Which fall bloomer did you get? My "April Blush" must have at least 150+ buds, and they're getting fatter now, even with this cold spring weather. Last year at this time I had many blooms open, but it was a lot milder then. Good luck!

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I got Autumn Spirit. It said it bloomed early so I'm hoping it won't have the buds/blooms nipped by an early frost.

I'm heading back down to NC next month and will be stopping back in there. Your variety is 6B, so I'm not sure I should press my luck that much, but they do have a number of 6A choices. I'll probably look for a later bloomer to be on the safer side.

I forget if you've mentioned it before, do you do any special winter protection? Or have you sited it where it is just happy in general. Thanks

I don't use any winter protection. One of the parents of "Autumn Spirit" is C, oleifera, so it should have good cold resistance. My "Snow Flurry" has C. oleifera as a parent too, and it has never had any kind of dieback or damage at all, barely a leaf was touched in over 15 years in the ground. And that includes some long cold spells such as the three weeks in January 2004 when the temperature dipped to -6 here and at or slightly below zero several nights, nor did the daytime highs ever get above freezing. Nearly all those nights got to the single digits, at best. So that was quite a test for it.

As for protection for your area, protection from drying winds is important. And maybe protection from heavy snow loads. I would think that some temporary structure of wood to support some burlap would protect it. Planting it close to the south or southeast side of a building or wall, etc. could also be a good idea.

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