sun/shade? Street tree/perimiter tree/lawn specimen? How tall?

For a medium sized tree that can grow in sun or shade in reasonably good soil, I like Amelanchier x grandiflora selections. Small fruited crab apples are tough as nails if your site is harsher, though not particularly exciting. If you have room, how about a basswood? Most trees have some wildlife value (shelter and nesting sites, even if they have no berries).

terryr,
Is there a list of trees that the city is planning on reimbursing citizens for planting? Before you choose something from a nursery, check the list carefully. If you can get it post it here and we will all take a look at it and help you choose something from the city list.
It would be disappointing plant a tree that the city won't approve. Some of the trees that the city suggest might not actually be a good choice either. I know from experience. The city here planted some locust trees all along the easements between our lots and the streets. Sure it looks nice but the locust trees have a heavy crop of long brown pods about every other year, creating a huge mess in the streets, cars run over the pods and homeowners have to rake and clean them up. Bad choice for a street tree! Post that list, I'm interested in seeing what your town suggests. VAL

I'm sorry I should have explained my yard better. It's a small yard, 64 x137. Not much shade yet. The house sits pretty much in the middle, a little more to the front of the lot. 2 story home built in 1896. I'm on a corner lot, with overhead wires on the side street side. My street runs N/S, side street runs E/W. I'd be on the South West corner, so the front faces the east. For whatever reason, no one in all these years has planted much (of anything). Some of what was here, I've had removed. Mostly too close to the house and the wires. Arbor vitae was right in front of the porch. And big. Too overgrown evergreen shrubs, 6 barberries, and 2 cherries that were into the wires. I've also removed 2 cedars. One too close to the back deck, the other one about to go into the wires. I also removed a Quaking Aspen. Long story short, my old neighbor had one and it's suckering habit was something I didn't want. I left an Arbor vitae on the opposite side of the front porch, but far enough that it won't get into the wires. A crimson maple is out front and ash on the side. I've planted a serviceberry, nannyberry, black haw viburnam and an elderberry, although more is fine with me.

There is no list. The city wants to cut down on "weed trees" or junk trees as my friend put it. The only thing on the application is it's to be bought locally, this county, and that it be for zone 5. I want something for wildlife and I'd like it to be native. I did complain about having to buy from this county only, and was told maybe that thought should be rethunk. If I have a chance, I'll ask if they have anything in paticular they're wanting. I also can't buy/plant the tree, if I want reimbursed, until they o.k. it.

Terry

There are trees common to both our parts of the country, so you might want to try the search page I've put in the link section as a starting point. Choose your zone, US native and check the box for wildlife value. If you like, you can narrow down by tree size etc. The detail pages do give general native range, and this page will tell you its status for Illinois. The natives WON'T have an "*" or "+". I just took a quick look. Another wildlife gardener mentioned hackberry (Celtis occidentalis) as a good wildlife tree. I also see some serviceberries, hollies, maples and dogwoods listed there.

Virginia Tech Dendrology species of Illinois
http://www.cnr.vt.edu/dendro/dendrology/map/il.cfm

Here is a link that might be useful: UCONN Plant DB search page

I tried Dogwoods on the southwest side of my house in CT, and they couldn't take the direct sun.

All the trees I'd like to plant, are just too big for the area I want to put it at.

rudysmallfry, I had thought of dogwoods...darn...

apcohrs, what's a basswood?

Thanks for the suggestions...keep em coming!

Terry

IÂm just about stumped. I donÂt know what your soil is like, so I may be entirely off-base. Some of these have potential problems, so may not be worth your while. If not suitable, and nobody else on this forum can help maybe try the Tree forum or a local forum if there is one. (I really should be doing other things right now, but this is bugging me) . I must admit I donÂt think I have any of these. This would probably be much easier if the program allowed you to make use of large shrubs. It might be disappointing not to take advantage of a good deal like this, but long term buying something that fits your yard is really more important. Good luck.

Prunus virginiana
chokecherry  after reading some raves about this as a wildlife plant somewhere on GardenWeb IÂve been thinking of looking into this for my yard

Hamamelis virginiana
Common Witchhazel

Amelanchier
Serviceberry - might work, and at least some of the ones IÂve seen grown here are beautiful, but UCONN does mention some possible problems with them.

