No Olive Trees! You will be soooo sorry if you plant an olive. My California Pepper's crown extends across my 60 foot lot into the neighbor's. Too big for a patio, and messy. Messiness is also my complaint about albizia or jacaranda. My first choice would be a Mayten tree, but they weep like a willow or a pepper, so you would have to get a mature specimen. I was at a convalescent home recently that used Carrotwoods for shade on their patios. I have never cared much for the tree, but these were multi-trunked and beautifully pruned. The shade was nice, but not too dense. I have changed my mind about carrotwoods. Sunset Western Garden Book has a good section on patio trees; you may want to take a look at that. Good luck in your search. Renee

In my enthusiasum for the root stimulator, I negelected to comment on the most important part of your problem. Your plant is going to die. There is no real way for a mature tree fern to survive when it's root system has been damaged to the extent you suggest. The quantity of roots left cannot be expected to supply the amount of nourishment and water the foliage requires to survive let alone flourish. You don't say how the damage occured but obviously there was no preplanning involved. If the tree fern was being removed from a pot, it should have been carefully separated from the pot by sliding a large knife around the inside of the pot and the fern and soil ball wrapped carefully in burlap for transport. If it was being taken from the ground, there should have been a sharp edged shovel used to sever the roots between 6 inches and a foot from the trunk of the fern about 6 weeks before digging it up. (The larger the plant the larger the rootball.)This encourages new root growth close to the trunk. Using the root stimulator at this time is a good pretreatment and gives a better chance of survival. Lift the root ball carefully and lay it on burlap. Wrap it and the trunk firmly for transport. The less damage to the root ball the better.

A few weeks ago we transplanted a lime tree that had been growing in the ground for about 5 years. We were advised to plant it into a whiskey barrel planter. We followed all the directions of a professional but the tree looks dead and did so the day after transplanting it. I am very concerned because we were not told to prune the tree first and to not worry about how many roots we had to cut. We were told that the tree could lose 70% of its roots. We were also told to water the tree on a slow drip for 48 hours prior to transplanting. I have since read that the ground should have been dried 2-3 days prior and that we should not have cut the roots. I guess we basically did everything wrong! What do you think the chances are for this poor tree? Did we fail miserably? Were these completely wrong instructions? We moved and wanted to take the tree with us.

If your peony is dormant this is a good time to do it. Depending on size and age this could be heavy dirty job and I would suggest you have help available. There is no secret, just dig around the plant allowing plenty of room for a large root mass. If you have help you should be able to move it intact. Al