Ask me again in the Fall, David, and I might be able to help! Oddly enough, Asclepias purpurescens was an interesting sounding item that leaped off the page of my Rare Find Nursery catalog. . .since it's a local nursery, I had the distinct advantage of being able to ask them about it. . .and they repeated what their listing stated: "Very tolerant of a wide variety of soils and light levels, it is easy to grow." So I ordered one - now comes the test ! Incidentally, if you like milkweeds (I certainly do!), they have another variety, Asclepias exaltata, which takes some shade and the inflorescenses resemble an overhead fireworks display. . .feeble description: check the link below. . . Carl Here is a link that might be useful: Rare Find Nursery

I cannot just limit this to ten trees. So here is my second set of ten: 1) Katsura (Cercidiphyllum japonicum) - Fantastic tree. How can you not love a tree with heart-shaped leaves. The fall color on this tree is usually a bright peach color mixed with a little bit of orange or red. The tree gives off a distinct scent of cotton candy when its turning. You feel like you are in the land of Willy Wonka when it has this scent. This tree is finicky though. It does not like drought, sandy or compacted soil, or high wind and will start losing it's foliage in the summer in response to these conditions. 2) Green Ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica) - Some may be surprised to see this tree on anyone's list. It's considered a trash tree by many. I love it. If you drive down Memorial Drive in Cambridge in late September - early October, you will see all of the Green Ash trees turning their bright golden - yellow color. It's a beautiful sight. This tree produces good shade and is tolerant of just about any conditions. Several male cultivars are now on the market, which avoids the prolific seeding observed with the females. I do hate the fact that this tree is one of the last to leaf out in the spring and one of the first to lose it's leaves in the fall. 3) Norway Spruce (Picea abies) - I love these trees. Giant Christmas trees the whole year through. The have a very dark green color and I really love the way the branches curve up at the ends. It gives this tree a very graceful look. A very large tree in time. A fast-grower for a spruce. 4) Japanese Zelkova (Zelkova serrata) - Zone 5 is the limit for this species. It would be wise in that zone to get the "Village Green" cultivar which has greater cold tolerance than the species. The vase-shape of this tree makes it a good replacement for the American Elm. Between the shape and the tree's tolerance for just about any conditions, it makes a great street tree. Zelkovas are in the Elm family and consequently are not totally immune to Dutch Elm disease but they tend to be highly resistant and this disease is usually not a problem. This tree can have spectacular fall foliage (ironically they did not this year around the Boston - Cambridge area) turning a bright burnt orange color. The Village Green cultivar has the best fall coloring that I've seen. 5) Northern Red Oak (Quercus rubra) - Had to include a member of the red oak family again. Oaks are not thought of as fast-growing trees but this species is definitely an exception. Becomes massive in time. Fall color is variable but can be quite good. A very strong, shade tree. 6) Canadian Hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) - One of the few evergreens that tolerates shade. Very graceful foliage. Probably the most graceful of any evergreen. The tree likes moist soil (found in shade). The woody adelgid is killing many of the hemlocks in New England. Hope they find a way to eradicate it before it kills all of them. 7) Black Birch (Betula Lenta) - Absolutely beautiful tree. The bark is a shiny, dark grey and peels to a certain extent. The bark looks very similar to the bark of many cherry trees only with a dark color. Very ornamental especially in winter. This birch has very good bright yellow fall color, too. 8) Crabapple (Malus) - The perfect tree. An explosion of white or pink bloom in the spring. A ton of crabapples in the fall. Beautiful bark on most varieties similar to cherry bark. Hundreds of cultivars to choose from. Most of the modern cultivars have resistance to fungal diseases that were a problem on older varieties. These trees tolerate drought and bad soil rather well. 9) Weeping Cherry (Prunus subhirtella Pendula) - Beautiful tree. So graceful and very striking in bloom. It get quite large in time for a flowering tree. Not as prone to problems as most cherry trees. Needs to be sited in a moist area though. 10) Kousa dogwood (Cornus kousa) - Wanted to put cornus florida here but zone 5 is pushing it for that species. I like this one too. Flowers in early summer and can put on quite a show. The giant red fruit of this dogwood is more visually appealing than cornus florida. Fall color is spectacular. Many cultivars to choose from.

Sounds like you have everything pegged pretty well, except I wouldn't classify C.occidentalis as "almost entirely xeric". Although it occurs more frequently in upland areas, it is adaptable to a wide range of conditions including occasional flooding. It's unlikely that the possible C.tenuifolia was laevigata. They vary considerable in multiple factors including leaf type, bark, and habitat. You could have either tenuifolia or occidentalis. Two differentiating factors between laevigata and occidentalis are leaf margins and fruit. C.tenuifolia's leaf margin is nearly entire on the basal third of the leaf and it's fruit is orange-red when fresh and smooth when dry. C.occidentalis' leaf margins are toothed all the way to the leaf's base and it's fruit is dark purple when fresh and wrinkled when dry. I will attach a link below to the eFloras key to the Celtis genus. I just LOVE eFloras! Maybe one day it will be complete.

Many of the groundcovers/living mulches/perennial tapestries that once clothed my garden have by now been stolen or otherwise removed, so I'd love to have seeds of easily direct-sown flowers, herbs and/or vegetables that can be kept to 3' or lower with which to cover the ground. There are short or dwarf forms of many flowers that Celia Thaxter grew in her island garden off the coast of New Hanpshire(?) in a diagram of her garden, accompanied by a list of her flowers here: http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/thaxter/garden/garden.html Anything from her garden or similar that might help keep weeds down would be much appreciated. Some suggestions are: Asters - ones like tiger paws? other? Coreopsis - threadleaf Cosmos - dwarfs, like Popsocks etc Dianthus like "Picotee Pinks (D. chinensis x D. barbatus in our time), Sweet William Helianthus angustifolius(sp?) - Willow Leaf Sunflower - leaves are slender like willow leaves - not in Celia's garden, but she would have loved this if she had known about it - not all floppers welcome on my slopes, but this one would be wonderful anything blue and spikey like larkspur, but doesn't expire because of Maryland summer heat & humidity Anything attractive to hummingbirds, butterflies, bees Mallows including malva, althea (dwarf), etc. Marigolds- any - like Tagetes tenuifolia(sp?) - Cottage Red Mignonette (Reseda odorata) Poppies - Eschscholzia like 'Rose Chiffon', Papaver alpinus, P. nudicaule(sp?), P. paeoniflorum Silene - any Zinnia - low growing - Chippendale? disease resistant like Profusions, haageana, Zahara If all goes well, I'm hoping this will approximate my New England grandmother's garden of long ago