Asimina triloba
Common pawpaw

This one hasnÂt been easy for me to find locally here, so you may also have a problem
Carpinus Caroliana
American hornbeam. I really liked the look of this tree in the books. UCONN doesnÂt mention wildlife value but William CullinaÂs book mentions the nuts get eaten by mammals and birds, and the leaves are useful for white admiral, striped hair-streak and tiger swallowtail butterflies (not that I have any clue as to if those show up in Illinois).

This one I donÂt think has particular wildlife value, but it is so nice looking
Cercis Canadensis
Eastern Redbud - short-lived

loris, my soil is nice black dirt. No clay. Just good ole black dirt. I've got the serviceberry, and the same guy who's in charge of the program gave me a couple little volunteer redbuds. I've not heard of them being short-lived. I've also read about the chokecherry on here and looked it up. It says it suckers and by the sound of it, it suckers alot. I want to pack alot in this small yard, and I'm not sure I want something that will sucker that much. It sounds really nice though, huh? I'm going to do a search about the paw paw and the american hornbeam. I know I've looked into the witchhazel, and right now I can't remember why I thought it wasn't a good fit. I too wish a large shrub would work in the program...lol...maybe I need to be in charge of it?

Thanks for all your suggestions!

Terry

I love redbud. We have several and lots of babies. They are not towering trees. They have an arching unbrella like habit with large heart shape leaves and make a nice filtered shade. The flowers are lovely. I dont see them living extremely long like the major hardwoods, but they are much easier to remove, and replace also. They are not a major wildlife food source although rabbits and squirrels chew the bark in winter on my trees.

Hackberry is recomended as a good wildlife tree even attracting butterflies. See the third entry in Hortiscope

Here is a link that might be useful: Hortiscope Hackberry Q & A

A hackberry is nice but one of the butterfly's it attracts over winters in the leaves. Which means to get the most use of the tree some of the leaves should be either left at the base of the tree or carefully placed near the tree and left undisturbed for the winter. I am sorry I can't find my book on butterflys but it is named after the hackberry.

There are several types of basswood or linden trees that would be suitable with a range of leaf sizes. The flowers are very nice and are used in tea.

Empress butterfly? At the link provided by flowerkitty, there's a question in there about the leaves (being eaten) and the person answered by saying it was from the empress butterfly larvae. It sounds like an interesting tree, but I wonder if it's too big for my lot. I notice that it's related to the elm tree which my town used to be known for. All the elms are gone thanks to Dutch Elm Disease. I've read where that can bother this tree also? I know that alot of native trees are bothered by different things, but usually it doesn't affect the overall health of it, but this tree seems to be bothered by alot of things. Another thing mentioned was a borer.

If I've got any of my information wrong, please correct me!

I will do some search for basswood or linden trees.

Thanks,

Terry

This tree looks interesting...does anyone have one or know more about it?

Hophornbeam, Ironwood: Ostrya virginiana

Since most of spots in my garden that I want more trees in, don't have well-drained soil, I'd never paid attention to Ostrya virginiana. I took a look at William CullinaÂs book's entry for it. If you can deal its height of between 20-30' (he gives 50' as the high end of its height in the wild), maybe you've found your tree! The entry mentions that the seeds are good forage for over-wintering birds.

You'll probably want to look at the UCONN site for it if you haven't already, so you can see some pictures. Hope this ends up working for you.

I'd like to throw in a good word for pawpaws (Asimina sp.). These are really neat small trees/large shrubs. They can take nearly full shade to full sun in most areas. When mature, they produce very large fruit which is relished by raccoons, oppossums, and most humans who have tasted them. Asiminas are host plants for tiger swallowtail butterflies (I believe they only use pawpaws and one other plant, but I'm not 100% certain about that). The plant itself offers an interesting addition to a garden, because the flowers are oddly shaped and purple, and the leaves are elliptical, up to a foot long, and slightly drooping. Most species of pawpaws can grow either as a large sprawling shrub or as a more upright small tree; my understanding is that the growth habit depends on the amount of light it gets (more shade=more shrubby form, more sun=more tree-like). Most Asimina species can grow in a wide range of soil, light, and moisture conditions.

