Still lots going on at your place too. Funny how several of the pictures you took look like they came from my own garden. I noticed the red and green of my Ivory Prince hellebores, the parsely, the spireas, Limelight, aquilegia seedlings,the sedums and the cages too. Its interesting how even the weeds can take on a pretty color at this time of year. Thanks for sharing. Michelle

HI Noki, I think the availability of species larch is changing. I've seen several different retail nurseries carrying L. decidua the past couple of years, and a smaller number with kaempferi. Bailey's (a major player in the wholesale market based in Minnesota) is providing these, so I'm guessing this tree is experiencing a popularity upswing. Like Ken said earlier, both the European and Japanese Larches grow incredibly fast when young. With the average consumer desiring immediate results, this can only help its popularity. Fast growth, nice habit, good fall color, and user friendly foliage--I'm surprised it took so long for them to be "discovered." Bob

Don and Snowguy, I only know of one red oak in a neighbour's yard and it has always struggled with dieback. Though, with many plants having been grown from seed, hardiness will vary. I'd be inclined to give such a tree a try and place it within a protected area of my yard. Another challenge is our often cool Alberta summers, we often don't receive the heat units and thus borderline trees just don't properly ripen off before the deep freeze arrives ... then there's our extreme fluctuating winter temps! Snowguy, thank you for telling us about your climate, I can't help but be a bit envious of the lingering color you enjoy! Laurie, your Ohio buckeye is especially beautiful, mine had always turned an unattractive yellow brown color and then immediately dropped it's leaves ... though, just the same, this really is a beautiful and under used tree! I WISH I could find this particular variety. Here is a link that might be useful: Autumn Splendor Ohio buckeye

There are indeed some reasonable treatments for EAB. The longest-lasting (at present) is a product called Tree-age. The active ingredient is a restricted-use chemical called Emamectin benzoate. This product must be injected into tiny holes drilled into the root flare of the tree. Since your tree is so small, a dab'll do ya, but the stuff is expensive and at least the last time I looked, could only be obtained in a one-liter bottle that was on the order of $600! This may have changed-I haven't shopped for it in over a year. Emamectin-B treatments are considered good for a full 3 years of duration. Then there's the rather easy soil drench method, using imidacloprid. Bayer Tree and Shrub Care is one such product. The material is simply poured around the trunk and is then absorbed up into the tree, providing basically one year's worth of protection. A brother-in-law who is a hosta nut is using this on some green ash he and I planted years ago in his yard, as he doesn't want to lose the shade for his hostas. Easy and relatively cheap, the one big caveat with this method, besides duration is that imidacloprid is a systemic insecticide (so is the emamectin, but due to injection, this is different) which means that if you have any insect-pollinated (or just plants that insects visit for nectar) in the immediate vicinity of the trees you are treating, any such insects which visit those flowers will now be getting a dose of a strong insecticide. Not good, but easily avoided in many cases, simply by not having such vegetation at the base of your ash trees. There is a third tech coming down the pike, about which I've heard just a little bit: It consists of-again-a strong, systemic insecticide, but one which can be simply sprayed on the lower trunk of the tree and which will then be absorbed through the bark, translocated throughout the tree, and go on to provide good protection. I'm a little out of the loop on this stuff, so I don't really know how far along that third guy is, price, etc. although I hear that once again, price will def. be an issue. For your one tree, I'd think the soil-drench would make good sense, and by doing so-albeit yearly-you could go on to enjoy your ash tree for years to come. Meanwhile, scientists are actively screening insects which prey on EAB and some surprisingly good results are being had already. This, as you may imagine, is a time-intensive process, with a great deal of caution required so that we don't unleash a new problem onto our landscape. But again, results look promising.