jekeesl, you will not hear me complain about your "lengthy non-answer"! The responses from you and saltcedar are exactly what I was looking for when I posted here: a healthy discussion about what this plant might be. So thank you to you both. I did do some more investigating, reading, and thinking. Here's my train of thought thus far. Of the 4 Spiranthes that you mentioned, which should be blooming now and are found in MS, only S. vernalis has previously been reported in Noxubee County. [ http://arcmapper.sc.egov.usda.gov/output/Counties_hyborea1v2068285225436.jpg ] I think that S. lucida is out because of its rarity, and it's leaves and height are wrong for this specimen. S. praecox is a closer fit in appearane, but it's rarity in the state tends to preclude it more than S. vernalis. I think that S. tuberosa is just too short for this specimen. I did read about the inflorescences of S. vernalis being quite variable, ranging from secund to loosely and even densely coiled, and flower shapes vary as well. [ http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=242101968 ] All this leads me to believe that it probably is S. vernalis, but I will have to go back and double check carefully (with a magnifying glass) to be sure! thanks again, Katie

That sounds right. This raises some questions. Most of my parent's trees were lost to disease, wind damage, and wind-propelled salt spray. This tree was one of the few survivors. It hasn't lost any limbs. However, it's leaves are filled with tiny holes, and the web says in theory American Basswood aren't very salt tolerant. Should I plant more, or not?

I have no clue what trees your local experts would suggest, but on this side of the Mississippi, I like to think a row of trees should be as diverse as possible to mitigate risk of some sort of total loss. Examples to my local area: - wind bursts split multiple mature flowering pear trees (Bradford, Callery) breaking the design once the damaged trees are removed. - insects infest a well groomed, non-diverse, tree lined area and before the developer / responsible party can react, many trees are lost, breaking the design - a severe drought (like the one now in some southern and south eastern states) appears to select out a species that was marginal for the climate to begin with and remove them with great accuracy (over in central GA for example, the flowering cherry trees that drive a festival each year have serious problems with drought stress when other selections fair much better / live with less resources expended) Best luck and you are lucky to have an opportunity to plant with lots of room for creativity! PS. My idea would be to check into the Dawn Redwood as a candidate. A few of them in your line would be quite majestic, I think, provided they are well-suited to your location.

Robert, you're as cute as your dog. :) LOL! and I meant that in a good way. (blush) I am "SO" not doing any more plant shopping. I've run out of pots and need to figure out how I'm going to repot those 18 plants that just arrived from Logees on Weds. I did one plant so far - the tall rose-cactus was done this morning, and promptly moved outside onto the porch. Half a day of rain, and afternoon sun shouldn't hurt it any. 17 more to go.