Tom, I'm very glad to hear about your larch. Congratulations!! It can be quite a waiting game this year, to see how things come out. This spring, I read quite a bit on the conifer forum and enjoyed following some of your comments/posts, especially, as I am in NE Wisconsin (Menasha).
May I ask how you use your trees...are you planting for re-foresting, retail, both?
BTW, my mature Norways are starting to candle in the last few days, they look pretty normal as far as I can tell. These past few days, plus this next week should provide the warmth you're requiring...

Is "blasted" a scientific conifer term that I should learn? I don't quite know what that might mean...

Japanese larch here (getting close to 30' tall) is about as lush green as a tree can get. My hybrid larch has been suffering from some ailment for yrs, but greened up as well as it typically does.

As cold as this past winter/spring has been, I escaped the usual May frost! Go figure. The cold seems to have reduced the usual leaf-eater population & foliage on all my trees is in uncommonly good shape. Even Amer sycamore is free from anthracnose.

Nice on those sycamores! A rare event it is to not have all the big blighters dropping off right after forming. Mary, I use 'blasted' in this context to refer to buds/growing tips-of any plant-which appear to have been dessicated and damaged by cold and dry wind. It is a serious degree of damage, such that viability seems unlikely. I'd honestly have to look it up now to see if it is a real term!

+oM

Thank you Tom, I see what you mean with "blasted" now.

Speaking of Amer. sycamores...

The American sycamores right here in the Baltimore Washington area have a typical to high degree of anthracnose. Probably due to the flooding rains in late April that lasted three days.

However, on our drive to Ohio this past weekend, it appears that the sycamores from around Hagerstown all the way to Akron, OH have little to no visible anthracnose.

Yeah, a single cold, wet event over a few days can get the fungus growing. It's certainly here in west MD -- just didn't get the right conditions to get established.

The spring/early summer of 2003 was extremely & persistently wet. I was hiking on Tuscarora Mnt in south PA and every plant (tree, weed, shrub) had severe anthracnose -- even evergreen mountain laurel. Never seen anything like it before or since.