If I had a bigger property a lot of things would be on my wish list. I have no more room :(

I have wanted to try a korean maple or one of the hybrids. I can squeeze one in.. maybe.

I'm trying something different this year.

Instead of trying to order plants and get the timing of delivery correct (which is especially difficult in my colder zone), I ran around this Fall and collected all the things I know for sure I will be planting and put them into my cold frame for the winter. Now when MY spring arrives, everything will be at my beck and call. :)

Not saying that I won't have some last minute ideas but we'll worry about that later. haha

I'm pretty much done with planting large trees too because I'm running out of room but have been working on shrubs and smaller trees the last year or so.

Here's what's I have the works for next spring:

Cornus alternaifolia (pagoda dogwood).

Acer pseudosieboldianum (korean maple)

Ilex verticillata (winterberry holly) (replacements for some that didn't perform last year).

Juniperus horizontalis (from cuttings).

Pinus banksiana (some dwarfs I started from seed).

I'm also overwintering some maples, taxus and spruce but if nothing of mine dies I'll be gifting them to others for their yards.

10-22-21:

Yesterday: 11-17-21

:-)

I have no real plan to add anything more than a few fillers. Have very little inground space left and already too many containers. But no doubt something new and exciting will jump out at me when I visit my favorite local nursery. It's big and they carry great stuff (that I don't need but often can't resist :-)). And often in small sizes, which I prefer since most tree and shrubs would end up in a container anyway so I like to start small.

I have a dwarf European hornbeam that grew bigger and faster than expected so will transfer from its current container into the ground sometime soon. That will free up a container for something new!! What that might be remains to be seen.........

The Proven Winners website has (or used to have) an option where you order on-line and pick up at a local nursery. I assumed the nursery got some benefit.

I also have Swida (Cornus) alternatifolia on my list. I intend to buy from Fedco, a Maine-based catalog supplier.

Try Googling the plants you want and the state/area you live in.

Every year I tell myself to "simmer down" but I probably will this year. For one thing, Joy Creek was my mainstay for "old fashioned but classic" perennials and rareish shrubs - such reasonable prices for well grown plants - and they are closed. Last order is in transit. I need to switch my garden time into more of a focus on making it an aesthetically successful 'garden space' and away from a 'plant collecting madman's space' phase LOL. That being said, I'm sure I'll order something next spring. I will always have my list of 'drop dead rare' plants, that I would order if they ever became available, at any price. Some of them are 'top secret' but one I can reveal is Bretschneidera sinensis, which, if it proved hardy here which is probably doubtful, I think would be the most spectacular flowering tree that could be grown in my garden. Alas, that chances of it becoming commercially available anytime soon is vanishingly low. It's been almost 2 years now since I asked the 'plant hunter' who works for Sheffield Seeds to try to get seeds, and so far, no luck.

I'm also slightly altering my philosophy of how I select and source rare plants. Bless Far Reaches' heart, but I've learned to be really careful with their offerings. The plants are grown well but it's just, I am learning I need to be careful about being seduced by some rare whatevers from mild climate parts of the world. A lot of them just peter out, like a blue Corydalis I tried. Take this plant for example: https://nurcar.com/products/copy-of-lysimachia-paridiformis-var-stenophylla-hinkley-form If I had seen it at Far Reaches website, and reading that it came from the SW China/NE India highlands, it's the type thing I would now assume "nope, not gonna like the east coast unless otherwise proven". But now that Nurcar says it grow in steamy Augusta, SC, I am willing to try it and have ordered one. I guess what I'm saying is never mind the actual monetary expense of rare plants dying - I probably don't care about that so much...plants are cheap compared to a lot of other things you can waste your money on*, in my very humble opinion anyhow - but I am getting tired of _time_ wasted on plants that die! The thing about plants like that is some can adopt to east coast summers, some cannot...I guess I'm now just willing to let other people do the work of figuring that out!

* a few years ago a friend of mine got divorced after, among other things, finding out her ex was squandering their nest egg on rare wines, whiskies and liquors. At least a rare plant, if handled successfully, lasts forever! He could keep the purchases hidden because there were never many in the house at once - he drank them and slipped the bottles out in the recycling LOL.

