Disease-resistant crabs with both showy flowers and conspicuous persisting fruits might be a better value. These are easy to grow. However, if the dogwood or redbud grow wild in the vicinity that might indicate an advantage - unless your soil in its current state is different from that which they grow in elsewhere nearby. Here is a link that might be useful: Lake County Nursery American Triumph

They do need a bit of room to grow. I guess mine are about a foot apart in a row. Two rows about 18 feet long and about 3 feet apart - and I think I've planted them closer than recommended. When the spears are mature they can be 5 to 6 feet long and drape/spread many feet in any direction. So this plant can take up some room in the garden. Leaves, grass clippings and poop all qualify as organic matter but I would let the manure rot for at least a season before I let it touch any part of a plant. Some plants are sensitive to blasts of high nutrition, it can burn leaves, stems or roots. You would want to bury the organic matter deep in the bed (1 to 2 feet down) before you plant the roots and then top dress the rows every year after that. I would wait until after harvest season to put any new manure on the crop (to avoid contamination of your food). I don't feed mine on any sort of regular schedule. You can find good roots of named varieties at most farm supply stores or large garden centers. There is no need to mix up the varieties. I believe the roots in stores are sold in 15 root bundles. It takes a few years before you can harvest spears without hurting the clump so in the future when a better variety is developed you will need to plant and wait years before you can harvest. At that time you can decide if you want to remove some of your current bed or start a new one. You only want males - but like with my plants, just because you buy males and plant males doesn't mean you'll be growing males. A few plants may become females in the long run. Males are better for the home garden than females (males don't waste energy making seeds). Once you taste fresh asparagus you'll wish you had a larger bed to grow it in.

Oh, Kate, I wish I had some new pics. Poor Braveheart took a big hit from the great Easter Freeze--had me worried for awhile. But it is recovering now--I saw some really vigorous healthy new growth this morning, so I think it will soon be looking its handsome self again. The other reason I haven't taken any pics is that I'm painting my newly rehabbed garage (which was ancient)--backyard has been chaos for past month--especially as I would run out daily to dig up and pot some more daylilies the carpenters insisted on stomping down. I hope some of the posters above who said they were going to get Braveheart have taken some pics. I'd love to see them. Thanks for remembering this handsome guy. Kate

I have the Royal Red Butterfly bush and it's actual bloom color is more of a magenta red. I don't think I have ever seen a true red butterfly bush or a true red Rose of Sharon. Lots of plants that are labeled as Red Flowering are actually just in the red family and could actually go from one end of the spectrum to the other. Penny Here is a link that might be useful: Royal Red Butterfly Bush