Well, after some research on the net I am convinced you people are not oversensitive kooks and even jap with a period is to be avoided. Where I live there are almost no Japanese so I am not familiar with the slur. Hontouni gomennasai(learned that on my search). From now on my lazy typing will abbreviate it to j.-which is even easier!!!

Heavy clay doesn't drain well obviously but amended it may be alright remember the water may pond in the clay beneath the amended soil so be careful...compost isn't the best way to go cause JM's don't like alot of N but thats ok... I would mulch ( I use shredded cedar mulch it's bug resistant)about 2-3or4" deep about 6-8" away from trunk water well when palnting then maybe about once a week keep an eye on it if it stays wet under the mulch you may not need to water much don't over do it It most likely will stay moist with mulch it is a true water saver and work saver .. a couple cubic feet of good mulch is worth much more than it's cost without it you will have to do alot more work and use much more water and hassle and take more chances with your tree... "respect the mulch"..in hot weather you may have to water more but you are in similar clinmate as I although I have rich black dirt ( but it also doesn't drain well since I am really flat and the soil is heavy but thats what I do) ...if it rains once a week you may not need to water ...It was really hot last summer and I think I watered my newly planted JM's maybe two or three times at most ...the mulch really holds in the water and my trees in the ground for a year only once...and then it rained 2-3 inches in a couple of days and some of thoase older trees didn't look great so BE CAREFUL...only fertilize in spring before or at bud break or early in leafing with low N fertilizer .Hope that helps...this is info for you others nmay be differnt and others here may have differnt opinions I am not the most knowledgable here but for what it's worth thats my humble opinion GOOD LUCK ...David

14* is generally considered the industry standard as the lowest temperature mature roots of A palmatum can tolerate. This means that the entire organism would be expected to succumb to temperatures that low. I agree wholeheartedly with Pam re her assertion that root damage can/does occur in A palmatum at temperatures as high as 24-26*, and I might even consider a couple of degrees warmer than that as a favorable lower limit, just as an added margin for safety. Even though our trees might survive root exposure to lows in the neighborhood of 14*, they sure won't like it. Roots don't all die at the same temperature, they die incrementally as the temperatures drop. While it varies by species, and genetically by individual plant within that species, all roots on the same plant don't have the same tolerance to cold. These numbers may not be accurate, but it gives you the feel for what I'm talking about. We say that maples are X hardy because they tolerate low air temperatures, but what about root temps? Most temperate trees, even in zone 4, never see actual 6" soil temperatures much below 27*, with 25* being unusual. This is true, even in bare field agricultural conditions. Half of Michigan's upper peninsula, under cover of forest canopy, never even sees frost in the ground. We know that the finest hair roots - the most succulent and the ones that do the lion's share of the work are the first to die. In many woody plants, these roots begin to die as soil temperatures drop below 28*. As temperatures drop further, larger and larger roots succumb to killing low temperatures. The point is - that many trees that SURVIVE are left with only the largest roots to support them in spring because much of the rootage has frozen. These trees are slow to flush in the spring because they need to utilize stored energy to regenerate lost rootage before they can move sufficient water and the nutrients dissolved in water to support either growth or the flush of foliage that makes the food that allows the tree to grow (this, in the case of deciduous material). So, while some trees might survive at extremely low temperatures unprotected, we KNOW it is better for the tree, especially from an energy management perspective, if we give them protection that ensures actual root temperatures don't drop low enough to kill even the finest roots. For most temperate trees, that means we should strive whenever possible to keep low root temperatures in the upper 20s at their lowest, and below 42* to inhibit the onset of growth until spring, when we can get them into good light w/o worrying about frost/freeze. So, what the tree might tolerate and what's best for it are two distinctly different perspectives. Al

Thanks, you all! These are really great suggestions and will help us a lot. First, re the clerodendrum: I read somewhere that it was vw resistant, so I planted it in another part of the yard where another jap. maple had died (smaller, we pulled the stump out ourselves), and it's *thrived* there, so much that we have to scramble to keep the babies under control. But we have one baby that has grown up pretty nicely and I'm thinking of transferring him over to this place, because he's certainly not been affected thus far. oilpainter, I wish I'd gotten it cut down further when the treecutting guy was here. I only have an ax, and swinging it sideways when it's already that low...I just don't have a good feeling about that. I may have to just drill holes where it is now and do either the nitrogen method or the burn method. I really appreciate your thoughts and advice on this process. Another thing re the clerodendrum: I'm actually in no rush to plant again, since the light has been most welcome today. We've lived kind of in a northern-exposure cave with the tree overhanging the window since we moved here -- it's wonderful to see the sun back behind our house...my DH wants the tree but I almost think I'd be content with a bush or something that would be able to handle the vw without blocking the light. As a transplant from NC to OR, I *MISS* the sun! Thanks again.