The drawbacks to it are that the flowers are reported to have a bad smell (none of mine have flowered yet, so I don't know how bad it is!) although I don't know how strong the smell is - I've read some reports that the smell will fill your yard, and other accountants say the smell isn't noticable until you get very close to the tree; it grows very slowly compared to most other trees, so you'll have to either be very patient or try to find specimens that are already 3+ feet tall (they're supposed to start flowering/fruiting when they hit approximately 5 feet tall, as a general rule of thumb); and you have to have two to produce fruit, because they can't self-pollinate. It also might be difficult to find them locally - I've only found them at nurseries specializing in fruiting plants or specializing in natives (and several of those don't even have them!) and on ebay.

I'm very tired and should probably be in bed already, so double check my facts to make sure I didn't get anything mixed up. But overall, I think pawpaws are a worthwhile tree to add to any eastern woodland garden (Asimina triloba is naturally found as far west as TX up to NE, and all the way east to the coast, and as far north as WI and MI, with most other species' range mostly restricted to the deep southeast). They make a great understory tree or a nice specimen in a backyard if you're looking for something relatively small and interesting as a focal point.

loris, I think this tree will work...if only I can get it in this county. I'm hoping the one place that I know that orders in trees specially for someone, will do this tree for me. I did a search on it...can't remember the website I was at...but it provided links to nursery in IL. I clicked on a few that are close to me (course none in "this" county!), and 1 place down in Peoria has it. But, that's not my county, AND the big thing is that if I remember correctly, the smallest tree was over 500 bucks! Not paying that for a tree....50/50 is up to $100.

Garden4wildlife, I hadn't thought of the pawpaws. I will do a search regarding them, but do I have to have 2 for it to fruit?

Thanks a bunch!

Terry

Yes, you do have to have two pawpaws to crosspollinate. If you have any woods near you, you might want to take a walk through there first and see if you can find any pawpaws there (they are native to your area, but I don't know how common they are there or if you have any natural woods left near you). If there are any nearby you, then that should suffice for crosspollination, although you wouldn't get as heavy of a crop as if the trees were planted in the same yard. The other option is, if you can find a really nice pawpaw in your county for which the city would pay half of, then you could get a second pawpaw on ebay for around $10-15 plus ~$5 shipping. I scan ebay regularly for native plants, and I occasionally see nearly blooming size pawpaws available for quite decent prices. Or if you don't mind waiting two or three years for fruit, there are almost always pawpaws available on ebay in the 1-3 foot range for around $5-7.50 plus ~$5 shipping.

I'm in town, so any wooded area would be a ways out...like 3 miles or so. My parents have 15 acres, 3 cleared. I know they have multiflora rose and I've just identified some sort of invasive shrub honeysuckle, I wonder if there's any pawpaws? Mmmmm...need to protect myself and go for a walk...And ebay has live plants? Really? Do they pack them good? I'm in shock...lol...ebay?

Unless your parents live close to you, having pawpaws on their land won't help you. They do not take kindly to being transplanted when they've been grown in the ground. For that reason, anytime you buy a pawpaw, make sure it was grown in a pot, not field grown. I've bought three pot grown pawpaws and they all did very well when I put them in the ground or moved them to bigger pots - no problem with transplanting them from pot to ground or pot to pot.

eBay has literally thousands of live plants and seeds always up for bidding. There are actually a large number of plant nurseries that run their businesses primarily or solely through ebay store fronts, plus thousands of individuals who occasionally sell their own plants. I've bought at least a couple of hundred plants through ebay, and I'd say somewhere around 90-95% of them have been good buys. Just make sure that before you bid, the auction you're looking at is being run by a seller with a very high positive feedback rating. If you're bidding on something being auctioned by a business/professional seller, then check to see if that person/business has a replacement policy (the good ones do). My biggest problem with ebay plants sales is that there are always people (and businesses!) selling horrible invasives like Jap. honeysuckle, Ch. and Jap. wisteria, privet, Eleagnus, water hyacinth, tree-of-heaven, etc. The sellers who REALLY tick me off are the ones who try to tout these invasives as something wonderful, mentioning nothing about their invasiveness or how hard they are to get rid of when they inevitably take over people's yards, and even worse, the sellers who make deceptive statements to make people think these things are a natural part of our ecosystems (such as one seller's statement in an auction for Japanese honeysuckle, "Propogated from only nursery-grown stock, to protect the environment"). Even though some sellers who are selling invasives might also be selling hard to find natives, I personally won't buy from people like that because I don't want to support what they're doing in any way. ebay policy says that nothing illegal can be sold through them, but I'm not sure if they consider federal and state noxious weed lists to contain "illegal" plants, and for the state noxious weed lists, if that only means those plants can't be sold to people in those states? I want to report some of these auctions so the auctions will be yanked and the sellers can't spread their invasives all around the country (more so than they've already been spread), but I don't know if I have any basis per ebay policy to do so.

