Got a gift certificate for Christmas! Any ideas?

It is from Forest Farm. I am trying to get rid of my lawn and reforest around the house. I have been putting in a lot of edible landscape plants like cornus mas, mulberry, paw paw, plums and blueberries. I have in long range plans essentially a private arboretum with lots of fabulous trees and shrubs. I have already picked out a pagoda dogwood. I need color, fragrance, wildlife; there are already some very large native hickories, red and post oaks and loblolly pines and Cornus Florida. I don't want to wait 20 years to get gratification. I like native plants but I am not limiting myself to those, although I want to avoid invasive plants. The ground is rocky but I have been gradually amending it, and there is a shady moist area where I have put in some silky dogwood and viburnium and ferns. I have about 2 acres total to work with though it is hardly bare as described above. Suggestions as to wildflowers and perennials are welcome too though that is another forum. I have already put out some trillium and passionflowers transplanted from another area. I do have access to a pond for planting but I share it with a neighbor so I don't want to acutally plant anything in the water.

Forestfarm? I would not order anything from them. I suggest you sent the certificate to me and I will dispose of it properly! ;-)

I actually got the Forestfarm catalog last year. I was just amazed at the listing of plants. I have been picking it up off an on and "reading" through a few pages at a time and I am still not all the way through the trees and shrubs section.

- Brent

Their catalog is like a dictionary.

It is overwhelming the selection they offer. When I look at just the Cornus sp. offerings I get overwhelmed. I am going to be like a kid in a candy shop. I wish I had a color catalog to browse through in bed but I'm sure it would be fatter than the Manhattan phone book.

They do have a lot of pics on their website, at least they did last year.

Buy two each of all the viburnums listed as hardy for zones 6a-8b (so you get good pollination). If you make it through all those, then post again. You will have every season of interest covered (and then some) and your wildlife will continue to love you.

And, I'll have a reason to come down and collect cuttings!

I like browsing their online catalog better than the print one since you can click on the name of the plant and for many of them they have pictures. But they have way too much stuff, since I'm on dialup I'm probably missing out on a ton of good plants because I just don't have time to load up the pics for every plant they have!

I too received a gift certificate from Forestfarm. I selected an Acer shirasawanum 'Aureum'. I'm quite excited about it. I've wanted one for quite awhile.

I like to get things from FF that I can't find locally. In the past I've gotten from them Nyssa Sylvatica, Chionathus virginicus, Halesia carolina, Japanese Hemlock. As you say, it is almost endless choice. Do you need some evergreens in your "reforest"?

Plantaholic, in fact I do have a spot for evergreens. It is in a currently wooded area but I need evergreens as a screen to block a view of my neighbor's property where they have parked some farm equipment. It needs to be somethng resistant to browsing (a horse is back there); in my experience most evergreens will fit that description. I was thinking of some type of Leyland cypress trees though I am intrigued by the fast-growing claims of Thuja "green giant'. Yet I don't know if that live up to expectations in hot humid Alabama and I see a lot of healthy Leyland cypress locally. (I plan to collect a sprig of my neighbor's cypress and offer it to the horse; if it is rejected then I am safe!)

Viburnium valley, I didn't know Viburnium weren't self-pollinating. Maybe that's why the Arrowwood viburnium I planted a couple of years ago hasn't fruited. I am going to look at the pix you posted earlier on this forum and help narrow down my choices. When I think I want "one of everything" I need to think about pollination, right?

When I moved to a semi-rural area about 9 years ago I had little interest in plants but I have caught on fire and am trying to make up for lost time. Unfortunately I have little experience to go with it. I got my undergraduate degree in zoology but if I had it to do over again I would have also taken some horticulture courses which were excellent at Auburn University.

Your summation is correct. Many viburnums are poor self-pollinators, so your arrowwood would be more productive with another non-identical arrowwood with overlapping bloom time. The same will be true for all those future viburnums you intend to grace your landscape with.

"One of everything" is fine, as long as those ones have someone to pair up with. Two different clones of the same species (as in Autumn Jazz® arrowwood and Northern Burgundy® arrowwood) make good mates. Everybody fruits!