As a Poinsettia grower, I thought I would do some experimenting with Poinsettias and bonsai. Some varieties do better than others. I usually start with a 4" starter plant from the greenhouse. I will usually grab a small stunted one that will not sell at retail. First off, I have failed at this more than I have succeeded. Secondly, until very hardy and three to four years old, they will not take a wiring, they simply break. With Poinsettias there are a few critical factors. One, a PH between 5.8 and 6.2 is near critical. An EC of below 2.0 is also critical as Poinsettia roots are very succeptible to salt burn. They are also very heavy feeders making this a particularily tricky proposition. They require a very large amount of natural light to vegitatively grow. They initiate flowering when days are shorter than twelve hours, and yes the light of a room will inhibit this. It takes a few years to develop a woody stem along with reducing the size of the leaves so the tree doesn't look overly top heavy. Once woody and established though, they are very hardy. As for potting soil, I use a peat and bark mix with natural limestone mixed in. A drip tray with river rock underneath to prevent drying out and burning of roots. They require water daily in such a small pot. Once Flowering it is critical to keep moisture off of foliage as it wll cause bortrytis. Points can go downhill in a hurry and are susceptible to root rots, phytopthera and bortrytis. Points are naturally a tree that grows very tall, nocha buenas in many parts of the world are very tall. Heavy humidity during vegetative growth and dry conditions after flower initiation. They are a desert plant. I know my writing has little continuity, but I hope this helps, I continue to try this year after year.

I bought a 3 gallon Mexican Sugar Maple at Countryside Nursery here in Austin last fall. It wasn't cheap for the size-$35, but I read promising things about it online and figured I'd take the chance. While a bit gangly looking, the things grown about 3' so far this year. That's with no special care. Water when dry and that's about it. We'll see how it does once we get into the worst of summer. So far I'm pretty impressed though. FYI, for the Austin folks, Countryside did have a good number of these in stock. They only have three gallon though. I also saw some at the Natural Gardener as big as 5 gallon, but the ones at Countryside had better form.

I'm with ya though. You commonly as people do refer to Juniperus virginiana as a cedar when in fact it is a Juniper that was commonly thought of as a cedar by early Americans because of it's aromatic wood. That Cedar reference should be stricken... however it's tough when nurseries also refer to them as cedars. You do list however 'Skyrocket' which is not species virginiana but it is a Juniper... it's actually of species scopulorum. Any of the scopulorums, omit them. They are disease magnets in humid climates. Then again you may live at a higher altitude. You probably do or you just made a simple error adding 'Skyrocket' to your list. The other cultivars you added, if virginiana I may have heard of 'Pyramidalis' otherwise, I don't know anything about the rest of those, and I am pretty aware of cultivars. I can tell you that a blue form called 'Taylor' is resistant. It was developed by the university of Kansas I believe.... 'Caneaertii' is very desirable. There's a photo on the American Conifer Society website 'Conifer Database'. 'Blue Arrow' is another that's very disease resistant and can be purchased through Monrovia as I recall. It's known in form as a hardy version of what an Italian Cypress looks like. I don't know much more about this. Grafting though, I can help you with. Generally speaking we don't graft conifers in the field except some people on the west coast, but I only say that because they have the ability weather-wise to be able to. However, the conifer grafters use hoophouses and greenhouses, heated. You need a chamber with near 100% humidity, can be a shelf structure covered and wrapped in "lightweight clear poly only" within a heated greenhouse I'll emphasize again with temps in the greenhouse between 50 and 70 degrees F. 60 being perfect. Your grafts are done on pushing bud break rootstocks only and your scions must be 100% dormant, so that means you must warm up the rootstocks for about three to five weeks until you see either white roots growing out of the bottoms of the pots or if the buds are swelling and breaking. The buds must be breaking. It is safe to graft all your scions and rootstocks when 2/3 of the understocks in a "block" are either pushing or showing white root growth. Usually pencil thick seedlings are used as rootstocks but if you know how to graft large scions to large rootstocks, then of course it does not matter. I've bought some conifer whips that were pretty big grafts but I have no experience working with wood of these calipers. The graft should be rubber banded but MI>ultimately sealed with paraphin grafting tape. The grafts are sealed into your shelves, with the clear lightweight poly using furring strips and are initially watered but the furring strip(s) is/are left in place (using screws) until you see signs of scions pushing bud break (commonly called "pushing.") This should take approximately 5-6 weeks. Once a majority are pushing, then remove the furring strips while still allowing the lightweight poly to rest and cover the entire structure to continue helping with maintaining humidity. 90-100% humidity is your range. Acutally 95% and up is what you really are trying to achieve. Never allow the plants to reach past 85-90 degrees F or they'll cook...for an extended period of time... however it does happen that some sunny days may bring temps into the 80's in a fairly large greenhouse and that is fine/OK. Just be aware. Seedlings/Understocks are purchased now and are sent to you for spring delivery where you will pot them up into 5" tree band containters or 12-16 oz. styrofoam cups, etc- although I do realize you'll be using seedlings right from the wild. All grafters find their way that works. This is pretty good information I'm typing here. It should help you immensely. Remember it's controlling three things no matter how you achieve them: Temperature Humidity Sunlight (the more the better without making things too hot). When Spruce push, they need more light than any other conifer so put them in the best place you have for available light... say for instance at the front of your shelves. As to your "pines" you mention above. Pinus virginaina. That's "scrub pine" and is a "hard pine". Pinus koraiensis is a "soft pine" such as a similar other commonly known soft pine because the needles are soft and also because the needles are in pairs of five. Anything with pairs of five needles can be grafted to one another (remember to try to match vigor as well) and anything that is a hard pine which has needles in bundles/groupings of two are graftable onto one another. All spruce are compatible. Same with Abies, same with Larch, etc- All Junipers are compatible. Most do root from cuttings however, virginiana must be grafted. You might get 1 in 1000 to root. They just don't root. Are you in the mountains or the lower valleys with heat and humidity? Dax

Lou, You have more info on growing cuttings than I had at the time. I just read an article then did it. I took the cuttings from side limbs. May be interesting to check with those who I gave cuttings to. I know Carrie's did appear to be quite 'weeping', but that may be what you describe above. What I did: Took 6 in. to 8 in. cuttings from actively growing limbs (5' tree - side limbs) Trimmed needles and leaves up 4 in. from cut with sharp knife Made a hole in potting soil (4 inch pot) with pencil wide enough to insert cutting Dipped bottom 4 inches in rooting hormone Slipped cutting into hole and gently pressed soil down around cutting Dampened soil - not soaked Placed cuttings in 1 gallon ziplock bags and zipped them shut (that procedure may be up for debate) Kept them moist. Kept them in a spot with bright indirect sunlight - inside the house (took cuttings July 5, 2006 - DW was REAL happy with me for that one ; - ) Opened the bag every 2-3 weeks Rooted well in about 45 - 60 days I since have used an old aquarium with cling wrap over the top as a 'nursery'. I think humidity in the nursery is key. I KNOW there are much better ways, but I just used what I had - not too scientific. Carrie might be able to give us a report on that cutting I gave her.................... oh, Carrieeeeeeeeee??? J.D.