garden4wildlife....first on the subject of ebay. I've not had good luck with buying from ebay, nor my sister or my father. Nothing my sister or I bought was the size stated it was. Think curtains, bedding...it's annoying when you have a 63" window and get a 82" curtain, when it was touted as a 63. My sister bid on a PB fur comforter. In Queen. She recieved a twin. My dad bid on a drywall lift. He never received it. The guy took his money, but he never got the lift. He contested it, got his money back and I believe the guy is now going by a different name. SO..ebay doesn't leave a very good taste in my mouth.
As for people selling invasive and exotic plants, they shouldn't be allowed to sell them, period. I wouldn't think it would hurt to notify the powers that be what these items are, even providing them with links to the lists. I was at a nursery yesterday. Imagine my surprise when I saw a Hall's honeysuckle. I was told and I read it, just recently and years ago, that that is illegal to sell in the state of IL. Hello?? I even told the lady (this was not done in a holier than thou way, it was just whispered over to her as there were other customers around) she was selling something that was illegal to sell in this state. How it's on the state's noxious and exotic weed list. She told me they were inspected 2x's a yr, how they have to put on the tag if it's invasive or exotic. So now I'm confused on how they are able to sell it. I provided, again yrs ago, a link to another nursery near me, that said it was illegal to sell the hall's honeysuckle in this state. They no longer sell it. I am going to find the link with that honeysuckle on it and email it to that nursery. She even said that it's only invasive if the one who plants it doesn't take care of it. As long as they take care of it, it won't go anywhere but their yard. sigh.

O.k. onto the pawpaws. The woods I was referring to were my parents woods. My trouble would be in identifying it properly to bring here. And it sounds like the pawpaw is like the ironwood I mentioned above. I've read where it does not transplant well, therefore this one nursery up by Chicago grows them in pots. I'm not sure if they had pawpaws there also, I was really excited to see the ironwood. However, the ironwood grows really slowly. So....I'm at a loss. I don't know if I can get any of this counties nurseries to bring in a tree just for me. I was told 1 would, but my gut tells me they probably wouldn't. I won't know unless I ask, so I need to get asking.

I'm going to go check out plants on ebay...

Terry

Terry,

Two things.

1. Once you find a plant you like can you have your local nursery order it for you. You stated must be sold by local nursery but do they have to grow it?

2. Depending on the state different plants are listed on that states invasive list, muscari in parts of Missouri was on the list at one time. The nursery may have an exemption if it sells out of state also. Yes, the nursery person seems to be less than direct, but is very realistic. Once the plant leaves the nursery that nursery has no control over the plant. Some plants are also sold by state conservation departments as desirable plants for one area but invasive in another.

maifleur, it's my hope that a local nursery will order it in. It must be bought locally (this county), but it doesn't have to be grown here. I'd be totally out of luck if that was the case. The nurseries in this county don't grow their own trees or shrubs. Perennials, yes, some. Some order plugs from else where. Most ship everything.

I talked to the guy who's running the program last week. He said they've talked of making a list, but haven't done it so far.

Anyone want to help me compile a list of what NOT to include? I think of bradford pears off the top of my head.

Terry

terry, i haven't looked up the name but ironwood refers to eastern hornbeam and also to hop hornbeam. hop hornbeam is very interesting in that the drooping pods look like hops. both are native trees and grow in our alkaline soil.

as far as small trees go, i personally am drooling for a native eastern burning bush. they have beautiful fall color, seed pods, and an "airiness." not sure on wildlife value. there are also native crabapples, plums, black cherry (large tree, TINY cherries)...

the "in the county" issue is certainly a problem. it is hard enough to find them as it is. too bad you couldn't plant and oak or hickory!

do NOT plant olive, white poplar, that is all i can think of right now.

