Greer Gardens and Gossler Farms Nursery both carry this in the 5 gal size, but they are asking $150 for the plant, plus shipping. (not sure, but that size would most likely fall into the 'special shipping arrangements'). I wonder if it would be better to do some phone shopping and see if one of the nurseries within driving range that specialize in unusual or hard to find plants would carry a smaller aralia, or you might even find a more reasonable cost by asking one of them to special order it for you...

I will guess either Diddler http://www.snowpeakiris.com/newweb/images/iris/diddler08.jpg or Dream Lord http://www.snowpeakiris.com/newweb/images/iris/dreamlord08a.jpg I just discovered the Snowpeak site. You can scan alot of thumbnails quickly. Here is a link that might be useful: Snowpeak Thumbnails

I wouldn't even call most of it average. We bought a kitchen/dining set from them. While it is heavy, that's about all you can say for it. The finish scratches when you dust. The black paint has a weird haze on it and you can see Chinese red bleed through on the pedestal. One little knick and a whole chunk of wood came out on the side. People used to spend more of their budget on good furniture. Now, with all the 'service' spending (cable, internet, cell phone, etc), there's not as much money left to throw around. It's going to get worse. Shipping is going to go through the roof so those great Chinese "bargains" are going to get pricey, also. Believe it or not, I'm not trying to attack another nation or trying to wave the flag here, it's just that most of what's coming over, isn't too hot. That includes most of the middle/high end retailers, too.

Probably an R. ponticum hybrid, maybe R. x superponticum*. Almost certainly got there as root stock for another rhododendron that has since died. This could explain why the existing top is tiny for its age, with perhaps there even being a history of somebody gardening the site cutting this kind off in the past. If you pull the Irish ivy back and look at the base of the shrub you may see an old stump with these comparatively young branches coming out of it. Up here grafted combinations using similar stocks are very common in plantings dating back to the period when garden hybrid rhododendrons were grafted instead of raised from cuttings, sold on their own roots. As with other grafted decorative trees and shrubs such as Japanese flowering cherries occupants of properties where these are present often leave sprouts coming from root stocks to grow up and elbow or even replace the scions which were what was chosen and purchased originally. *Complex garden hybrid dating from the 19th century and developed using intentional crosses between R. catawbiense, R. maximum and/or R. macrophyllum and R. ponticum. It differs from the true R. ponticum in being hardier and more vigorous, with a wider range of flower color from rose pink to deep purple.