my seed list was last updated 12/7/14. some seeds have been traded/used since then. but I have not found the magic link to update my list. can email current list to anyone interested.

We cleared a large area in the backyard with new borders and put in a lot of trees. I had never had a tree list before but after all that planting I decided to make a list of what trees and shrubs are in the garden. Here are the trees with I'm sure a few missing. Acer ginnala Acer griseum Acer triflorum Aesculus mutabilis 'Induta' Aesculus parviflora Sassafras Amelanchier alleghany clump Betula papyrifera Betula pendula 'Trost's Dwarf' Cercidiphyllum japonicum Chionanthus virginicus Clethra barbinervus Cornus alternifolia 'Golden Shadows' Cornus kousa Corylus 'Rosita' Cotinus coggyria 'Golden Spirit' Crabapple 'Prairie Fire' Cretaegus phaenopyrum Evodia daniellii Fagus sylvatica Fagus sylvatica 'Riversii' Gleditsia triacanthos Japanese maple 'Beni Maiko' Japanese maple 'Beni Schichihenge' Japanese maple 'Bloodgood' Japanese maple 'Crimson Queen' Japanese maple 'Full Moon' Japanese maple 'Garnet' Japanese maple 'Orangeola' Japanese maple 'Peaches and Cream' Japanese maple 'Viridis' Japanese maple 'Waterfall' Juniperus virginiana Larix kaempferi Magnolia 'Jane' Magnolia 'Leonard Messel' Oxydendrum Picea pungens-Colorado Blue Sorbus aucuparia 'Cardinal Royal' Stewartia pseudocamellia Styrax japonica Syringa reticulata In the woods surrounding 3 sides of the yard are tons of: Maples Oaks-white and red White Pine I'm looking forward to collecting more evergreens in the coming years. Something really lacking in general in my garden.

