It may just be my perspective but growing/cultural requirements to me mean something very different than attributes specific selections within the same species may offer. That's where you get down to cultivar level and make assessments on which cultivar/selection may work best for you. For example, 'Arp' may be one of the hardiest forms of rosemary but it still has the same basic cultural requirements as any other cultivar -- a need for full sun, well-draining, lean soil and minimal water (once established) and fertilizing. But maybe rosemary is not the best example as it is pretty much a single species genus (there is a another species but extremely uncommon in gardens or in distribution). Let's look at euphorbias, a genus with literally hundreds of species. Each species of euphorbia can (and most do) have very different growing requirements from other euphorb species, but within the same species the growing/cultural requirements will be virtually identical. Some cultivars may grow larger than others, some may produce larger/smaller flower heads or of slightly different coloring, some might even offer increased cold tolerance but the growing conditions - soils, water, light, nutrient demand, etc. will be the same. And that's where I disagree with the statement mindy (or her source) posed initially: "LIKE ALL PLANTS WITHIN THE SAME FAMILY OR SPECIES, Xanthosomas are all individuals and some can be used as bog plants, where others will simply decline and rot." To be more accurate, I'd change that statement to read: "like many plants within the same family or even genus, each species of Xanthosomas is unique: some can be used as bog plants while others will simply decline and rot under similar conditions." To be perfectly honest, if I were to read that statement without any preamble or mindy's intro to it, I would tend to interpret it exactly the same way as I wrote it -- unless you are a professional horticulturist or botanist, I doubt you make the distinctions between the various levels of plant morphology and understand what the writer was trying to say. Us geeky types tend to get hung up on the semantics but I understand the point the writer was attempting to get across regardless of the exact terminology :-) Actually, I think flora summed up the entire discussion very nicely: After all we are all the same species, just different cultivars. If you think about it, each individual offers something unique but we all share the same basic needs.

Thanks Kvolk - i'm going to check out that St. Mary's Broom you mentioned. Anybody have suggestions (online) where they've bought from? Or good links to info/picture on it? I could probably post this or look at the conifer forum too, but thought i'd write it anyways. I have very clayish soil too....enough to have to have a septic mound system at least. If you have any pics of your own trees, I'd love to see. I was thinking of getting the triflorum, griseum and that mandshurican (sp?) next spring. Anybody have any favorite places (online) they get these from? Or have had best luck with? Our winters haven't been extremely cold here either...no -20s at least. I was going to put some chicken wire around some of the more zone 5 iffy JMs or ones that i know the rabbits and other animals can get to. I just don't know if i should put some shielding on the west and north sides of the chicken wire enclosure for the trees...to shield from winter winds?? Not sure if that's worth the trouble. My trees are all on the north and east side of my house too. Last year, I wrapped all the JMs in this wire and then wrapped that wire enclosure with some polystyrene flexible layer and left top open...lot of work. And then even the Coral Barks had major dieback - they had the black bark thing happening. So i cut them back to about 10 inches off ground and they came back really nicely, but now it's almost winter and i don't know if i want to baby the Sango kakus every winter and then see them die back 2 feet every year. (I had planted these sango kakus last October - late). Maybe they weren't established enough and that's the reason for dieback or maybe the enclosure i made just was too much...and then they got that dark br/black bark and dieback?? Not sure. I have a couple more JMs this year compared to last...got a little crazy this summer. But anyways, i really only want to put the chick wire fence around the JM's and not try to insulate or shield them...you think i can get away with that? One more question...does anybody know if there's a really big difference between the acer griseum cinnamon paperbark and the girard's hybrid...personal experience with that? I don't know which one to get. NEWgars - is your girard's hybrid and griseum planted in pretty protected locations? And anybody have pictures of their triflorum, griseum and mandshurican?

aw well when you put it that way, I feel like a neglectful parent! I am using some fertilizer, but it's a bloom booster, so it's high in phosphorus. I'll use some more general fertilizer. Thanks!

If you look at a sweet cherry pollination chart, the only reason it is so complicated is because different cherry varieties blossom at different times, and in the case of Bing, Lambert, and Royal Ann, these three particular varieties are too closely genetically related to each other to be capable of cross-pollinating. It is possible for sour cherries to pollinate sweet, BUT.... Does this mean a sour cherry tree will make a good pollinator for a sweet cherry?? (assuming they blossom at the same time) I mean, will genetic incompatibility lead to lower probability of fruit set? In certain fruits like pomegranates, it is possible for pollen of the same variety to pollinate the tree's blossoms, but the fruit set will be higher if the pollen comes from a different variety of pomegranate. According to one study, self-pollination resulted in 45% fruit set, while cross-pollination increased the yield to 68%. Could this phenomena also work in reverse? Could the fruit set (or chance of pollination) be lower if the pollen is too genetically dissimilar (from different species) ? This is all just complete speculation, I really do not know.