Like others in this thread, I am running out of yard space. I didn't want a giant yard because of the maintenance and I didn't want to live that far out of a city area, but this also crushed any dream of having my own little arboretum.

But I am currently trying to figure out how I can squeeze in a True North Kentucky Coffee or a Firespire American hornbeam. And if Bill is successful that far north with a Korean maple I might just have to make room for an Arctic Jade or North Wind.

Of course, if my wife has it her way, she'll rototill 80% of our lawn and start planting perennials and dwarf tree and shrub varieties everywhere. Then there would be no more trees planted. Ever.

If you don't mind starting out small, this family nursery in South Carolina has a few Franklinia still for sale. I currently have one in my front yard and got another one for the back yard. Finding anything but the seeds is like trying to find hens teeth.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1168718317/franklinia-altamaha-trees?gpla=1&gao=1&;

Bill - Yeah, it sure felt like spring was never going to come. I know there have been other years where bud break was late, but this one seemed to be the latest I can remember. I'm very curious to see how your maples do.

I did get the Firespire I wanted. Felt good about it too, as I planted it nice and early. Plenty of time to get some roots down before the heat of summer. And then we had those heavy thunderstorms during the first week after planting. 4" of rain total. The creek in my backyard turned into a river you could drive a small boat down. Had another 1" of rain Memorial Day weekend. Over 4 or 5 weeks since planting and my tree doesn't have leaves yet. Buds have pushed but nothing more. I finally did some investigating and found that the dirt the tree is planted in has probably been soggy, mucky clay since those heavy rains. And I only dug a hole just big enough to fit its bare roots in. No heat in May, no drying out. Needless to say, I'm very disappointed. Getting trees established in heavy clay can be such a challenge at times. I think tomorrow I'm going to dig the tree up and throw it into a pot in hopes of salvaging it.

I hope it goes well for you.

In my area, we're always 2 weeks away from drought conditions and have had no meaningful amount of rain for over a month. Then we got a tenth of an inch yesterday morning and another 2 tenths this AM with more forecast later this afternoon.

Talk about late bud break, I thought my Celtis occidentalis was dead from over winter but broke bud about a week ago after everything else was leafed out and is now looking good. Very odd.

Now if the bugs don't eat these maples before they start growing, we'll be good! ;-)

Nice Bill, I am thoroughly jealous

Thanks Lane.

Give it a couple of our less than accommodating winters and we'll see then if you have anything to be jealous about. ;-)

The history: I bought the A. pseudosieboldianums for $5 a pop when I was in the neighborhood of reeseville ridge nursery in Wisconsin back in Oct. 1 2021. They are strictly mail order seedlings but are such nice folks they let me explore part of their facilities and pick out a few things (Saved on shipping that way too). So even though failure is not an option for me, it is still a possibility (haha). But at least it won't break the bank if they do.

On the bright side, the maples have already shown zone hardiness in the way they started growing, then froze off and then began growing again. But other determining factors may come into play, like they may be too delicate for the strong NW winds we occasionally get, idk. Also they like a moist location which I don't have so I'll need to be vigilant with irrigation to keep it to their liking. Soil with high organic matter content is another recommended variable so after planting I applied a layer of composted manure on top of the soil, then covered the 3 ft. dia. ring where I loosened the soil, with wood mulch.

April 11th when I removed them from the cold frame (over 2" new growth on the smaller one):

Same day picture right after planting: After a long cold spell it warmed a few days earlier, just enough to dig about 4" before hitting partially frozen ground. Used an axe to finish digging the holes. Temps then went back into the 20'sf for lows and 30's for highs the next two weeks. Leaving soon and being gone until May, this was my only option.

5-24-22 Ended up putting on a wind screen to help dampen the 50mph gusty NW winds we had for 3 days straight (used bird netting on top for a different reason). It never did freeze in May but it came close. I covered both leafed out maples with foam containers JIC so they wouldn't have to possibly start over again.