I think my new post We Has To Pull The Tree Out> was a little confusing since it no longer followed the original thread and it was so long ago. Dawn, Randy, I sooooo appreciated your input and advice in July. Now I'm looking for some guidance on an appropriate replacement tree for spring. Some of my past ideas once researched haven't been very good. For instance I thought about Mimosas because we had one in our yard when I was a child, and the hummingbirds loved the pink blooms. I didn't know their life span is short and their not native to the USA. Then this last spring while at Lowes I took pity on a tree that was tipped over and had lost the bottom out of the planter. It was wilted, most of the soil was lost around it's roots and it couldn't even be set upright. It was going to be a goner for sure in a short time. They offered it for half price. It was a Cleveland Select Ornamental Pear. I then researched it after the fact. I learned that birds will eat it's fruit to their detriment, since it has practically no nutritional value for them. It has more positive aspects than a Bradford Pear and I put seed out for the birds, but I wouldn't have purchased it had I known the negative aspects. Dawn, Here's the info repeated on this thread. I have red clay soil, But I'm willing to put some effort into soil prep. for a healthy tree. I need a tree that at maturity will be around 20' to 30', because I've read or been told that the height of the tree is also the length of the roots. Not sure if that's fact. The tree would be planted 20' away from the front of the house. I don't want any future problems with the foundation of the house since I think I'll be here the rest of my life, lol. I would like something that's at least native to the US and would be a plus for the local birds. I don't think I want a fruit tree since it's going to be in the front yard. I hope this info helps. Any and all suggestions are appreciated. Lora

Melissa, I was just glad I had all my shopping done because we couldn't have gotten out of here today. Well, Tim got out to drive to work but even he said that he barely made it out of here by the skin of his teeth and the blizzard chased him all the way to Dallas. He has no plans to drive home in the morning. I asked him about the conditions at the airport and he said it was not good and was rapidly deteriorating and becoming even worse. The wind chill here has been awful all dayand apparently something is wrong at our mesonet station because it has stopped calculating wind chill numbers. Our numbers have been very similar to the ones you're seeing now. Helen, Those little pellets of ice are what we had in between the rain and the snow, and they saved our skin. Since they were frozen before they fell, they didn't stick to trees and power lines, and that saved us from the power outages here that have been seen in other areas that got freezing rain instead of ice pellets. It sounds like you are all ready. If the storm treats y'all the same way it treated us, it will be a long, slow-moving one. The rain began sometime after midnight and we have had rain or sleet or snow in waves or bands ever since. It is supposed to end here in the next couple of hours. I don't know if y'all will have as long of a storm as we have, but it certainly has just crept and crawled slowly across the area. Our local weather guys are calling this storm "epic" and "historic" and for us, it is. A lot of you routinely get a lot more snow than we do, so this one might not seem like anything unusual to you. For us, though, this is a monster of a storm. I am simply astonished at the huge number of stranded motorists. Were it not for the two hotels recently opened (the big one this year, the smaller one a couple of years ago) near the Winstar Casino, I have no idea where all these poor stranded people would go. It will take a few days to get all the cars and trucks out of the mud and the ditches and the pastures, etc., and get everyone back on their way. Even if people manage to creep and crawl their way through Love and Carter Counties, the interstate is closed near Davis/Paul's Valley and then is also closed in/near OKC. So, no one at this end of the state is moving very much. Hopefully everyone in y'alls part of the region is already where they want to be for Christmas. Y'all be careful and stay safe and snug and warm. Dawn

Well, I assume that they sell them because they are so close to 3 of the Great Lakes, so that they are within 20 miles or less of water on 3 sides and within 5 miles of Lake Erie. That makes a difference since the large areas of water will buffer temperatures considerably most winters. I grew up in Cleveland, and during the really cold winter a couple of years ago, it made it down to -11F while areas farther from the lakes throughout the midwest were getting to -20F to -40F. Officially the part of Cleveland (Lake Erie shore) where I grew up is zone 6, along with many other areas of the US north coast. Similarly, where I work now is within 10 miles of the Atlantic, and although only 40 miles away, it is a full zone warmer than I am. Which is a long way to say that probably a good percent of their customers are in the equivalent of USDA zone 6. I may push zones for perennials that are usually covered by snow, but I've learned that for taller, long-lived woody plants that sooner or later a bad winter will arrive and kill parts or all of the plant. A half dead tree is pretty ugly, and though it may regrow, IME it won't recover its original shape. I love redbuds, so I looked a long time to find a MN strain tree that I figured would have a reasonable chance of living out its full life in reasonable shape in my zone.

What NHBabs said. One of the selling points of these trees is they tolerate shade, which combined with their small size means you can squeeze them into spots an Eastern White Pine wouldn't work. No need to waste a "prime" spot on it. It would be perfectly happy (relatively) close to your house, close to power lines, or at the foot of a honeylocust. Many of the fancy cultivars aren't reliable in Zone 5. Is this a named variety? You are almost better getting a cheapo tree from Lowes. Best would be a tree from a local seed source bought from native plant society. As far as them being all over the place...there could have been an unusually smart landscaper, developer, or local nursery who got them from a local seed source or an unusually hardy variety a few years back. If you see a neighbor with a really old one ask where he got it. As for the pictures...nothing in that picture makes me concerned.