i dont care if you use chem's .... BUT .. always a big but.. 99% of the time you dont need chems... you should never spray chemicals willy nilly without a proper ID of the bug ... and you should always mix according to instructions ... and apply accordingly .... ----- since you did not ID them .. answer these questions ... did you kill any beneficial insects? did you needlessly expose the kids [i know you are a lost cause ... lol] in killing said bugs... etc ... i used to use chems all the time when i was hooked on roses .. luckily they all started dying as they are prone to do in z5 ... the foo foo collector roses .... and then kids started rolling in .. and i just decided that the bugs can have what the bugs want... because i dont need to expose the kids to it all ... i would like to confirm a recollection i have ... the biggest polluter in the US is the home owner .... spraying what need not be sprayed.. using improper mixtures.. and improper application.. etc ... etc ... anyway buckie .... you planted them last year... they were shocked from it all .. you tended them perfectly .. and they are thriving as indicated by the great growth ... you did well ... as the learning curve increases... just skip the chem's ... i just dont think you will ever really need them ... trim what.. those branches inches from the bottom.. yeah.. even it out ... ken

Thanks salicaceae! I also love Austrian pines and had/have about 8 of them, but they are all dying. I think its called diplodia blight?? That's really too bad. Wherever I drive anywhere around this area, they're all dying. At Home depot this spring, they were selling beautiful ones for $10 each (about 2' tall and very healthy looking). Too bad they're all going to die. :( Anyhow.......thanks for helping me i.d. these black hills spruce trees. I'm down to pretty much just buying white pine, Black Hills and Norways these days. Is there some easy way to differentiate these from Colorado blue spruce? Thanks!

properly planted and cared for.. they are full sun trees.. and planting in the high heat of summer is not within that equation .... they really dont care about IA .... the real question.. as far as i am concerned.. is how close to the house.. i am thinking 20 to 40 feet.. MINIMUM ... see link if you are thinking foundation planting... you are going to have to put aside the bigboxstore.. and mail order a plant with a dwarf growth potential ... for placement within 10 feet of the house ... and fall planting ken Here is a link that might be useful: link

The jury is still out on Charles xii. I (foolishly) got two. One grew very quickly,but produced only bull-heads and deformed blooms. I moved it; since it was a basically huge ,mature plant even after only a few years, it is only this year starting to "come back",so I can't comment on its' flowering. Subsequently,I tried other roses in that ex-Charles' spot (changing the soil and adding organic matter, of course), and they did badly,. That soil is basically very, very heavy clay,so last year I tried again re-doing the bed with new soil ,organic matter, and this time adding those red pebbles of volcanic rock to the soil, figuring that the organic matter, once it decayed, wasn't sufficient to aereate such heavy, heavy soil, whereas the rock wouldn't decay. The new roses seem to be doing well, I'm pleased to see. The other Charles was in another bad spot (there are so many in my garden, lol!) and did not grow maniacally fast. I recently dug it up and put it in a big pot, and will see how it does. I agree that it is suspicious that a rose that seems to be so beautiful and is said to be prolific is not grown by seemingly anyone. Personally, I would never order plants at this time of year,unless perhaps I intended to keep them in pots in the shade until Fall. I figure that, even if September is still hot, the days are shorter, and the weather will sooner or later improve, whereas now the worst of the heat has yet to come.