Well I went to the plant sale this last weekend, Sorry I did not post earlier my life has been in chaos so to speak. Long story I will not bore you with the details.... However I did purchase some plants, although they were not my first choices but here goes. I purchased Episica 'Silver Dust'Silvery green foliage, dark green veins, red-orange blossoms. Episica 'Tricolor' Silver green and white variegated foliage, copper green veins, red-orange blossoms. Compact grower. Streptocarpella saxorum Basket plant from Southern Africa, quickly growing to 8" tall and 12" across. Branches freely. Bright, inderect light. Outdoors in summer; year 'round bloom indoors. Care as for AV's. Also I happened upon a real whole plant (roots and all a pot too!) called Episica 'Kee Wee'?? A very dark green with red netting foliage.(I don't know what color it blooms? but for a $1- I thought that was a very good buy.) Also a Streptocarpus 'Texas Hot Chili' Bright red blossoms, wide yellow throat medium green foliage, compact grower. A streptocarpus seedling that is a lovely royal purple with interesting white speckles on it's "throat" very gorgeous. Last but not least I have been looking for a pineapple sage for the garden for over 2 years now sheez and when I found one I jumped upon it (not literally of course - I simply had to have it!) The rest are all cuttings or leaves. I also purchased a planted seedling of Chirita tamiana. I have read quite a few posts on this unique little plant and am quite interested in it as well. What a lucky find. She is small but all ready has a nice fat blossom forming as well. I am keeping my fingers crossed that all of them will at least attempt to grow. For the whole lot of plants it cost $10.00 I feel like a burglar in a candy store!! Everything was in my meager budget and I sure hope they all grow! Although, I wish they had more streptocarpus at the plant sale I can still say I am really am excited!! I saw the picture of 'Michelle' that Larry had posted I am in love with that plant shy to say, I even made it a desktop picture for my computer..... now that is what I call addicted! I am going to try and attend some of the local meetings. I discovered them at the plant sale. They have one that meets in the morning, and also one that meets in the evenings. I am sure with my chaotic work schedule that I should be able to make one or the other - yes you can say I am really hooked. Thank You everyone for all your advice and input - I really do appreciate everyone's help and input. Sincerely, Barb

Gorgeous specimens of Halcyon, Harry! That scene makes a beautiful picture...compliments re the play on colours - very lovely! Nope, no outside pips emerging...lots of rain, snow melting rapidly and I can see some potted hosta exposed now YIPEE...but they have chunks of ice covering them. Here's something you don't see often....this is a "pot" sculpted out of ice that sat on my deck all winter. I placed an empty pot inside another and it got buried under our first snowfall....never to resurface till last week. I'll never forget this sight!

Thanks, everyone for your interesting additions to this thread. Desertlvr, your response includes another perfect example of how the zone system is just too general. It consistently shows valleys as being in warmer zones than surrounding uplands, something all of us here in NM know is not always true. For example, most zone maps show the espanola valley of Northern NM in Zone 7, and surrounding higher elevations in zone 6, but every time I watch the weather report, the nighttime lows for the former location are colder than for Santa Fe, for example, nearly 2000 feet higher. Obviously this particular valley is a major cold air drainage, and although daytime highs are often a few degrees warmer than the higher terrain, nights are in fact colder, especially so under clear skies (which always produce the coldest temps here). I guess more than anything this post has reinforced my confidence in establishing my own zone designations for a given area, and for continuing to experiment with plants that are not typically grown in the broader area due to zone generalizations. A few examples of these that have already survived a few winters: Ferocactus wiszlizenii (spelling) Yucca whipplei Echinocereus engelmannii Echinocereus stramineus Agave deserti Currently trying: (with protection) Agave americana Pomegranate Fig Asian Persimmon Windmill Palm

I'll start by qualifying my response that I can't recommend columnar trees specifically since I don't grow any, but will add what I notice about color. Here oak autumn foliage color seems to vary year to year more than most trees, even with named varieties, though this fall they were almost as bright as some of the maples. To my mind, they do have the advantage of being one of the later turning trees and so extend the color season by a couple of weeks. Other later-turning trees with more consistent color include American beech (which turn from the outside of the tree inward, a lovely effect that often gives it chestnut, gold, and chartreuse simultaneously), birches, and aspen, both of which turn gold. I particularly like yellow birch (Betula alleghaniensis) and river birch (Betula nigra) both of which have lovely form, interesting bark, and seem much loved by the smaller birds. Red maples and their crosses (the crosses such as A. freemanii turn later than straight red maples IME) and sugar maples turn bright colors consistently, but there is a fair variety to the actual color based on the tree's genetics and its location in sun vs. shade. More red to orange occurs in more sun IME. I also find that the red maple crosses and the sugar maples tend to hold their leaves longer than the straight red maples here. I like pagoda dogwoods (Cornus alternifolia) a lot - they grow wild here in everything from full sun to full shade, and turn nice, though not stunning, colors regardless. They are the only tree dogwood that will be consistently hardy for you, though the tree's provenance may be important to how well it does. I have three Golden Shadows, the trade name for 'W. Stackman', that are about 5 years old, and they haven't grown much, so I am not sure if they are perhaps a bit less cold tolerant than the species or if the half shade that they are in has too little light for their liking this far north. I find the straight species to be a rapid grower, over my head in 4 years from seed. The have a short season of lacy spring flowers, followed by berries that slowly turn from green to pinkish to more purple to end a purple-black with bright red stems. The birds keep the tree hopping with activity when the berries are ripe, and then after the fall color, the winter branch structure is graceful layers. If you end up needing to replace the junipers, there are some varieties of blue spruce shorter than full tree height that may do well for you there if you want that bluish color. Even though western, blue spruce seem to do better with our humidity than J. scopulorum. Or put it a row of Fothergilla which has great spring flowers, stunning fall color, and is dense enough May-October to make an excellent screen if you use one of the taller ones such as F. major. Its slight suckering tendencies and dense branching will even help with winter screening. To save yourself having to add your location to posts or us having to ask and then hunt for the info, you might want to put your location and zone in your profile so that it shows up next to your name whenever you post. Here's how: Go to Your Houzz in upper right of every page, click Edit Profile, and on the left side click advanced settings. Well down the advanced settings page is a blank labeled Climate Zone for Garden Forums along with a link to find your zone. If you add info on your state or the nearest large city you will get even better information since zone only relates to average coldest winter temperatures. Then return to the top of the page and click Done Editing.