Couldn't let this one good down the page to many pretty pictures.

TK - thanks so much for continuing this thread!!!
I have been sneaking peaks at all the wonderful pictures in all of your gardens and loving it! Just haven't had much time to comment or post more pics this week what with school ending for my daughter and finals, and state testing, etc and all the running around driving her here and there...

not the best picture, but "In the Pink" today:


on the left is Mexican evening primrose - VERY INVASIVE!!! :p Thought I had pulled it all out last summer after I planted a few stems from my cousin's garden - it had sent out runners and was coming up all over that garden - even in the grass around it - no chance that I got it all!
on the right is Cheddar Pink Dianthus - one beautiful flush of blooms, and then maybe a flower here or there for the rest of the summer - oh, well...

keep posting those terrific pictures everyone!

I saw my first bud for the dianthus today while I was wondering around the garden. My package shows a somewhat different bloom so I'm waiting to see what comes up. The ones on my package are very lacy. "Rainbow Loveliness" does that ring a bell with you perchance? Well I'll know when they bloom lol.

TK - I have not heard of "Rainbow Loveliness" but it sounds gorgeous! There are many many different kinds of dianthus. The cheddar pinks are perennials here. The other types are more annuals, though some of them do return for a few short years, but never as large as the pinks. They are all in the carnation family.

That's good to know that they have a short life span. I killed most of them during the transplant. But I have a few left. Hopefully I will be able to save the seeds. So that I can have more next year.

Wow, nice dianthus you got there! And I feel guilty admitting I love the mexican evening primrose, but as soon as I hear 'runner' I 'run' myself! I've got greenbriar all over that is impossible to get rid of, on a runner...and it makes my stomach churn thinking about adding something like it to the yard...though at least those are pretty!

Alot of times, when you hear of
bad plants and their runners...
If you have very nice, soft, pliable
dirt/soil... those bad plants aren't soooooo
bad after all if you keep an eye on them..

With the softer more pliable dirt,
they are wayyyyyyyy easier to pull out
when they start to get out of hand...

How ever, if they get into the hardpan soil,
it's then it's tough to get rid of them....
Just an FYI..
(**Well, it' also makes them bigger cause of the nicer soil too...so you got to watch them that way too!!!!***)

I absolutely LOVE your picture Lynne,
very pretty together...

The Dianthus is so pretty!

hard pan. Are you talking about me Weezie? With the absolutely fantastic ideas you all came up with to whittle my garden expenses down to nothing, I am thinking about renting a tiller next year. That and some gypsum and that clay is a goner lol. And just watch me do some weeding then lol.

These grow wild in my ditch-


Some of my wildflowers I planted-


I go away for 2 days, and I have cucumber flowers!


I had to get more trellis' for my bean's vines!


Some of the corn is really taking off-


Do potatoes get flowers?


And a little patriotic-


Meg

Great Pics,Meg

No flower pics today for me but, I did take some shots of some pretty visitors I had this a.m.





G-Mom

G-Mom - what a great butterfly habitat you have created! And how can you say no flower pictures today? I see nice and sunny yellow flowers in all those shots - great job!

Meg - WHAT A GREEN THUMB YOU HAVE!
I'm so jealous that none of your vegetation has holes in them - all my ornamental beans and a bunch of flower leaves look like swiss cheese now! :p I don't like to use chemicals, so I'm waiting it out for a bit...

I LOVE PICTURES. Great butterfly shots G-mom. You all have revitalized me, so it's time to go strip somemore branches for my edging. I'll be back in, in a little bit. Wish me luck.

Thanks ya'll.

G-mom, I your butterfly photos!!

Lynne, I didn't take closeups of my holes. They're there, really! But yea, so far, I'm mostly thrilled with my results! We'll see if any of this stuff actually grows veggies on them, that are edible even!

Meg

Fernie sent me the camera so guess what!


Here is the watercress giving the cannas a hard time.


Here it is giving the barberry and the marigolds a hard time. That plant learned everything it knows from me lol.


And here are the zinnia. I'm just not crazy about pink so they were a bit of a disappointment for me.

TK, it's all looking great!!! Hey, how's that compost coming along? I'm waiting to see how it works out for you, before I decide to kill a trash can...

Meg

It's working great. The stuff really shrinks fast. That load of grass clipping is about half the size it was and the newspaper is pretty much carbon. I've got to get some more in there.

BTW here is a picture of the mossroses.


Hope it shows up here lol.

You got the camera back! I am so excited to see some pics of yours!

Everythings looking great

G-Mom

wow everything is looking EXCELLENT! those are great pics! keep up the good work!

Thanks G-mom and Miss Jamie. I keep totting the water and crossing my fingers. You all keep me motivated or there would be some really bad days.

wow tk, I love your pics...everything looks so great! More, more! LOL!

