I copied this from Carroll Gardens website: Question: We planted a row of Kousa Dogwoods lining our driveway a few years ago. Some bloomed prolifically and some have no blooms at all. Answer: Often I have seen a row of Kousa dogwoods grown in similar conditions and some are loaded with blooms and others have none. Kousas are grown from seed and they are very variable as to what age they bloom, as well as other bloom characteristics. In addition, Kousas require more sun to bloom than American dogwoods. So if you have enough sun (more than half a day of good sun), eventually I expect that all of the Kousas will bloom; but I doubt they will all bloom exactly the same. Seed grown trees, especially Kousa dogwood, are a poor choice where a formal, consistent effect is desired. To achieve similarity, you would have done better to have planted one of the named forms of Kousa grown from cuttings. Incidentally, we are researching a new product called Messenger that encourages reluctant plants to bloom.

Abies lasiocarpa var. arizonica 'Glauca Nana' is a good one but it may become larger given time than say Abies concolor 'Archer's Dwarf' which makes a pyramidal shape sort of similar to Picea pungens 'Sester Dwarf'. About the red and yellow twig dogwoods. They form colonies with their roots and are better used for projects such as erosion control or on large properties where they are beneficial to nature. They are a burden, otherwise... and often do they succumb to leaf diseases. Substitutes for consideration might be hollies with persistent red-berries; Acer circinatum ‘Pacific Fire’; Hydrangea quercifolia; Regarding a smaller flowering tree, the problem with crabapples, again, are leaf diseases. I'd probably stay clear of those and use Stewartia pseudocamillia or another species. I won't mention it again, but Cornus officinalis is a great candidate. Dax

Check out this website to see if your host "iron clad" is one of the ones listed. www.hostalibrary.com. I am a hosta collector and will take about any hosta known or unknown. I have looked on the website and check my reference book, The Hostapedia, and cannot find it listed. I have lots of native NC dogwood seedlings and would be willing to do a trade. I will try to have it identified by some of my buddies in the hosta industry. Look forward to trading. My trade list is under my GW name jmclaurin.

I would LOVE some wisteria and a clipping of forsythia. I have many flowers, just ask. A rooting fits in a ziploc baggie in a bubble envelope and about 4-6 stamps. It's not bad and I just started at this! cadaverknee@hotmail.com