All I did was take the saw out!

I did that too. Must be my technique, which includes considerable swearing.
😉

All I did was take the saw out!

I did that too. Must be my technique, which includes considerable swearing.
😉

The only thing I left out was that my palms told
me they were in trouble! 🙁

Thanks Paul, I will take your advice and try a sabal minor, wish him luck. 🙂

Yes, try Sabal minor!
If you don't mind doing a mail order for a small one, Stokes Tropicals has a 75% off all plants sale right now Their website still says 65% off, but on Facebook they promise 75% off all plants, for everybody. That puts S. minor at US$5 + s&h right now.
At that price, it wouldn't hurt to try a few. --Erik

THanks for the post paul. Your information will make things alot easier for me, and other people in similar climates.

Those Rhodos form NS are pimp. Almost a perfect climate for them am i right?

As ive said before, theres a difference between being negative, and realistic and trying to help. ID say your more realistic and helpful then anything.

Hey jim.... in that pic of the trunk cut Trachy, is that the double sunset serenade Morning glories? Mine were still flowering after a frost.

Jesse- I hope my reply to your Aucuba post was OK.

In NS Rhodies grow like weeds. Just stick them in the ground and they'll sky-rocket. I do have some pics of some large leaved Himalayan species growing in the zone 7 reaches of the Southwest of the province. They are very impressive. The ones at the Public gardens in Halifax are giant. I believe they are now well over 100 years old.

One you might consider is Rhododendron maximum. It is native into New York state (and New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine), can grow to over 20' (I think there are some in the Southern Appalachians that are closer to 40') and can take cold (reportedly) into the -30's C. I can vouch for -28C personally. I have to think that northern selections could take spells around -40.

I have a small azalea " lolipop". Labeled exubury ( spelling?). Looked it up, hardy to zone 5. Like you and your rhodies, i just planted my azalea, which now has some yellowing leaves. Needs some blood/bonemeal in the spring and it should flower. I was thinking of getting a rhodie. There were a few that were 5 bucks at the end of the season ( reg 12 or 15 cant remember). My grandma has one, bout 4 feet tall, looked really really healthy last time i seen it. Been threre for 10 years. Then again, shes has a small almond shrub ( seems to be perennial here) for the last 5.

Glad your Azalea has budded. The leaves should fall (they're deciduous) and some do, in fact, have good fall colour. I think the ones that I have, mostly northern lights, have reddish fall colour. Ive never tired an 'Exbury' Azalea, but they are listed as hardy to -25f (~-32C). I never know if the low rating is for flowering the following spring, or stem die back. I must admit that I am looking forward to a splendid flowering next spring in my neck of the woods, every one of my Rhodies and Azaleas has budded really well. I hope for a mild winter so they actually do flower in the spring!

Do you know the selection that your Grandma grows? Some of those Finnish plants are exceptionally hardy (they struggle here due to the summer heat, but, I have some plants with the same parentage that have been selected for performance in So. Ontario). An interesting note is that the species present as a parent in all of those Finnish plants (brachycarpum var. tigerstedtii, I think I mentioned before that it is the hardiest elepidote Rhody) is a splendid plant in itself, but nearly impossible to find!

Here's what it looks like in winter (or anytime it's below about 0C):
<img src=" " alt="047">
and here's what it looks like in early April of the same year!
<img src=" " alt="DSC02474">

She wont know. Shes forgotten all her rose names as well ( shes on the ball trust me, shes got alot of stuff is all), althoigh i could ask her. IT looks like a bonsai specimin ( i know she doesnt bonsai). Mine flowered within a month of being planted ( theres pic on my " pushing the limits of cold hardiness" thread. Im going to have to plant something thatll shade it. Im going to bury it in leaves this winter at least. ITs in a warm corner ( the same spot my passiflora and cyperus survived the frost). Ive done everything wrong, and it still flowered and grew decent. Next year it should put in a good show. Im assuming they flower a bit later in the year here? I know GM rhodie has flowered each year here...........

THe one thing im really hoping to survive well is my Hibiscus "luna red".....