Seriously Brandon, I was under no illusion that N-fixers still operated this way after death! And strictly speaking, this tree is not dead yet-note Op's mention of its suckering. I only mentioned this as it 'could' help ameliorate some of the N drag that would be occurring as it decayed. I'm pretty sure that whole notion is over-emphasized anyway. Forest tree roots are known to often follow the same pathways as the roots of previous, now-deceased trees of the same general location. If the decay of these roots was such a consumer of N, we would not expect to see this happening. And as I mentioned earlier, it is far from uncommon to see young trees growing next to, or in the case I cited, on top of stumps. Is this horse not yet sufficiently dead? +oM

By coincidence, I have a similar problem. Twenty-five years ago (at least) I planted a dwarf mugo Pine in a small area at the front corner of my house. Two years ago, I finally decided it had to go, looking seriously overgrown for its site. I put a dwarf Meyer Lemon there. Two years later, I’ve had to prune it multiple times to keep it in bounds. Unlike my other dwarf Meyer Lemon which naturally keeps to about 5x5, this one sends out 3’ long branches from multiple sites. And it has vicious thorns, something my older Meyer Lemon lacks, so I think I have an incorrectly labeled plant. All this to say, I think a true Dwarf Lemon might be a good choice. There are probably other dwarf citrus that you could choose. They are evergreen, with foliage that looks good all year and the fruit is very decorative. Also a variegated Calamondin orange (a form of mandarin orange) is very colorful and slow growing and easily prunable. Check out this link [Dwarf Citrus[(https://www.houzz.com/magazine/dwarf-citrus-trees-offer-miniature-size-with-maximum-flavor-stsetivw-vs~89268651) Another choice would be a dwarf conifer. There are hundreds of wonderful dwarf conifers to choose among. Some grow as little as an inch or two annually, others more. They come in all shapes, from ridiculously skinny to wider than tall. And in many colors. I‘ve just given away the misnamed lemon tree and I think I will choose a substitute in the pine family, either a bristle cone pine cultivar, a Pinus edulis cultivar or a Pinus mugo cultivar. I love Valley Cushion, a mugo pine cultivar. I once grew Pinus edulis at the front of my house too. Very attractive, very slow growing, and also lasted about 25 years before it got too big. For your area, I think Pinus edulis might do well. They are very slow.

Hey Sara, thanks! I actually went to pond and garden in your neck of the woods last year due to your recommendation. I picked up several really cool things there too. Really great nursery. I like to stop by a good nursery at the different places i travel to as they are all so different and unique. ken, just travel in the US, so no customs. I did get them thru security just fine if that is what you were asking. I do sometimes get some strange looks going thru security though...they usually do a double take as they see that the bag is full of trees! Haha! David, no offense taken. There certainly were some plants on the high side. However, there were some rare things listed well below online prices too. So, depending on what you were looking for, you could overpay. A couple of the plants I picked up were probably a little on the expensive side, but some were less...and I didn’t have to pay any shipping and got to choose them myself. The other part of the nursery that I really liked was the garden setting...very beautiful. I loved the monumentale sugar maples, mature skylands, metasequoia, etc. just a really neat experience. Overall, I would say it was a great nursery for conifers, maples, ginkgos, etc. In this day when it seems like the only nurseries you can get rare stuff from are online, I like to support local nurseries...otherwise, pretty soon the only place to get this kind of tree from will be online. Again, not disagreeing with you or saying you are wrong at all, just clarifying my opinion. I would be interesting in checking out other nurseries too next time I am out there. Oh, and forgot to mention 1 other tree I got there...Pinus densiflora ‘Edsal Wood’.

I would recommend Fedco, or Cummins Nursery if you're interested in fruit trees. They're both in New England so your purchases will have a better chance of survival and the shipping should be less. Both sell trees and also rootstocks and scions to give you an opportunity to do your own grafts. I've bought from both. Fedco in their catalog recommends semi full trees for the far north. They seem to indicate in their catalog that trees will not produce the same growth in the far north. Your zone 6b makes me guess your near the coast, so that may not apply. If you're interested in trees other than fruit I'd suggest you check out Musser's Forest in North Central Pennsylvania. They sell in large quantities for seedlings. For instance for a 5 rate they charge $2.70 each for Sugar Maple. For a 300 rate they charge $0.40 each.