I have one which has done pretty well despite complete neglect. Only had it for about 1 1/2 years, it's grown just a few inches. It's in a part shade area between houses. Looks cool in the winter and grows catkins in the fall - it actually looks worst in the summer because the leaves are all curled up too and look sort of diseased. But the home depot near us has them for $30 right now which might make it worth a try. There's a big one at the Denver botanic gardens which is probably 10x10 but who knows how old it is.

Thanks for your input mutajen. My husband did see those at Home Depot, which is what got him wanting one again. My daughter calls it a Dr. Seuss bush. They are very cool looking!

I guess I'll give it a try. I do want to plant it somewhere that will give me a view of it from inside the house during the winter. I think the bare branches are also the most interesting.

Connie

I was intrigued, so did a search for this plant - very unique! Here's a pic, in case others reading the thread are interested:

Here's a site that gives some good info on growing it:

Harry Lauder's Walking Stick Pruning, Propagating, General Care

I may look for this one at Home Depot as well - a great specimen plant!

Marj

We have two of these, one is going into it's 5th year the other is in its third year in our garden..Both are doing well.The older plant seems to be a slower grower on it's own root ,more of a twisted shorter mass whereas the other is grafted seems to be a bit more aggressive in it's growth and more upright.
The winter interest is very cool.Ours gets noticed quite alot by when we have garden tours going..

I haven't been able to get this plant out of my mind since this post! I went to the HD near me, and they didn't have any left. But called another in my area, and they do have some, but were out of the $20 size. I'm tempted to get the next size up ($30), but if anyone knows for sure where I can find the smaller size in the Westminster/Broomfield/Boulder area please let me know!

I'm also contacting city of Westminster to see if this plant qualifies for their rebate program - if so, I could get the really large size and my out of pocket would still only be about $30!

BTW, O'Tooles has some, but they are asking $130 for a much smaller size than HD's, and HD's most expensive price is $90! I know, you want to trust the quality of a garden center more than a big box store, but that's a big difference in price!!

Marj

Well, City of Westminster says the rebate program is only for tress and Harry Lauder is technically a bush. Darn!

So I'll keep a look out for the $20 range, then.

I found one :^) I searched on craigslist, on a whim, and was happy to discover someone had a few small ones for sale. Just picked one up tonight for $10 - it's in a 1 gallon pot and is about 18" tall (from top of soil to top of plant). Here's a pic:

If anyone else is interested in getting one, I can send you his phone number and/or email address (I asked him if he'd mind if I passed his info along to this group, and he said that would be great). I also have some more pics he sent me I can send you as well. But here's is a link to his craigslist ad: http://denver.craigslist.org/grd/2929658447.html You can email him through the ad as well.

He said he bought about 50 of them a couple of years ago, when they were only cuttings about 3" high. He potted them up and has been caring for them since. He has about 8 of them left. They looked in good shape!

I'm going to put this in a pot and see how it does on my front porch. It may get too much afternoon sun there, though, and this gentleman said they seem to prefer shade late in the day. So we'll see. I hope it does well there as I thought it would make an interesting sculptural specimen plant there. I saw some great ones in google images that were kept small - try a image search for 'harry lauder walking stick bonsai' and you'll see!

It'll be fun to see how my little HLWS does :^D