Living in Wisconsin I do adore so many different trees. But my Mom had a gorgeous flowering mini crab apple tree that in spring would smell so wonderful, like almost a musky Hibiscus type scent that would last about 4 weeks. The fruit on this tree was about as small as a pea and was very abundant as the tree itself in bloom would look like one big huge flower on it's own. But most of the pea sized apples that would never have any issues with scabbing or insects would stay on the tree through the winter that would be a #1 staple of the bird life that never flew south for the winter time as my Mom would also have bird houses and Cardinals would stay along with Red Winged Black Birds and others. When the trees were flowering they would attract so many butterflies, humming birds and honey bees, that the next door neighbor would surly get his fill from, and even offer up honey to my Mom, otherwise he wouldn't have had so much honey and bees wax to sell at the farmers market. But unfortunately in 2012, my Mom's condo association voted on removing her wonderful bird and furry ground fellows tree (Yes! Also the squirrels of at least 3 to 5 different kinds would take advantage of all of the tiny apples that had fell to ground, along with chipmunks and some other furry ground animals, so I never did see what the big deal was. They had said that tree had made a mess. Well I beg to differ, and the closing vote was neighbor that actually got kicked out by the banks foreclosure no more than 4 months later. Now my 2nd favorite tree would be the lilac tree, not the bush but the actual tree. I remember when I had one right outside my bedroom window and the scent of lilacs would come in through out the lilac season, and my Dad had planted them to flower 2 weeks apart from each other, so I had that scent in my bedroom going for a good 4-6 weeks long at least! Now Wisconsin has a law in place that no one is allowed and will be fined if they are to plant any sort of troublesome tree. One big one being the darn Cotton Wood Tree. And for those that have them on their land that are in neighborhoods that clog up gutters and fly over to parks in which the fire departments HAVE to do a controlled burn to keep them from growing out of control every single year. This junk get into your air filters and in your cars, garages, homes and all over the place. I really hate these trees, and I just don't understand why people would take advantage of free removal by the city, especially if they have a fire place, free wood to burn for them for the winter time. And now these trees are huge! It's just unreal what you pull out of your gutters every year. Even though we want to enjoy our spring times and not have our usual floods as that is what usually happens here, but when you have Cotton Wood trees, you almost beg for rain every day so these seeds will only drop on the owners home and not yours when floating through the air and causing allergies with watery eyes, sneezing and being all stuffed up from just trying to enjoy the outside, which is impossible when you have a cantankerous neighbor that just won't take down that damn tree, even though it almost looks like it's 1/2 way dead anyway. Maybe some day it will get hit by lightning, and then he will have to use his home owners insurance to fix what ever damage it has caused and Karma will win in end. Just because he didn't do right by others. I know if I bought property, I would surely call the city and have them come and take it down as soon as they were able. And one more tree I don't care for all that much for at all either, is the Maple tree and for some reason, the seeds or what some people call whirly birds or helicopters I think they are a real pain in ars and for some reason the are falling off all year long and are green and slimy. Leaving the steps and landings all stained with this slimy mess so you can't even sit down and dry your hair naturally in the nice weather. And sometimes they even drop in clumps but when they do that they are too heave and drop onto the lawn, or what ever is left of it, when it rains it's a muddy mess on that side. I am doing my best to get the heck out of here, but I have some issues I need take care of right away! Heath issues that are stopping me from doing the simplest tasks. I never thought I'd need to be calling the HDRC for help like this. But I need to get out of here. Plus I just got a letter from my land lord that my rent is going up (only by $5.00) but still, I've been here for 14 years now. And I have been so unhappy and haven't had a single update done since I move in here. Sorry for over sharing, but she knows she has me over a barrel here, I have 3 auto immune disorders and many other medical issues that she used to be very empathetic to and I don't know what's happened to her now. She just no longer cares anymore at all! Now my Thyroid is effecting me. I knew years ago they found a nodule on my thyroid, but I went to a specialist and he said it's very common. My Dr. then always kept up with the testing. He now moved and I'm left with this flippent woman of a GP that is only in it for the money. Need to get rid of her now, and see if I can get a blood test tomorrow while I'm at the hospital anyway with 2 appts. back to back. I did feel so sorry for my Mom, she not only had a shade tree that she loved watching her birds every morning, but it was also a tree that gave her some privacy from her kitchen window and I think that was totally unfair for them to just take that away from her. She loves wildlife and birds, and loved waking up to it, watching and hearing the Cardinals and seeing all of the beautiful butterflies and other germinating creatures. Even the honey bees seemed very docile and as if they were trained to be non violent and just be busy worker bees along with all of the humming birds of every color of the rainbow that would stay still just long enough to make out their colors, I even saw a turquoise one, my favorite color. I went on google maps and they really need to update their pictures. That tree is still there on Google maps. I couldn't believe that when I saw that. Oh well, It's been awhile and they must have taken that picture right before they took that tree down. All I see is people raving about how much the love those trees and how glad they are they chose them. Mom moved in when that tree was a bit young yet. I wish I could turn back time, and announce her neighbors were being kicked out by the bank. That would have changed things a lot back then. They wouldn't have had a voice or a leg to stand on. And I believe the bank would have said "Keep that tree!" It only adds to the curb appeal and beauty for the next buyers. Oh well, to late now, Thanks for taking the time to read this. And God Bless to all those that have or have chosen the Mini Crab Apple Trees, you know what I'm talking about!

When we moved in there were two of them here. They were huge and we eventually chopped them down because they were so massive...about 10' round bushes. I didn't get around to rooting them up and by the end of the growing season (2 months) they both had bushed out and completely covered the old wood from new ground up suckers and limb buds. We decided to leave them for another season because they make a wonderful bush because of all the suckers they put out. But as other have stated, the blooms are small, very short lived and the seeds they produce wind up everywhere. In the winter, they're horrible looking so we're on the fence about them. I'll either keep them in a bush format or suck it up and dig up all the roots which I'm not looking forward to. Extremely drought tolerant though, we have yet to water them ever. They do bloom early, right about when the hummingbirds are returning so they're an ok attractant for them. fwiw