Oh my. What is a passionate rose lover like you doing in that glacial hell hole? Reading about your endeavors has exhausted me and I haven't even lifted a shovel. I admire your grit and determination, but would love to see you rewarded with thousands of blooms on your rose bushes for all your hard work. I bet they could use engineers in zones 7 to 10!

Here is the copied and pasted complete list of all my Olallie Late and extra late bloomers. A RIPE PEACH (VT) CAMEO APPEARANCE (VT) FASHIONABLY LATE (VT) LATE EMBERS (VT) PURPLE LACE (VT) SHOWLIGHT (VT) Olallie Mack VT Sweet Tart VT Late Green Throat VT Gala Vt Yellow Sights Olallie Keith VT Type Alpha Vt Good N Gold Vt Shocker VT Fall Pink Mellon Vt Butterscotch Harvest VT Creamy Yellow Vt Home Companion VT Wishing Star Vt The Last Mellon Vt Dimpled Cheeks Vt Right Regal Vt Bridal Lilac VT Maroon Branch Olallie All Summer Olallie Gold Rim Next I am going to add my list of Isabel Hibard intros that I have here. So here are the Hibard intros that I have-- Mid Late- NO PUEDE SER CHARISMA PLUS WINGED DOVE Lates- AUTUMN FAIR LATE SESSION (listed as Late Season 2006) AMBER FINALE APRICOTE AFTERGLOW COUNTDOWN TO FALL EXIT STRATEGY FAREWELL PARTY FINAL CIRCLE IMPERIAL BALL LAST CREAMSICLE LATEBREAKING NEWS LATE HARVEST MULTIPLE PERSONALITY MUSIC OF THE NIGHT TOKAY WINE WHAT PRICE GLORY Very Lates- FAMOUS LAST WORDS (bonus plant 2006) LATE WONDER 2007 AMOR ULTIMA END OF STORY FINAL ANSWER FOREGONE CONCLUSION LAST LAUGH LAST WALTZ LATE INTERLUDE LATE ROUND SEASONS END SEPTEMBER SERENADE Very Very Lates- FINIAL FRONTIER SEE YOU IN SEPTEMBER

Hey! Not sure how old this message is, but I have grown Bananas in Milwaukee Wisconsin for the past 5 years! I do not plant them in the ground at all. A friend of mine in the Houston area was getting rid of his and chopping them down, he gave me half of a root ball (Rhizome) and I brought it with me on the plane ride home. By the time I landed it had already started growing! I put it in a large pot and put it outside. It grew quickly. FOr the winter I went to Menards and bought a plug in large shop light fixture and full spectrum flourescents and mounted them in my basement. The plant continued to grown. The next year I put it outside again and grew even taller. By the end of that summer I actually had the Flag Leaf and a bananana flower. I brought it in the house again and by January I actually had the sweet smell of banana flower in my house and a few hands of small bananas. Putting them in the ground will not fly in Illinois. But if you buy them and put them in pots, you will do just fine. The only other recommendation I have is this. I am not familiar with Species names, but it seems to me the bananas with Green Leaves are much more tolerant of adverse conditions than the ones with purplish leaves. However, I found a "straggler" in the back of the greenhouse where I buy my plants that looked 3/4 dead. It didnt even have a price on it. So I picked it up and put it in the cart and its had a heck of a summer here. Friend me on Facebook to see pictures of my plants. (Most of them are bananas and tropical plants) https://www.facebook.com/mick.zupan

Those are good choices. For trees maybe include the Golden Willow-a fast grower much like the Laurel leaf willow. It can take over in an urban setting but in this case it might be a good choice-nice golden bark and twigs. Also towering aspen, with it's narrow columnar form might come in handy. I don't know if the pin oak is entirely hardy-it might be a zone4 plant-maybe try bur oak (work of caution: bur oak is a VERY slow grower and doesn't like to be moved due to a deep tap root). Maples, alders and Lindens tend to tolerate wet soil. Also for the dry areas try the columnar Caragena "Sutherland". It's very hardy, drought tolerant and underutilized. Hope this helps, Gary