Hey fairy toadmother :) the one I want is the hop hornbeam. It is the perfect size for my lot and where I want it. Are you talking about the strawberry bush? That's the common name, I believe it's something like euonymus americana? If you are talking about that one, I planted 3 of them this spring! I had one in TN...it was so cool...the fruit looks like strawberries, hence the common name. Black cherry (had 5 in TN)is too big for a city lot...I wondered about plum (had those in TN also!), and I had the native crabapple also. I can't remember the size of that one though. I have some sort of a nut tree out back at the border of our lot and the neighbors. I'm not sure who's tree it is. I need to ask and I need to find out what kind. And I agree, the "in county" thing is just stupid. Why not give 50% of a tree if bought in the county, but 25% if not? I've got to go get a permit tomorrow, from the guy who's running the program...think I'll ask him about that.

Terry

i believe it is Euonymus atropurpureus, otherwise known as an eastern wahoo (just love that name!) i have never heard strawberry bush!

i added the link to the americana. i just never knew! well, atropurpureus is a tree instead of a bush/shrub. at least, the ones i see here have a single trunk.

Here is a link that might be useful: bush

fairy, I have never heard of the eastern wahoo! And I agree with/about the name..."oh, that tree? Why it's a wahoo!"...lol...I've heard of the american one referred to as the strawberry bush and the hearts a bustin bush. I'm going to check out the eastern one...mmm...my list is growing!

Terry

yes! you have me considering the "strawberry bush" now, as well! it seems the seed pods are the "same" or close, but they just have a different growth habit.

fairy, are you seeing someone with one actually for sale? I found a website in MO, that gives you links to different nurseries in IL, MO, KS...none, it would appear, sell them! I want one! When I did a google search on a wahoo tree, it came up with all different names for the tree. It's also called a strawberry bush or hearts a bustin. That's weird...they are 2 different plants...hmmm....

We have a crimson maple out front. Not a really big tree, still what you'd call pretty small. It wasn't staked (which I've only done on 1 tree), but this thing is leaning, think \, that's how bad! It has the branches low going up the tree, then almost at the top, it's just bare wood. Then maybe half dozen leaves on the very top. The thing is certainly not what I would have planted...and my husband told me today if I want it out, then we'll take it out! Soooo, I'm thinking of planting either a Kentucky Coffeetree or a Tulip Poplar. Anybody got an opinion? If the maple comes out, I've got the room for something like either of those...granted it's not acres here, but I still think either would work. I'm so excited...lol...I get excited easy!

Terry

When I can't find a plant anywhere else, about 75% of the time I can find it at Forest Farm. They do have both Euonymus americanus and E. atropurpureus listed. Since I'm on the east coast shipping was fairly expensive for me, but by ordering tubes and a fair # of plants it worked out ok. I didn't check the shipping rates for your part of the country. This is not a native plant nursery and they sell things I suspect are invasive (cultivars of burning bush etc) but they do carry many hard to find natives. People on the forums like the quality of their plants. I was satisfied with the one time I ordered from them, but the shrubs are still only knee high after a couple of years which has DH very frustrated. I pay less attention to nurseries not in my part of the country so there may be a better alternative. I hear the same site that has Garden Watchdog now has a search for source function (but company's are paying to be listed there). You might have some luck there.

Terry, I think either of the large trees you're thinking of sound fine. I don't remember seeing Kentucky coffeetree, but I know I love poplar tulips--they're truly impressive looking trees. People at least around here are planting fewer and fewer large trees (include me in that group) due to lack of garden space so it's great you're doing so. We've thought of planting a poplar tulip ever since 2 beautiful ones in the neighborhood were taken down by a new owner. Still debating whether we think our property can support it gracefully.

