hairmetal4ever we also got -14 but that was with wind chill. Definitely had zone 5 weather here and zone 4 with wind chill. It just surprised me because the CQ part leafed out and then burned up. Darn I loved that thing but will not put in another CQ as this Winter showed if we have an exceptional year it can't cope. I have 4 other Jap Maples that did fine. The person that writes a gardening column here for the paper I think stated she lost 7 Jap Maples so I was feeling real good when all of mine were leafing out at that time. :) I won't keep the tree as I like to many cultivars to keep a normal palmatum, let alone it would be too big anyway for that space. I'll pot it though for a year or so and send it out to my brother's farm. :) Al I appreciate your opinion. Normally I would have pruned the rootstock leaves but not being sure if it would releaf had decided to leave them to feed the tree until I got some other opinions. Just ticks me off that I am now short a Jap Maple. Appreciate the comments on the Picea. I could hear Ken in my head saying every few years you lose interior needles so thought that was it and now know for sure. Cher

Lovely pictures, Dax! I just happened to be browsing around and caught this thread by chance... I work at the Nat'l, and the Acer sinense you photographed grows at the top of the section I care for, and has recently undergone a second phase of excavation to expose its long-buried root flare. I hope you enjoyed the trip in spite of our drought-stressed gardens. I can also vouch for the incredible toughness of Acer truncatum - a young sapling planted near the bottom of the collection in terrible, heavy soil (actually left there from the digging of the Metro) in baking sun is positively thriving. I can understand why it would be a prime candidate for planting in Texas and the Midwest - just so it doesn't become the next invasive exotic species!

Grisuem and Bloodgood in my zone in sun do fine once established. Bloodgood may leaf scorch in the first year or two, but once its established and if on an irrigation system - it generally won't scorch. It will however turn a bit more green/bronze but not quite scorched. This particular location has afternoon sun but almost no sun in the morning as the house shades it. The preference for these two would be morning sun, but I do know that they can handle afternoon sun if watered well. Eventhough they are both very different in looks, I'm ok with either in that location. More interested in trying to get to about 20+' in height in some amount of time. I'd really like to put a beech purporea tri-color there, but that definitely won't take the full sun in my zone and that probably grows just as slow. I'm curious as to how fast Griseum and Bloodgood grows if pruned for vertical growth rather just let to grow wide. I have a griseum that was planted last year and it put on close to 2ft (from 6 t 8ft) and caliper went from 1.5 to 2.5in. It was kind of shocking to me as I was figuring 6in to 1ft at most and minimal caliper growth. I don't know how long it will sustain this type of growth, but thicker caliper is usually a very good sign in trees. Pruning for vertical growth seems to help a lot of trees grow vertical (especially bloodgood, crape myrtles, prunus species, etc ). I know if you let Bloodgood has its way, it'll be 6ft in 5 years, but if you stake and prune it to go vertical, it can easily reach 12ft in 5 years. the question is what does it look like after 12ft ? Too many bloodgoods(and griseum) don't have vertical leaders. . So, if anybody has any data on how fast(or slow) their bloodgood or griseum, it would be greatly appreciated.

Yeah, it looks like there is too much surface area involved. Better to add the wood shavings than not though. I routinely till in larger woodchips from a tree service and have had no yellowing problems in my ornamental garden for many years. The woodchips break down slowly. I till them in to a soil that is very good to begin with, and haven't used fertilizer for over thirty five years, except for potted stock, of course. Sawdust tilled in is a real nitrogen robber because of all the surface area that breaks down rather rapidly. Your pine chips are very thin and will break down almost as fast as sawdust. You might want to add a little fertilizer to compensate for that. As a good analogy, I was in a bar in rural Montana that had rock salt in shakers with large holes in the cap. When I asked the bartender why rock salt instead of normal salt, he explained that normal salt was like flash powder and dissolved real fast leaving the beer flat. Rock salt dissolved slowly, giving a salty taste with out flattening the beer. My neighbor tills in a lot of sawdust every year in his veggie garden. He adds ammonia sulfate when he tills to help it compost. The added heat provides him with warmer than normal soil and helps his veggies off to a faster start in the Spring. In effect, he gardens in a compost pile, and has a very good garden every year. Mike