Let me qualify my comments re: storage. First, we start relatively late, with Northern Spys bought around Nov. 1. The garage is already cold though not really freezing. I can keep them uncovered near the colder outer wall initially, then move them closer to the house and cover once the weather freezes most nights. Also, I add 5 gallon buckets of water under the tarp, 20 gallons total, and they will keep the "cellar" right at freezing for days (apples freeze at 27F or so) in really cold weather, about 10F above the real temperature elsewhere in the garage. I can also empty them if they start freezing and refill with more water if the weather stays too cold. One bucket gives off 7,000 BTU while keeping the temperature at 32F (it is really an ideal refrigerator under the circumstances). This year we had a cold March, it was 14F on March 31, and that kept the cellar cold for longer than usual. Deterioration is quick once the weather warms. I use HM's method for things other than apples, though I should perhaps make me one for apples alone. I have a hardware cloth lined box, about 50 inches by 16 by 75 (two people are needed to move it around). I place it in a pit that doubles as composting pit in the summer. It gets filled to the brim because I preserve about some 25 cardoons, whole plant, for the winter, and they occupy a lot of room. There are also whole plant cabbages, turnip and rutabaga roots, and if I grew more, potatoes. This box, in the pit and covered with 1.5 feet of leaves, preserves vegetables incredibly well (and, my guess, apples too). It never freezes. Moving the leaves and the snow is a major pain. Last winter the snow and leaves crushed the door, and I have now made two much stronger doors, so I only have to clear half the leaves on any given entry.

Up, up and not away!

OMG I had a post all typed out and this thing ATE IT!!!! Man, I wish I hadn't missed the Mini Roses Cindy! I didn't have the Cleopatra, I have Orange, 1 Bengal Tiger Baby, small mini red Cannas. Please do list a wish/wants list Cindy so if there is anything we have we can offer you then we will ;). New Request from Cindy: Zebra Grass I am looking for ANY grasses I plan on putting in a grass bed at the top of our driveway so we don't have to mow up there anymore :) I put in some rocks with the house number all ready and our neighbor gave us and ornamental solar light decoration to go up there!!! Tammy you asked me how the spiderwort looked lining the drive, there wasn't as much left over after the swap as I thought there would be. I DO have some I got from my mom and a friend though, not sure if it will cover the lenght of the drive or not. And I haven't really decided if I want that or that red mini grass I forgot what it is called at the moment... OK posting thread #3 now too. :) Fran

Since the tree was probably a landscape planting, there are lots of options. The Pinus key on the FNA site show Pines that are native, or have escaped, and these Pinus maps at BONAP provide distributions for those species in the wild. Those two resources show that Pinus echinata has straight needles of that length, and is also comfortable in northern climates. However, an accurate ID isn't really feasible from the information provided. You might take your photo to local nurseries, to see if they can tell you which Pinus species are typically selected for local plantings.