Here is a link that might be useful: Forest Farm

If you don't like supporting companies that sell rampant invasives, don't buy from Forest Farm. I think they sell just about every kind of invasive tree, shrub, and vine that plagues the USA plus a lot of herbaceous invasives, too. You name a horrible non-aquatic invasive, they sell it - Ailanthus, porcelain vine, bamboos, mimosa, barberry, exotic honeysuckles, Eleagnus, English ivy, privet, loosestrife (incl. purple), wisterias, and many, many, many others. They have no scruples.

If you want to support a natives nursery, I'm including a link to one called Possibility Place that sells Kentucky Coffee Tree. I've never used them before (but I'm thinking about it - they've got a lot of things I want) so I can't tell you anything about them from first hand experience; however, you can check on Garden Watchdog or ask on this forum or the natives forum if anybody's had experience with them. This nursery also sells Wahoo, under their shrub section. They've got a very nice selection of hard to find natives.

Here is a link that might be useful: Kentucky Coffee Tree

loris and garden4wildlife, I've bought alot of things from Forest farm. I've always been satistified with my plants. I guess I didn't pay that much attention to what all they sell. I've always looked for the native stuff or viburnams. I can't remember now how I stumbled upon Possibility Place, but I do have it bookmarked. It's pretty far from me, I can't tell from the directions, but it looks like north of Chicago. Would be a nice drive...I don't like how they sell items. Meaning, you order in the spring and pick it up (I was not aware they did mailorder?). It's not your typical nursery, where you can go and look, pick out what you like the best (which plant looks the best) and go from there. There's another nursery, the kind where you look around and pick out what you like, that's in St. Charles. Again, the Chicago area, but I like the set-up better. I realize you can't do that with forest farm, but I've always been happy with what they sent me. G4W, you do make a very valid point of them selling exotics and invasives. I'm thinking in my head, not really trying to excuse them, but do you think they sell the invasive stuff because it's not invasive in some areas? Pipe dream? I like to give people the benefit of the doubt....:)
I've seen nurseries around here that sell barberry, porcelian vine, hall's honeysuckle (and lots of other jap honeysuckles), english ivy...you get the picture. Somebody sold privet and purple loosestrife, because I've got them here! Loosestrife is coming out....I've got monarchs and some other butterfly/moths that are attracted to it...if I pull it up now, I won't have them...I know, I know....pretty stupid of me. The yard here was not taken care of at all, and if this thing reseeded, I'd have them all over. I was told it was sterile. Yes? Gosh I hope so....it's hard starting over and not having flowers or shrubs big enough to bring in any wildlife...do I make sense? The privets also will come out when the other stuff gets bigger...or should I do it now? Again thinking in my head...I'd love them gone now and the 4 we took out were really easy to pull/dig up. Same with the spireas....I want them gone soon..I've got 2 vib. ready to plant. What kills me is I can't find the "weed" plants...sneezeweed, butterfly weed, ironweed, the straight joe pye weed...I bought a joe pye, even though he's not the "wild" one. Maybe he'll revert like the chocolate one I had years ago did?.....

I'm getting a personal tour of a greenhouse and the main headquarters building in a couple weeks (burbs of Chicago). I'm going to ask opinons on coffeetree or tulip tree....I've been wanting both....had tulip tree in TN, planned on getting coffeetree....boy I ramble....lol...not feeling good today....:)

terry, so i haven't gotten back here! and worse, i can no longer remember if i saw them for sale or just info. i think i saw them for sale when i did the web search. i did find more strawberry bush than wahoo (still love that name!).

ok, so far, i found strawberry bush (what you have) for sale in sunlight gardens. the wahoo must have been the info. i have a friend of mine who rooted a cutting of the wahoo. not sure how long it is before you can plant it. i don't think i hve seen it offered anywhere which drives me crazy b/c i have wanted one too!

maybe your nursery will be willing to order it. then, you could go 50/50. is it too late?

Here is a link that might be useful: wholesale

No, not too late! AND the way I understand it, they will do it every year. So, I can plant something this year and then again next year and so on and so on. I'll follow your link tomorrow...still not feeling right :(

Oh, I ordered my strawberry bush from Forest farm. I ordered 2 tubes, they sent 3. I'm not sure if I'd order tubes from them again...not sure I'll order from them anyway...but the tubes were so small. I got them and planted them, this last spring, and they have finally started some new growth. I'm going to be really bummed if they don't make it thru the winter. If you can overwinter your cutting inside, I think based on these that I have, I'd do that. While living in TN, I ordered a few things from Sunlight. Be warned that when they say stuff is in a quart, they mean a quart. I'm wanting to get the Ilex glabra 'Nigra'. But I ordered that and had it planted down in TN and man, that thing was little! I need something a little bigger...to help me hide Main St. I cut down a cedar tree that was growing into the electric, and I thought that would look good there. Course I also want Sparkleberry and...lol...

