If you take the time to prune a royal empress tree every year, water it, and fertilize it, and it is protected from high winds...it will end up looking like what you see in the pictures. Those are real trees! However, since most people do not have those resources....there are other good trees to get. You might want a catalpa, some type of redbud tree...but my personal favorite as a substitute is the Northern Magnolia. It has beautiful pink blooms that cover the branches before the leaves come out with a light fragrance, so it will not attract many bees. Plus, since it is magnolia, it will have leaves year round even though they look deciduous. It is hardy to zone 5, perfect! http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_B0_LtEuv5yg/SB97QDkoozI/AAAAAAAABE0/bZPBK_szb40/s320/Northern%2BMagnolia%2B2.jpg http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3302/3471005529_3004ba99c6.jpg?v=0

Intriguing, never heard of such a tree. Mora, there is tree across the street that grows beautiful orchid like flowers. It's called Catalpa speciosa "Western Catalpa". Grows well down to zone 4. The scent is incredible. Would you like seeds? Here is a link that might be useful: [Catalpa speciosa](http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.anniesannuals.com/signs/b%2520-%2520c/images/catalpa_speciosa_wc-02.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.anniesannuals.com/plants/plant_display.asp%3Fprodid%3D1213%26account%3Dnone&h=232&w=248&sz=9&hl=en&start=5&tbnid=86vLdWU-kiDNwM:&tbnh=104&tbnw=111&prev=/images%3Fq%3DWestern%2BCatalpa%2B(Catalpa%2Bspeciosa%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26rls%3DSNCA,SNCA:2006-42,SNCA:en%26sa%3DN)

Thanks for the interest! Sadly, the following trees died: Gingko: deer and/or voles girdled the tree last winter and it didn't make it into spring. The top wasn't winter killed; it began to bud. The species would probably survive with some protection here (which I didn't give it), as there's at least one mature tree growing in Edmonton. Baldcypress: you didn't actually think that this would survive, would you? Neither did I, and it didn't. American Chestnut: I bought a very small sapling from Acorus Restoration when they still shipped live plants. It puttered along for three years, and just dropped its leaves and died last summer. It's possible that ants got to it: the ants killed a neighbouring apple tree. White mulberry: still growing! I bend the main stem to the ground to cover it with snow in the winter. It was looking kind of sickly last summer, though; trees have grown up around it and it's growing largely in shade, which it doesn't like. 'Exotic' survivors as of fall 2013: Catalpa speciosa x2 (but is killed above the snowline) Acer Saccharum (doing fine) Celtis Occidentalis (doing fine) Celtis Tenuifolia (doing fine) Morus Alba (needs winter protection) Cladastis Kentuckea ? Chionanthus Virginicus ? (both were shredded in an unfortunate weedwhacker incident) My 'experiment' trees for 2013 were Chinese Catalpa (C. ovata) and Devil's walkingstick (Aralia Spinosa). I'm definitely going to try American Beech and another American Chesnut if I can find one this year, and will have to replant the bamboo that I lost last year. My 'experiment' trees for 2013 were

I'd also be interested in finding out what folks have planted that they were surprised to find came back year after year. Zone pushers, you know who you are, what's been your unexpected performer? I found this visitor's blog (linked below) and love the photos from the Xeriscape demonstration garden in Pueblo - I was quite pleasantly suprised with the hesperaloe, Mimosa and Parry's Agave - I never would have expected them to grow there. It makes me think Mexican Bird of Paradise and Chitalpa's (Chilopsis x Catalpa) would work there as well? I find it hilarious that Caesalpinia mexicana is rated a zone 9 plant - they grow wild in Albuquerque in any abandoned dirt, esp. "hell strips." I find the whole "Zone" indicators are rather dubious the more actual gardening I do. Better to consult what people are actually growing in their yards :D Here is a link that might be useful: A Gardener's Visit to Pueblo