I started out years ago with handwritten markers next to the roses and a drawing of the garden bed with the roses marked on it. Then I gradually increased until I needed a looseleaf binder to hold a page for each rose I had planted, and finally I graduated to an Excel spread sheet. I still do the hand drawn map of each bed (there are now over a dozen distinct areas in my garden so that many maps) and I still have markers next to each rose although now I use a labeler to write out the name. I can identify from memory almost every one of my 200 roses. (But now and then I have brain fade and I have to bend down to check the marker, LOL!) The spreadsheet just helps me track where I bought the rose, own root or grafted, what year, fragrance, size, disease resistance and other info I might find useful.

Ken, Here's a pic before I staked it: This is it almost exactly a year ago from pretty close to the same camera angle but much closer up (you can tell how much the foliage has increased by the sheer # of leaves): There are two main leaders at this point, both suffering from the same top-heavy problem and leaning in the same direction. So I used two 6' plastic stakes about 2 feet away and twine+velcro straps to pull them upright and slightly separate them. How long do you think I should expect to leave it staked? I'd rather not do it for long if I can help it . . . just long enough for the branches to strengthen. It didn't have this problem last year but I'd say it has >3 times the foliage now. It's definitely a JM but I can't guarantee how true to bloodgood it will be. It grew up under a mature bloodgood at my dad's house, presumably from seed? Either way I'm expecting it to be large for a JM . . . its parent tree is probably 15' high with an 8-10" trunk, and is at least 15-20 years old. This one is in a spot where that size would be fine, so I'm not worried about its growth potential . . . I just don't want abnormally fast growth to keep it from being the beautiful tree it has the potential to be. Thanks again.

Answer: sharp "V" shaped crotches make for a more risky branch failure potential. Generally speaking, the more "L" shaped the crotch of a branch is; the stronger the branch toward avoiding branch failure problems during the latter decades of a tree's life expectancy span. That is also true during gusty windy conditons, even with younger hardwood trees. Good choice planting Heritage River Birch trees. Once establish, the Heritage cultivar of RB is very tough. As your Birch trees mature,the winds blowing through their leaves in the summer should begin to seem nice and even a bit surreal when you are sitting on the deck as the leaves flutter and produce the nicest rustling sounds. At my house, the winter winds seem to gust the strongest as they come from the northwest, hit that corner of the house, and blow past toward the southeast. Since we get very few moist, wind driven drifting snow events, I missed that understanding for years. It was not until last winter, when the snow's consistancy was just right for blowing and sticking tracks that the wind had plowed through, when I first began to realized this wind factor at my house. Prior to this most recent discovery, I also thought my wind pattern mostly flowed from the North to South in winter, and many times from the South to North in summer. Even though that factor is true, the Northwest to Southeast gust tunnel track seems much more intense. In fact, in that tunnel, I have had to pound into the ground a "T" stake and tie a young three foot tall Thuja "Green Giant" tree I first planted last spring in this gust tunnel. I tied the tree to the stake in a manner listed in my other post. Before doing that, multiple times the wind's in that area have uprooted the tree on the wind force side. The tree gets blown over while remaining rooted in the ground on the other side of the tree. This blowing over has happened so often in the past 6 months or so, that the uprooting side of the tree's rootball has not gotten the chance to secure themselves in the ground. Now at least by staking the tree; the roots on that side will get the chance to develop and spread enough to withstand prevailing gust force wind on that side. I expect that it could take several years before the root ball of my tree develops enough to withstand our cold front wind events which so often blow through in the winter, and thunderstorm downburst forces and gusts blowing through in the spring and fall. One other note: The trees you listed seem like nice choices, but take time this winter and compare to what you experienced last summer to select a place to plant several good quality, potentially long living trees in your landscape design. Such trees will reward you for many more years than the shorter livespan trees you have mentioned. Even if you sell the house in a few short years such quality trees if wisely located on a lot can boost the trust for potential buyers. The slow growing quality trees which are potentially 44 - 60 feet tall growers, often look the best once they have grown higher than the roofline of your house to form a softening affect of the the, more hard appearing, roof line when one drives up to, or stands infront and looks at the curb appeal of your house.

Allan, This can be usual growth expected from many Adeniums. Even in climates where they have long growing periods and warmth most of the year. Factors that could lead to this outside of above conditions could be not enough sunlight, too much nitrogen in fertilizer. The majority of people would prune this plant in order to keep it with a more compact growth habit and usually a full head of blooms. More blooms as there are more branches which form from pruning, which gives more terminal growth for blooms. Rick