just thinking outside the box ... could you just kill the maple.. and leave it standing there.. as garden art .. it might rot and fall in a decade or so ... im just thinking .... sooner or later.. you arent going to be able to keep it in check ... ken

Let me try this again, maybe the software here won't delete my words. As I said: It was the best of seasons, it was the worst of seasons. It was the garden of wisdom, it was the garden of weeds. OK, about three years ago, I planted both a male and a female Kiwi vine. Early in the next spring, some hungry critter ate the main stem separating the base from the small single vine by about three inches. I picked up the twigs and set them to root in cups of water. Four of them survived and grew well. I sold them after seeing that the base sent up new sprouts. (lower pic) Now it is large enough that I want to take cuttings and sprout them again. My first attempt failed. Maybe it works best first thing in the spring but I will try again. I now see that there are two different types of vines. (top pic) Those that seem to be there to serve the middle of the plant and might be the branches to support fruit. Another type is growing aggressively out the top probably seeking new horizons. Right now, I have taken one of each, still connected to the plant, and sent the vine through pots filled with mulch. The pots are suspended from the framework. Hopefully they will root. The question is, is there any difference between the two types of vine that will assist in successful sprouting of cuttings? Is one type better than the other for rooting? P.S. I hope to remember the lesson I learned here. This web site will kill off anything I have written if I have not already signed in. Other web sites won’t even let you write until you do. Right now, I don’t trust the software here that I write anything in Word first. Oh, wait a minute. This software will not accept copy/paste from Word, only from a plain text editor.

Well, it bit the dust in short order. I dug it up and found the roots and lower trunk almost entirely consumed by what looks like grubs. I find this shocking. I have never seen grubs attack a woody plant like this. The hostas did not seem bothered by the grubs at all. Thoughts? Cheers, Werner

I prefer to transplant when they are dormant in winter but many people also like to transplant in early Spring and during the Fall. Just try to get as much of the root ball and all those small tiny fibrous roots that form a pancake... as much as you possible can. In warm locations, Spring planting would be followed by Summer so keep an eye for moisture problems as temperatures get warm/hot. Use 2-4" of mulch around the plant; water when the soil feels dry if you insert a finger into the soil and it feels dry or almost dry. In cold regions, watch out for dry winters and for frost heave where freezing and thawing cycles are common. If you get a lot of frost heave then transplant in Spring. You can also temporarily grow it in a pot until you are ready to plant. Just do not forget to water it, fertilize it and amend the soil to keep it acidic. I would very carefully separate them during winter as they will end up competing with each other for water and fertilizer. If you had the plant label or the plastic pot, I would try to find out who did Lowes bought it from and then go online to see if they have a list of azaleas that match yours. Sometimes that works but it is harder with small wholesale operations.