Hi, and thank you for such good advice. I did call the nursery I shop at, and they wouldn't mind, but their bulb expert is out sick for a few days. I know it's a lot to ask, but if anyone could take a look at a few pictures and give me some guesses, I'd sure appreciate it. I've already planted a bunch of them, just plopping them around. LOL. But I'm going to plant these in a big bed I have, and wouldn't mind having an idea what I'm planting. The pictures, labeled one through six for identification, are here: (bottom of page) http://s15.photobucket.com/albums/a384/jackjazz/?start=20 Thanks in advance, Juli

I always feel bad when my threads keep going here and I don't check them. I guess I always forget to check the box for notification when I start a thread. The winter picture is quite nice. Unfortunately I have quite a few years before this twig will be capable of anything like that. Another disease to learn about. First page I searched didn't say anything about the rust being deadly unless you mean that this small of a tree will just be weakened too much, possibly by defoliation. In the Master Gardener's course we learned about Apple-Cedar rust but they said it had no effect on the cedar tree and that the resultant rust on the apples was cosmetic (I think). Don't quote me, I knew I would grow the cedars but didn't have any apples at the time. I am hoping that the Cedar-Hawthorn is the same but it sounds like it could be quite damaging. In my years of plant awareness I have only seen the Apple-Cedar rust one year. Maybe we have been lucky or I missed it. I do grow the Eastern Red Cedars as early bonsai practice. You might say that is dangerous on my behalf but you can't throw a rock without hitting one in my area. If I didn't dig them up and bring them home, there would still be a huge one in the front and back yard. Maybe one day I will regret bringing more home but for now there is no way I can get away from them. They are EVERYWHERE. I won't worry too much for now, there is a Hawthorn on our family farm that looks similar to "Crimson Cloud" that has been there since I can remember and probably before I was born so it hasn't subsided to anything in 33 years.

Just get them into the garden as soon as the ground thaws. They will have enough time to do well. Spring planting is mainly bad when you delay putting them out because it cuts down on the number of cool days that the plant has to grow before bulbing. Cool temps actually promote sprouting so you could put them into a refrigerator for a couple of weeks previous to when you think you can get them in the ground.

We were 1,000 miles from home. I was astonished at the size of the acorns in our friend's yard and asked if I could take some to try to grow. He said to take some of the seedlings that were sprouting everywhere. The ground was muddy. While digging the seedlings out, we came across two blobs about the size of the acorns which appeared to have shed the outer shell and started to put out roots. We took those, too, thinking they might have a better chance of survival. We were there for 3 days, so couldn't wait until the optimal time. As it was, the trees took, and - what we now know to be lily - bulbs sprouted. I'm sorry I had you so confused, ken_adrian. I gave too much info. Lesson learned. Next time, I'll just ask for help with ID.