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.

There's always hope, and you really have nothing to lose by watching and waiting and seeing what it does in the spring. I am so far south in OK that Texas sits to my west, south and east, and we have dozens and dozens of native redbuds growing as understory trees in our 10+ acres of woodland. The ones that do the best are the ones that are growing in dappled shade, or on the eastern or northern edge of the woodland where they have little exposure to sunlight in the mid-day or afternoon. The ones that don't do well are the ones foolish enough to sprout on the southern edge of the woodland, right where the woodland meets the grassland. They don't necessarily die, but they struggle with the full-day sun in July and August of every year. One ridiculously silly redbud sprouted in the worst possible clay in full sun in a location several hundred feet from any water source about 10 years ago. We assumed a bird planted it there. That little tree has finally attained a height of 8'. Its foliage yellows, browns and drops every summer. I always think that "this time" it has had all it can stand and it is going to die. Then, the following year, it leafs out and is just fine until mid-summer heat and drought arrive. I never would have put that tree there, and I don't water it or feed it. If it lives, it lives. If it dies, it dies. The fact that it has survived so long in such unsuitable conditions is an indication of how tough redbuds can be. However, if you're trying to grow an understory tree in full sun, you may be fighting a losing battle. It isn't that it necessarily will die, but more that it just will have periods of time when it is very unhappy---and it shows. Both Chinese pistache and desert willow are very tough, strong survivors that can tolerate almost any conditions. Both of them are stronger and tougher than redbuds, so it doesn't surprise me that they are fine even though maybe it is not. That's exactly what I would expect. Desert willows, by the way, are deceptively named, being neither desert plants nor willows. They actually are closely related to trumpet creeper vines (a plant about which it is commonly said "they won't die and you can't kill them"). I love redbud trees. They are so gorgeous for that couple of weeks in spring when they are in bloom, but I've never planted one on purpose. I'll never buy one and plant it on purpose. I just think that there are many higher-quality trees that deserve a spot in a landscape and that look better year-round than the redbuds do. I prefer to give prime landscape space to plants that are not going to struggle so much in the heat of the summer. Since we built our house on higher ground in full sun with dense, compacted red clay soil, the area around our house is not a suitable location for redbuds, which do fine here on lower ground, with sandy soil, in the woodland along the creekbeds. That is where they belong. So, my suggestion is to evaluate your landscape and ask yourself if the redbud will be happy there long-term. Will it get the afternoon shade it prefers? Or, at least will it have shade from other trees in the middle of the day? Is it planted in a place that makes sense for it? So often, we choose plants we like and put them where we want them instead of putting them where they need to be. Is this redbud growing in a place where it will thrive equally well in hot, dry years and in cooler wetter years? If it isn't, you have to decide if it is reasonable to expect it to thrive where it is growing or if maybe it needs to be transplanted to a location that would be better for it. Your tree's struggles this year may be totally related to the heavy irrigation required to get the new sod to grow. Or, it may be a sign the tree just isn't in the best location that gives it what it needs. Good luck with your tree, and I hope it rebounds next year.

