Beng - would you part with some berries/seeds from your red osier dogwood this fall?

I'd like to grow some.

I'll get a pic tomorrow - but interesting development. Thise Acer nigrums above - I previously said they seem to never flush past those few inches the first season, well, both set terminal buds, but on one of them, instead of the bud staying dormant, it's flushing! The other one has a terminal bud setting that has yet to grow at all, but we'll see what this other one does.

hair, certainly, but I don't know how perishable those seeds are. I'd have to watch carefully as they are picked off by birds pronto as they ripen.

A better idea is to cut off stems in mid-spring and mail 'em to you -- just stick 'em deep in the ground where you want them & keep watered until they get established (a yr or two). This is how the one I show was planted. Not all stems will sprout, but there are oodles of stems available.

One thing I like is red-osier doesn't attract the dogwood sawfly (at least in my yard) that chew up my pagoda dogwood leaves in later summer.

Edit: hair, in your climate, prb'ly best to put them in at least some shade.....

If red-osier behaves for you guys anything like it does here, one plant will quickly turn into three (or more) via stolons, the arching stems which bend to the ground and root. I have "one" such plant in the back yard and it could (and should) easily be made into three full-size shrubs. Getting huge-too huge for its location. Only limiting factor I'm aware of for this dogwood is adequate soil moisture, which should not be construed to mean it must be in a puddle (but it will grow there) but just average moist conditions'll do it fine.

Hair, would you mind telling me where you got the Acer micranthum seed? Also, that Metasequoia looks awesome.

Kyle

Kyle - got the micranthum from our friend Dax. You'll have to ask him if he can get more!

Thanks - I'm happy w/the Metasequoia - you should see the others I gave away (lack of room)!

My dad has a couple in Canton, OH that are about 6' now in poor soil and droughty weather this summer so far. They're a year older than this one.

I've read a lot of your posts about growing Meta's from seed. I hope to give it a go for myself this coming winter/spring.

Get the "80% cut" seed from F.W Schumacher's. Best germination percentage you'll find for Meta.

Metas are one of my favorites from seed so far - fast and relatively trouble-free, except at the new seedling stage when one sunny day can shrivel them up (not an issue once they get a couple inches high and some root mass to them).

When would you recommend sowing the seeds? Also, did you put them through any stratification?

I didn't scarify or stratify them, I didn't even presoak them, because they're so small it's difficult.
My method is to surface sow them, onto a couple inches of moist Peat Moss, in a small plastic to-go container with a lid. Put them on the heat mat, with the lid, and monitor them every few days, giving them a little spray every once in a while to keep the surface moist. Using this method I get about 50 to 80% germination in anywhere from 5 to 15 days. Once the root has popped out enough that you can see it, I transfer them into individual cells.
My climate is pretty similar to yours, and I usually start them in early April outdoors, but being prepared to protect them by bringing inside if a freeze hits. If you have a greenhouse it's even better, and you could start them earlier.
They do like full sun once they get going, but until the seedlings are a few inches high, they can dry out very quickly on a sunny day. They have very little root system until that point. I usually start them off getting just about three hours of morning sun, or all day sun if they're under a shade cloth or similar structure, and then once they're a few inches high, I give them full day sun.

Hair, have you ever grown P. amabilis from seed?

Acer nigrum. I can't see that it looks any different than a saccharum, however.

Kyle, I haven't tried that one.

These maples are frustrating me this year. Even the nigrum has a little necrosis.

Maybe leaf scorch?

The ones I have from last year aren't really doing this, it's just this year's seedlings.

One of my Q. michauxii seedlings, I'm suspecting may be a hybrid. It's on it's third flush of growth, and the leaves on this flush have deeper lobes by far than is typical. The top leaves on the latest growth flush look like pics I've seen online of Quercus x. beadlei (alba x michauxii) and Q. x jackiana (bicolor x alba). Could even pass for straight bicolor, but definitely does not look right for michauxii.

I'd imagine I need to wait until the tree is a few years old to know for sure.

Hair, did you warm stratify the triflorum seeds?

hairmetal have any of your magnolias had reddish new growth?

I have a wild seedling in my garden exhibiting this trait. There are natural Magnolia virginiana around here; but I've never seen them have reddish new growth.

David, none of mine have reddish growth, no.

So, baldcypress really grows a lot more wild and floppy than Metasequoia! These things bob and weave. The leader ends up growing more or less straight, but bobs and weaves to get there. Nothing like the arrow-straight stem of metasequoia.

Hair, that looks like cicada damage. The tip might survive.

My Magnolia grandiflora seedlings. These were started back in Nov-Dec of 2015 from 'Teddy Bear'. I don't really see any dwarfing going on. Still, I hate to throw them out! Maybe I'll put them in my coldframe for another winter.

quite a tree factory you've got going there, hairmetal.