I'm uploading now...didn't get the best pics today, but I'll post a few good ones!

I think that primrose is beautiful! Wish some would work their way in to my neck of the woods! I just orderes some online along with a dwarf daylily collection to plant along my side walk next year instead of the alyssum I have been putting in! Thought I would do a prennial since most of the front is done now! I hope my daylillies fill in the border quick next year! I will be planting them this fall! It was quite a pretty assortment!

Hmph. Camera seems to be on the fritz. This is the only good pic from today



Here are some of the new hostas...with my 3-legged frog (not real LOL) on a rock.



Wish I had a good picture of the yellow rosebush - it's really taking off great. I'll have to try again tomorrow

that's one fine looking rose wtg Mary. I like the hostas too.

Thanks T! This is the yellow one - bout the best shot I could get. I dont know if it's the sun or what, but the pictures keep coming out and the roses are 'glowing' - like the 2 roses on the right side.


And finally a glad bloom Wahoo!


Hey, if you all get tired of my roses tell me ok? It's about the only thing I've got so yaknow, I'm thrilled when they bloom

Yellow roses were my mother's favorite flower. Those are beautiful, Mary!

Dianna

Look at that glad. wow!!!! I hope mine look something like that. If they do I will consider the wait worth while. I don't even have a stem yet. They aren't biennial are they?

Nice looking yellow rose. Texas A&M has put out a lesson plan for breeding roses if you want to learn more about getting seeds it tells you that too. I liked it, it was easy to understand. Those cutting directions were scary.

Yellow roses are my favorite also!!! I planted a new rose bush this year (it is tiny) but look what I found this morning...
and this is one of the crepe myrtles I planted last year...I planted 4 red dynamited this year...can't wait til the bloom!
This is that 30 ft row of cannas I planted
The stuff around the flag pole isn't doing so hot...I haven't been able to work on it all week
Opps, this turned out a little dark...but I was trying (before I malfunctioned last week) to re-do the bed around the porch
I will have to try to get a better shot..the pots on the porch are these... [IMG]
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y162/4ruddy/Garden/IMG00016.jpg[/IMG]
I posted some garden goodies under the fruit & veggie thread...my blackberries are doing so good! Everything is looking a little more "undone" than I like because I couldn't get out last week...but...hopefully by the week-end I will be able to clean stuff up.

oops...don't know what happened there..this is the last pic I TRIED to post...

Hey T, you gotta link for that texas A&M article?

Dianna - what was your mom's name? I've successfully lost the names of all the roses we planted, so I'm going to rename them LOL I'll name it after her

Great pics Vanessa! Are those moss roses in the last pic? That table is my next project with some scrap wood I have...I need something outside to work on instead of leaning over and working in the wheel barrow!

My mother's name was Helen. That is a sweet gesture, Mary.

Dianna

My partners name is Helen too - she'll think I named it after her LOL Helen it is

Dianna

here is the link

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/rose/rosebreeding/index.html

You need some of those freebie programs to run it I think but they give the links for those too so no problem. Wouldn't that be great. Breeding roses.

My outside work table is the top of the dumpster lol. Oh my that's funny. I think I'm losing it. I so want to get out there and finish the two beds I'm working on. I'm digging one lower and building one up higher. It got so hot out there the neighbor brought me out a pepsi. I don't have enough sense to come in when it gets too hot for me. So he comes out and distracts me long enough that I realize just how hot and shaky I am. Then I go inside. But I really want to be outside NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for the link. I know exactly what you mean about not knowing when to say when and come in and sit down. I get the 'hint' when I start seeing spots and my head is buzzing. I wanna be outside now too - and I'm heading out! LOL!

Mary...yes those are moss roses. I have 2 long containers that assorted colors but the coral, red & dark yellow are my favorites so I did the pots in solid colors. I have to have them because my mother (whose name was Helen also) always had the sidewalk to our house lined with moss roses..so they are a present reminder of her.
That table is my FAVORITE place to work! It was here when we moved here, my bro-in-law (now deceased) made it and it is so heavy you can barely pick it up! Man is it nice having a place to work and not have to BEND OVER!!!! It has spoiled me!

I love mixed moss roses. All the colors are terrific. I have a little tiny patch of them this year but you can better I'm going to make it bigger next year and the year after that and the year after that lol. I just think they are terrific. And they don't like mulch which means they save money, and they are drought tolerant and that saves my back. I couldn't ask for a better flower unless it was big enough to do floral arrangements with lol. BTW can you collect the seeds? And if so how please?

Hhhmm.....mine are growing in mulch! And have bigger blooms than last year. All of my babies sprouted in mulch and I transplanted them like crazy. I have never heard that they don't like mulch before....

