Spruce...thanks for the idea about asking where a nursery gets their seed. I am surprised that they don't mind telling you. I will keep that in mind. Forest Farm is a catalog I have but I haven't ordered from them before. Thanks for the recommendation, ken...thanks for the gee tree farm idea and arrowhead alpines, girard nurseries, and for pointing me toward the ACS. jaro...Iseli, has some nice photos on their site...thanks for their ME distributor. Once in awhile I get up to Maine. You never know. tsugajunkie...yes, I do understand that white pine is native to Maine and Tsuga canadensis is native to the East Coast. I got the impression that some of the ornamental conifers are bothered by cold weather and frost. Adrian Bloom mentions in his book, not planting some varieties in an East facing location because in the spring, the early morning son would thaw them out just in time for the cold to get them later. mrgpag...Broken Arrow Nursery is a great idea! I have been there once before and they really impressed me with the quality of their plant material at reasonable prices. That was awhile ago and I wasn't looking for conifers then, so I didn't notice whether they had a collection or not. Thanks a lot! Thank you all for the help.. :-) pm2

Bucky you haven't burned up yet? How is the orchard? Good to see you on the forums still! We have been making dogwood wreaths for about 1 month, dogwood stars for 3 weeks, rosehip wreaths for 3 weeks, boxwood/rosehip squares for about 2 weeks, christmas wreaths were started about 2 weeks ago. Next up this next week is curly willow. 1985 when we first started making wreaths seems so long ago. We used a wrap form to wrap them. REF machines and rings: I have used Kelco it is nice, but very expense. Mitchell's machine is the cheapest, but it only has the clamper and wreath material comes lose often. The best machine in my opnion is the the wreath master from maple ridge supply, it has a clamper and arm that comes over and makes the wreath very tight. I have 3, a guy making wreaths about 35 miles from me has 4 and a guy that we trade with in CA has 2. They really are the best. Now to rings... Maple used to buy and resell Mitchell's rings. Here are the 4 that I have used: Maple ridge good but resells, Mitchell's usually the best price unless you are buying a pallet of 4,800 on a 10 clamp pallet. Cherokee the best price in the US that I know of, BUT you need to buy a pallet! Oregon wire is nice if you like them painted already or vinyl, but they are expensive. For christmas wreaths we are using douglas and sub alpine fir, juniper, rosehips, incease cedar, port orford cedar and pine cones. Wholesale prices have dropped to around $1 a clamp the lowest in years. Stars are more money of course we are charging $15 for a 10 clamp 4' star made of dogwood. Those of you only making a few may I suggest going to your nearest green waste facility or dumps. We by a forest service bough permit. It is .10 a pound and we cut boughs off the lower branches of the trees. The biggest problem we have is cutting or getting enough material for 3 wreath makers it takes 2 to 3 truck loads a day. Our bundles usually make 5 to 7 wreaths a bundle. Right now a 10 clamp wreath is selling for $10 to $11 wholesale and $15 to $18 retail. Good luck to all. With the economy we have seen wreath sells drop and wholesalers wanting 60 to 90 days to pay. With $10,000 of wreaths it gets difficult to pay labor, gas, and rings upfront. Bryan

Whee! That was so much fun! Thanks for hosting and organizing. :) Next year, I'll do better at labeling the things I know, and will definitely make sure to get there earlier enough to unload _before_ everyone is allowed to start picking things. It might also make sense to figure out some way to, say, limit people to 5 things in the first half hour or something, just so everything of one sort doesn't immediately vanish.

I think that before this goes any further and gets any more negative a few things need to be pointed out: 1. Everyone has the ability to shop where they want. If you don't like HD, don't go there. 2. DH, who is an upstanding contractor, and I donate A LOT of time and effort to Habitat for Humanity and hardly ever see local vendors donating. The prevailing attitude seems to be: "let them pay for it themselves like everyone else." DH has severed several local business ties because of this attitude, and from reports up and down the east coast several other contractors involved with HfH have done the same thing. 3. Anyone can write a press release and have it published. Letters to the Editor are the general public's opportunity to do this, and, again, when local charities write their "thank yous" for donations. No big PR Department, there. 4. All charitable giving over $250 needs to be reported individually on taxes, and anyone donating over $5,000 to any 501-3(c) organization gets reported immediately. Check the IRS files to see what local places have donated NEARLY as much as the HD's and Lowes of the world. You'll be in for a shock, believe me. 4. It is very well known that the major manufacturers sell their lower-end lines at HD and Lowes and WalMart and a lot of other "big box" stores. If someone doesn't do their homework when buying a piece of equipment that costs several hundreds or thousands dollars, and doesn't realize that it's not the same thing as at a "dealership", shame on them. This lower-end equipment allows consumers to enjoy the same warrantees and service that higher-end equipment carries, without needing to spend the high-end price. Again, it's a matter of consumer responsibility. 5. THIS FORUM IS FOR THE DISCUSSION OF NEW ENGLAND PLANTS and, even with the format change, I'm really disappointed that the thread was not pulled earlier. Any sort of consumer oriented business (ie., the museum gift shop, mom and pop stores, AND DON'T get me started on "local" hardware stores that market themselves as being "local" but are franchised by conglomerates much larger than HD) has its skeletons, and to single one company out defies the spirit of GardenWeb, iVillage notwithstanding. 6. Yes, many governmental agencies and contractors responded to the several natural disasters. Last I knew, it's what they are there for. I suggest that all of you who feel strongly about HD not go there, and let others make their own decision. Spreading negative information doesn't help anyone. Let's concentrate on the positive, here!! Martie, who really hopes this whole thread gets pulled