Here are a couple of places that I still frequent and buy from. I've been growing for the past ten years and have about 35 orchids. The first is in Connecticut: http://www.jlorchids.com/index.html J & L Orchids Easton CT The other is quite interesting and always has an unusual collection to view and buy. It's in Massachusetts. http://www.historicnewengland.org/historic-properties/homes/lyman-estate-greenhouses

Thank you Zozzl! I was going to buy a new Orchidwiz program this fall anyhow. The saved money can go for extra orchids!

Yes even here it's still an evolving situation. For example, I would now rank the damage on Ilex 'Scepter' as being more severe than that on 'Sand Pond'. Once again proving how a 100% American X American hybrid is more resistant to our capricious weather than an Asian X European one...as you'd expect. Because the leaves of 'Sand Pond' are obviously reviving themselves, but those of 'Scepter' continue to dessicate and turn papery brown. I wish I had a male I. integra, it would be cool to make a 'Sand Pond' X integra cross. (I should clarify versus what I said on Feb 23rd: some 'Scepter' leaves were still undamaged at that point. All 'Sand Pond' leaves had minor damage. Now, ALL 'Scepter' leaves are basically dead and some are already falling off. Most 'Sand Pond' leaves still have damage but the green bits are getting greener, it seems. The March 5 freeze was by far the most damaging of the winter) There's some rather odd damage now becoming apparent even on Abies ernestii...sometimes rated as hardy as 5b and I've seen a huge, beautiful one near Rochester, NY. (part of the reason I bought one) The leaves have little yellowish spots...I might post to the conifer forum to see if someone has seen anything like it. They are so subtle they might be impossible to photograph. It's like a very subtle variegation. Certainly not serious, but fascinating. All in all as they say, it still could have been worse. It also makes me feel good about my choice years ago not to invest in trying a big, expensive Trachycarpus palm. Because I thought north of about St. Michael's, MD or maybe Cape May, NJ - and even those locations are really really pushing it- they have no chance of being truly long term plants w/o protection. I knew another winter like 1994 would happen, and it did. What I did not know is we would have 2 in a row! I reiterate that 'Soquel' is my best looking Sequoia...granted it is my oldest but the bigger 'Swarthmore Hardy'/'Chapel Hill' has been in the ground a while, too, and arguably in a better spot. (better soil) Not that it is an appropriate rating, but I'm reminded of Dr. Dirr's former SEO website that rated 'Soquel' as zn 6 hardy. Not true but he apparently had some information about it surviving cold temperatures well, which it does. If you need to try one in the DC area, I'd now recommend that over any of the others. I want to try to see the huge tree in Silver Spring MD this spring, to see how it weathered things, and the 2 that are almost as big in NoVA. BTW - given that exposed Leylands were damaged even last winter in the outer suburbs of Baltimore, I definitely think most of New England would be stretching it for them.

I think the winner here is the Red Oak without question. This is one of the most salt-tolerant oaks in that genus. You see tons of red oaks and scarlet oaks (which is in the Red Oak family) along South Shore coastal areas all the way to the Cape. White Oaks naturally occur in these areas too and will also tolerate salt to a certain degree but not like the Red Oaks. Fall color in the Oak family is very hit or miss. There aren't any established cultivars for sale where you could be assured of the Fall color. So with that in mind, you really have to see the Fall color of an individual tree to see how good the foliage looks during that season. I can tell you that I've seen some Red Oaks in Plymouth and in Falmouth that had red foliage that would rival any maple. Most of the time though, you are going to have at best a dark but intense blood-red color. Often, these trees turn an orange-brown and then brown. Personally, I prefer Scarlet Oaks for Fall color. With them, you have a much better chance of getting an intense scarlet color in the Fall. White Oaks can turn a pleasant reddish-purple color in the Fall but they are usually at best a mix of yellow, orange, and brown and often just a plain brown.