maintain. One lady over on the cottage forum...has waited 2+ years for her wisteria to vine. And it hasn't. (It has bloomed and looks amazing!) It has a single trained trunk, she now realizes that she may have picked up a tree verses a vine. She had bought it to grow up a pole that has arms to hang plants off of. Thinking the one stem would be easy to train I guess...or...that was all that was available to her. Not sure. I find wisteria trees confounding. For some seem quite manageable...others not so much. And seeing the the two varieties at the nursery...I can see why some would deter ones from purchasing those, they looked like wild beasts! All those vines coming off their trained trunks. Severe need of pruning. The owner of the nursery said he leaves them like that...so ones can see the care that will go into having those planted in the ground. He also said...mine was a suckering variety. Though not sure what kind. But...he also compared the two wisteria trees standing side by side. (Again wish I had thought to grab a photo. The nursery is a bit over an hour away so I don't wish to go back just for a photo shot) Comparing the pruning and maintenance that would go into each. Just thought...it odd...two trees labeled as the same...basically. Were so different.

Thanks Amberroses! I found some tree sized ones in Ocala. They are shapely and beautiful but cost a bit. I dont mind paying a bit more for a specimen that has the size and beauty without the wait but dont want another experience like I had with my Texas Olive. Very disappointing. I keep telling myself to just go around the corner to the local nursery and get a Little Gem Magnolia or a big nice Ligustrum or Viburnum to culture into a tree. They have all those. The latter two (Lig and Vib) they have as large bushes - about 5 feet tall out of the pot and I could limb them up for a tree. Some of the prettiest little trees I have seen are Ligustrums. And easy care. Little Gems are also lovely - nice flowers and big pretty leafs. I see them all over the place in my area so I know they will live here. But those Chinese Fringes that I saw were so pretty! Tempting! I will, BTW, look into the River Birch that you suggested. I am unfamiliar with that one. I am always open to suggestions. Thanks again!

DC, A major problem that I see. The cutworms that I know are already in the soil and climb up and encircle the stem at the soil line and gnaw off that stem and you almost never see the worms unless after the deed is done you might be digging around in the soil. You wouldn't want to sprinkle the soil, or drench it, with Sevin, I wouldn't think, and I can'see putting BT (Thuricide) in the soil either. A foolproof way to stop cutworm damage is to stick a plastic soda straw or sturdy twig right next to the stem of those young plants that have weak stems, since the cutworms won't attack plants with strong stems. Since the worm has to coil up around the stem prior to gnawing, using a physical barrier prevents that. Cut worm collars simply do not work since the worms can crawl up inside the collars. Now I know that there are several different kinds of cutworms, and those that do go up the stems and eat the foliage can be found in the south, but at least here in the NE we have only the kind that gnaw off at the soil line, so that's why I wanted to share what I'm sharing. if you see them up high in the foliage,as might be the case in some areas of the south, it seems to me that they could be picked off and stomped on, just as one would do with hornworms. In any case one could use a contact something or other for those types, but not the ones that are primarily soil dwellers and seem to work overnight while we caretakers are asleep. ( smile) Carolyn

I definitely think some people will label everything "rare" just to try to get more sales, but I can see how someone might honestly believe they have a rare plant just because it's not one of the standard nursery plants that is always offered at big box stores or normal nurseries. For example, green jades are very commonly available at stores where I live, of course, but I have *never* seen a Hummel's Sunset Jade for sale at any of the nurseries I've ever looked at. The tricolor variegated jades are sometimes available but still nowhere near as common as the plain C. ovata is. So, I can see how a seller from here might sincerely think that their variegated jade is "rare" because they've never seen it at the stores, even though I would expect that most people who live in an area with good succulent nurseries see them a lot more often than we do. On the other hand, I would call something like Aglaonema pictum tricolor, Monstera obliqua, etc. truly rare in the houseplant trade, because they are not particularly common even in online shopping, and when they are offered they are expensive. I think we would all agree that plants that are endangered in nature and rare in the trade are definitely honestly rare. Of course, then you have plants that are endangered in their natural environment, yet appear to be pretty widely available and established in the houseplant trade, like "the Silver Sword", Philo hastatum. I have one, and it wasn't that hard to obtain, but apparently they aren't all that common in nature.