Juniperus virginiana sucks up a lot of water and creates massive allergen pollen bursts...so I personally wouldn't ever plant any of them. Their main benefit though would be that they are evergreen. I would suggest creating a mixed hedge sloping up in height away from the highway of "higher value" shrubs & trees like: <a href="http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/trees/wax-myrtle/wax-myrtle-care.htm">Wax Myrtle</a> (as your primary hedge plant: <img src="http://www.sharptreefarm.com/Wax%20Myrtle%20-%2030%20Gal%20-%208-9%27.jpg"> & accent hedge with: Jujube (shrub) <img src="http://www.veggiegardeningtips.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/jujube-tree.jpg"> Black Chokeberry (shrub) <img src="http://imagehost.vendio.com/a/35088526/aview/TN281-2.JPG"> Black Beauty Morus nigra (tall mulberry shrub) Elderberry (large shrubs) <img src="http://www.uwgb.edu/biodiversity/herbarium/shrubs/samcan_aspect01.jpg"> Rusty Blackhaw (tall shrub) <img src="http://www.floridata.com/ref/V/images/vibu_ru1.jpg"><img src="http://www.beautifulwildlifegarden.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/DSCF5994-500x449.jpg"> Pomegranate (medium tree) <img src="https://idisciple.blob.core.windows.net/idm/Under-the-Pomegranate-Tree.png"> Vitex agnus-castus (large shrub & great pollinator attractor!) <img src="http://www.tree-land.com/images/Vitex_Mature.jpg"> <a href="http://www.lazyssfarm.com/Plants/Shrubs/Cl-It%20Shrubs/Cl-It%20Images/hamamelis_intermedia_primavera.htm">Hamamelis x intermedia 'Primavera'</a> (large shrub) <img src=http://www.lazyssfarm.com/Plants/Shrubs/Cl-It%20Shrubs/Cl-It%20Images/Hamamelis%20x%20intermedia%20%27Primavera%272.jpg"> Goldenball Leadtree (small tree) <img src="https://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3513/4572178690_102bfb25ab.jpg"> Eve's Necklace (small tree) <img src="https://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/ornamentals/natives/TREES/SOPHORAAFF1457.jpg"> Magnolia (Star, Southern, Saucer) trees <img src="http://www.jimwhitingnursery.com/images/feat-magnolia-royalstar-sm.jpg"> Redbud trees Mid-sized Oriental & taller American Persimmon trees <img src="http://www.burpee.com/images/product/prod003352/prod003352_alt3_lg.jpg"> Pecan trees Western Soapberry trees Oriental Raisin trees (Hovenia dulcis) <img src="http://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/static/plants/plant_images/hovenia_dulcis.jpg">

Peanut butter tree in this region will be the Clerodendrum. It is a west-side item that will not survive the winters in Cashmere - even over here the coldest winters - such as the one in 1990 - kill them back. Here the main problem with the locust may be branch breakage, which can be sudden and severe on small examples. But there are numbers of it planted that have been around long enough to be more than 30 ft. high. Otherwise the common way to get moisture-loving trees to grow east of the mountains is to plant them on a heavily irrigated lawn. In addition to moist root zones specimens so located also enjoy the humidity produced by all the evaporation of water from the turf, which is very poor at shading the ground due to it being such a short layer of vegetation (when photographed from high altitudes grasslands appear as bare, brown dirt). Winter cold you can do nothing about except wrapping or enclosing each specimen in insulating materials every time it is going to be too cold for them. As with the watering issue it would be a lot easier to choose trees adapted to your existing conditions. As you can see from the native trees and shrubs growing on nearby undeveloped lands it is possible to have an assortment of woody ornamentals on a dry climate site without pouring on the water. In addition to those species native to the area there is the large pool of those coming from similar conditions elsewhere in the world to draw from. For ideas of other candidates you may like to visit and explore the Finch Arboretum in Spokane and the Yakima Area Arboretum in Yakima. Or at least look to see if either of these have online information about what trees and shrubs are in their collections or have become features there. These are conventional watered plantings made in lawns, for the most part. If you do some searching on the web there are also some publicly accessible demonstration gardens and plantings on that side of the mountains that may be of interest, including ones closer to home - in Wenatchee for instance. Another resource is the S. Searles book Garden of Joy. Used copies are offered online. This is about gardening in the inter-mountain region, shows that there is quite an assortment of decorative garden plants that are suited to planting within it. Otherwise you might like to find your Sunset Climate Zone in the Gardening section of the Sunset Publishing web site and then look at the plant descriptions there, to see what they indicate is suitable for your Zone. Or pick up a copy of the Sunset Western Garden Book. This post was edited by bboy on Thu, Dec 11, 14 at 12:58