It now has about 10 little round pea shaped buds on some new growth. Sigh, maybe I will cut it back to sticks this summer and see. We had a fabulous red quince, right smack on the border of me and my neighbors property. She promptly told me it was hers (the woman has no non-weeds, and the owner of my home gardened, so I know it was the old owners :) - so I left it to be swallowed by privit :( It was FABULOUS. I read to fertilize these. I swear, that is what STOPS it from doing well, good soil and fertilizer. Mine probably steals from the rose right by it. But I hesitate to move it because the little rose and the quince are PERFECTLY color matched. Even tho they really don't bloom at the same time :)

I'm planning on buying more of a few things next year too. Chrysanthemums. I have been buying a 3 pack from Bluestone every year for three years now and I am really enjoying them. I need about three more 3 packs this spring and I can't wait for them to all mature and fill in. They are so dependable and since they bloom in the fall, they look good all season. I was so enthralled with Casa Blanca lily this year, that I decided despite the Red Lily Leaf Beetle, that I'm going to start adding more lilies. I just love them! I tried Angelonia for the first time last year and it performed very well so I want to do more of those this year. More roses. I seem to have finally figured out how to get the couple that I have to do fairly well, so I want to add a couple of climbers, but I'm not sure which yet. More boxwood. I have a few and I want to add a few more next year. More string beans and peas in the vegetable garden. I've been adding more epimediums, ferns, and hellebores among others but I think I have enough for the time being. I don't even remember what I added last year. I'm waiting to see what's what come spring. [g]

Here are some plants that might fit the bill: -- Nandina domestica. Nice upright form, winter berries, bamboo-like form, evergreen. -- Northern Sea Oats. Upright grass that grows well in shade. -- Oregon Grape or Holly. Form similar to nandina, holly-like leaves, blue berries in winter. -- Some of the smaller Japanese maples, such as the theadleaf varieties (eg, Koto-no-ito, Villa taranto) that grow more upright than wide. -- Pleiblastus bamboo (can't remember the full botanical name), beautiful green and yellow variegated foliage, can grow in shade or sun, need to control the roots.

Depends on the specific fungal pathogen. Some colonize already necrotic plant tissue (usually bark or woody portions of the plant) but most fungal problems associated with leaf spots or leaf blights are themselves the cause of any necrosis or dieback. If you are asking if stressed or compromised plants are more prone to disease issues, then yes, in many situations that is the case. Just like humans with compromised immune systems :-) But I have never encountered an instance where an allelopathic reaction generated secondary disease problems. Typically it just interfers with robust growth or outright kills the plant. And Robinia's allelopathic properties seem to be rather limited anyway.