djwfrk: Not at all. I actually enjoy working with ESL kids at school, many of them from Hispanic countries. I have told the "landscape workers" in Spanish (because they speak no English) not to break my garden fences, to no avail. They can't even read Spanish. I am virtually in tears about the latest destruction to the Adirondack fencing around my hosta garden. Several sections are lying on the ground all torn to pieces, like garbage, and the protective foam tubing I placed on top is ripped to shreds by these ignoramuses. It looks like a city dump, thanks to them, at $5-6/section! They have also knocked down quite a few of my plant markers. I am forever having to retrieve the plant markers from the ground and put them back on their supports. I have spent backbreaking labor and funds for patching compound repairing the really nice faux stone garden edging that they busted ugly holes in. These guys are knowledgeable landscape workers like I'm six feet tall (I am, in fact, 5'2"). They do not seem to have much knowledge about gardening at all, just how to flail about with weed-whackers and blowers. Their mowing is laughable. Also, I see a different crew each time. There are places in this area where it is well known that illegals congregate to pick up day labor jobs. Many contractors, like landscape companies, go over in the morning to these places to pick up workers for the day. The illegals are happy to work for minimum pay because they are limited in what jobs they can obtain. So the quality of work is about on a par with absolute amateurs, because in effect, that's exactly what they are. And the co-op couldn't care less. They are penny wise and pound foolish when it comes to landscaping. They could care less if my fencing gets ripped up, plants get trampled, etc. Here is an article from a local Queens news source: Day laborers busted on 69th Street The police arrested 10 immigrants on Tuesday on charges that they blocked a sidewalk at a popular gathering place for day laborers in Jackson Heights, Queens, the chief spokesman of the Police Department said. The arrests came in response to repeated calls from neighborhood residents complaining about the laborers "most of them undocumented" who congregate every day at the intersection of Broadway, 37th Avenue and 69th Street, said the spokesman, Paul J. Browne. “Police responded to community complaints about them blocking the sidewalk and congregating,” Mr. Browne said, adding that there were 50 to 60 workers at the location on Tuesday morning before the arrests. “We responded and asked them to disperse,” Mr. Brown said. “All but 10 of them did.” _______________________ There is little doubt, based on what I've seen and my conversations with them, that these "landscape workers" are undocumented aliens. So, I have spent endless hours researching, planning, buying materials, digging, hauling heavy bags of soil and mulch, planting, watering, weeding, etc. so that these "landscape workers" can come and lay waste to all my efforts. I'm sure you would love them, too, if you could but see the latest damage. Life in the big city.

"The absolute only time I propagate patented plants without permission is if I am keeping them to myself." Isn't that similar to, "The only time I steal food from the convenient store is when I'm hungry and plan to eat it myself." Logan, I don't personally care when you propagate patented plants, but you don't seem to understand how the plant patent thing works. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - I disagree with many of the contributors to this thread about redbud's ability to straighten themselves out. I have hundreds of redbuds on my farm and have dealt with a number of them in people's landscape. Redbuds VERY FREQUENTLY suffer from damage and breakage due to their poorly formed branch crotch angles. Cercis canadensis is a relatively short-lived species of tree, and, IMO, a contributing factor is its poor branching and growth habit. Ken suggested the possibility of staking the longest/largest branch and I think that is what I would likely do. There's no need to prune off the other branch, at this point. The one staked upright will become the leader and the other branch will naturally slow down. If it's still a problem in a year or so, then you can take action. Right now each of the two branches appear to contain at least one-third, if not more, of the tree's total foliage.

I can recommend Gaillardia Mesa Yellow which I've been growing for the last three years. It's a softer yellow, stays low and blooms it's head off from May into December here. It's really non-stop flowers and even the finished flower heads look pretty. For blue flowers there is Scabiosa Butterfly Blue and there are also some blue Stokesias. After that I've run out of ideas.

Hey, Ken! I've been good man, how bout yourself? Yes, it makes new ones every fall but they seem pretty confined to a few branches. No fert It was a couple of feet shorter and much more narrow when I bought it 5 years ago. It wasn't growing well at all in the middle of the yard in full sun so I moved it a couple years ago to it's new location on the north side of my house where it gets more shade. It has really taken well to the new spot growing much more in the 2 seasons after the move than it did in the 3 seasons in the original spot. Whaas, we are more sandy loam here at my house and it was a very dry fall and winter here. I was thinking some kind of viral/fungal thing but I'm just not sure. These bud clusters only make up probably around 5% of the total flower buds so the tree still looks normal from a few feet. It does have an area of sunscald that is still healing from before I moved it and the clusters didn't start until after I moved it. Maybe a pathogen got in when I moved it and had to sever some roots that were about 3/4" thick. Here is a pic of the tree and some weeds