Amy, I'm in Northern Cal so can't opine about timing issues for you or cold tolerance but I have about a dozen N. sylvatica - both straight species and pendula. I got them specifically because they tolerate wet feet and they are in the wettest part of my property and stay soggy for months in winter and into late spring. Then they go bone dry for a few months and tolerate that, too. Clearly their roots do ok with less oxygen than most. Also, I do not have acid soil - I'm pretty near neutral pH and the spot that they're in is not well-drained, and my trees have thrived. Your Zydeco Twist looks fabulous. I moved one after a few years in the ground and it took it ok, just set it back a bit - it's still smaller than the others. They leaf out later than some here, but way ahead of the crape myrtles, for example. Mine have been in for about 12 years and are perhaps 15' tall. My only complaint is suckering, but not all of mine do it and I wonder if I planted those that do too deep? I have a Parrotia persica near the biggest clump of Nyssas - it is a much slower grower (mine is 'Select') and I did plant that one up on a mound as I was a bit concerned about the drainage there - it has done fine also. They're native to Iran and are pretty tough I think. The only C. kousa that I have grown I killed but my fault not the tree's. Great choices for fall color! Here is a link that might be useful: Form and Foliage

Because they are the ONLY local nursery unfortunately. The only one with any sizable selection of trees anyways. They are also unwilling to put forth any effort to find BnB trees for me. For the last year, I have given nearly all of my tree buying purchases to two businesses in northwest AR which are very accomidating, about 1.5 hours away. Every now and then the local nursery gets something cool that warrants a purchase. This is the first possibly mistaken ID tree I have bought from them which would not have happened if I waited until it was leafed out. But then it would have lost valuable time putting roots down before summer. As I said, I don't necessarily want to give it back because they are so hard to grow. And I am cautiously optimistic about dieback not occurring next spring. I am planning a visit to the nursery sometime on a lunch break this week to check their remaining stock of 'Wildfire' and their coloration. John

Hey hairmetal, seeing a lot of you around lately! I have a Wildfire and have tried the regular species also. Below is a link to a thread of me running my mouth about my wildfire experience. Probably what to get out of it is I have found nyssa to be a difficult transplant. My main species transplants and then the wildfire all died back almost to the ground their first year in the ground. The Wildfire was my 3rd attempt and I left it in the same place and what do ya know, it did not die back the second year. It has grown well since May 2011 and now is seven foot tall. I'll get a pic tomorrow, but it is still fairly red on the latest growth now. With the dieback mine might not be the best example. It seems to color late October for me and is somewhat spotted red / pink. It is less impressive in fall than mature regular species trees I see around town but still good. We will see after it balances out roots vs canopy. Mine with the rapid growth is red enough before July 4th it rivals my crabapple so green would be a color it changes to lol! When I plant another nyssa wildfire or species I would get a three or four foot potted transplant from a local source on March 1st and plant it. If it died back that winter I would leave it in place and expect no die back the next year. Here is a link that might be useful: Pics of mine

that pattern of damage is not from an insect.. IMHO ... was the lawn sprayed/treated recently??? it looks like a burn of some type. . ken