Terry

Well fairy, the only problem seems to be they have a minimin limit. On one site, I couldn't find it listed and the other one you had to order...I think 50 of them. I looked at the 2 from TN. I did notice on the first one, I clicked on natives and in with what they say is native is a chinese elm. Not native. Well, to China it is! So darn it, I'm back to not knowing if I can get someone to order just 1 in, just for me, or not. The guy running the program seemed to think they could, but now I wonder.....I need to check around here and me do the actual talking.

I didn't go back and read thru all the posts to see if I've said this or not....Last week (?) I talked to Pete to tell him what "I" think they should do. 50% if bought in this county, 25% if bought outside the county. He said he'd think about it. Gosh it would be so much easier if I didn't have to buy the dang thing in this county! I could of couse, just go with a bradford pear...lol....those are in abundance!

Terry

sorry to hear you weren't feeling well! "our" interests are certainly frustrating. no matter what i am looking for, iseem to be in the minority of supply and demand.

i was wondering on minimum orders. i do think it is great that tney will do that every year. gives you 12 more months to talk them into it (supplying natives), then by time you turn 70 you can get one :)

thanks for the warnings on sizes! i tend to do the majority of mine mailorder. i just can't see spending $50 on a 2 foot tall holly from the nursery. so, of course, when i planted my hydrangea (ahhh, did it again!) my neighbor says, "where did you find one so small? i ahve never seen them so small." yes, well, i would like them bigger and i have little patience waiting for growth especially when it is for curb appeal, BUT they shock less and i usually don't find what i want locally. now, if i am looking for something in particular, you can be sure the only thing i will find is irritation and loss of tire tread!

lol...12 more months and I'll be 70? Maybe by the time I'm 70, there will be no more non-natives...lol...like that's gonna happen. fairy, if you don't mind telling me, where are you in ncentral IL? I'll tell you if you tell me....ah, heck, I'll tell. I'm in Princeton. Hour north of Peoria. Hour east of Moline, right off I-80. I agree, smaller plants do seem to shock less. But the wait...I will be 70 by the time anything grows! Your neighbor sounds like one of my old neighbors...I planted a weeping beech tree. The thing only had branches out the front and sides. Nothing in the back. So, I planted it with the front facing east. That way, the sun would "force" the branches out the back. My thinking anyway...lol...anyway, she comes out shortly after planting and says..."That is THE ugliest tree I've EVER seen!". I WANTED to say, yea, and who asked you? But instead..I told her what I thought it would do. She just hmphed and went on her way. Well guess what? That tree is gorgeous now. It did exactly what I said it would do. Ya know something else? I had planted some shrubs, mostly viburnams..lol.., and those things just weren't growing. Then we move. I come back to visit my old neighbor (not the one mentioned above!) the next year and the things had tripled in size. I kid you not. They're huge now! All the stuff in my old yard is huge. Course so are the weeds...they don't know what's a weed and what's a plant :( At least they kept it all!

Typically I love being in the minority...keeps all those "other" people on their toes...but in finding natives...I couldn't agree more with the "irritation and loss of tire tread"!

I ordered bareroot natives from Musser's. Those all did fine. It's like they had more roots or something. But from Forestfarm...when I took their wrapper off, all the soil fell away and there was hardly any root. AND, if you get something, and it doesn't appear to be alive, call them. I ordered an American Smoketree (wish I had room here!) and the thing was obviously dead. They told me to give it 2 more weeks for it to break dormacy. I waited 1 1/2 weeks, that was long enough to know the thing was not alive. They sent me out a replacement, no charge. Customer service is always good...I've emailed them about natives and the owner is who emailed me back. And when I called about the dead smoketree, it was the owner who called me back. So that was impressive...not sure about all the invasives they sell though...I'm still thinking on that one....