I thought I read somewhere that they didn't like it. I'm probably wrong again. It happens a lot thanks for setting me straight on that one Vanessa. I have some of the moss roses that are a really pretty color but I don't know what to call it. Its sort of a dark hot pink? Is that the coral color? And I have two shades of yellow. The paler one seems to have more petals. Does that sound right?

Coral is a darker "peach" or salmon color...in the orange family. I try to stay with the oranges, reds & gold/yellows. Purple is fine but a lot of the time purple turns out to be PINK...can't do pink...especially Pepto Mismal Pink! YUCK!!! But in the assorted flowers, you can't get away from the pinks...just gotta live with them!

Oh...forgot what I was posting about to start with. I ran out & looked TK...I have 3 different shades of yellow ones. A real light lemon yellow, a pastel yellow and a deep gold. They all seem to be about the same size to me. I think the petal thing may just be an individual plant thing...not really assosiated with the color so much.

I don't have a deep gold one yet but I'll be looking for one. There are still bunches that haven't bloomed yet. My light yellow one has a white edge when it is folded up for the night. But I can't see it when it is open. Needless to say the camera will not get a shot of something that small. Otherwise I'd take a picture. I love pictures. Just not very good with a camera.

So, Vanessa, I guess you wouldn't paint your walls like this...





Meg

Wow Meg that's a heck of a bright pink!!! It's cute for your daughters room though....

My humungous 6 foot hollyhock is opening up--pretty shade of pinkish red.....My foxgloves just finished flowering, and my dianthus, ageratum, portulacas, cosmos, and tons of other plants are all growing well.....

Hi all ~

Anyone who likes primroses that can be so invasive should consider trench planting with 18 inch hard plastic walls buried. Or potting them up. Lots of plants, including mint, can run amok otherwise.

I had a very pleasant surprise today in my yard. I rolled out on my ramp to greet the morning and saw that my landlord had left a very handsome oval shaped planter on my picnic table that he had filled with pansies! It is lovely.

Merme

My Brazilian Rock Rose Rock Rose Bloom closeup The bloom looks very delicate and starts to close around 6:00 pm

Gladiolas from Afgreyparrot









4 o'clocks



hydrangea at back door

JV, that is a very beautiful, delicate bloom. Does it require shade?

Everybody has some really nice pictures
in this thread..
VERY NICE INDEED!!!!
I have enjoyed looking thru each of them...

Thanks!!

Bestofour I have it in full sun. I got this in a plant swap in feb. in Ft. Worth was told it liked sun and little water. so I have in in full sun next to my Hydranea's (which I am glad I didn't post the photo's) as yours are so much prettier. This little rose has maybe 8 buds on it. Been holding my breath waiting to see the bloom as I had never seen a Brazilian Rock Rose before. There sure are a lot of pretty plants being posted.

Some will remember the three dry sticks I was given in Feb. I had in mystery plant you said was Hydrangea here are the blooms notice they are not same color as posted above.




is the color mix common on this plant? I use coffee grounds and egg shells as well as I pour my dog water with vinegar on them.

Everybodies plants are sooooo PRETTY

And,TK,you can collect the seeds from moss rose After the blooms fade it will get a little black ball. You can remove the ball and put it in a paper bag to dry,when dry pop them open. I recommend doing it over a sheet of white paper as they are TINY!

G-Mom

JV,they are beautiful! I love the shading

G-Mom

yep, pretty flowers everywhere you look. I love this string. Thankyou for the seed collecting information G-mom I'm going to try it. I may have to start making my own paper bags as well as seed packets lol. I have a couple of those huge handled paper bags but that is all. Now I am getting way to many flowers that I want to harvest from to handle lol. It's all good. Have a great day everyone.

JV, as I understand it, your hydrangea can be different colors, depending on how acidic or alkaline your soil is. It can be blue, or pink.. but I think I read that blue is harder to get because it usually takes more adjustment to the soil than can be maintained.. or something like that. I have a headache, so I may be imagining I read that somewhere..lol.

Meg

Here is my Strawberry bed.


I have Canna's planted behind the birdbath and Dill planted on both sides.

That dill plant look really cool. I like it. I like your arbor too. I never would have thought to do that.

I was wondering what I was going to do with my strawberry plant this morning after I finished watering the garden! I still have it in the hanging basket that it came in.

Thanks, Amigatec, for the idea. I will use some of our extra brick from the foundation and create me a strawberry patch!

Dianna

That's what we are doing for my moms' stuff

Take those blocks and put in nice dirt in the
planting area..
Then putting regular dirt in the holes and putting
in stuff that like it hot and dry, like Hens~n~Chicks!!!!

Finished one already, and workin' on one this week, she's getting the blocks this afternoon..

Great pictures Cricket. Have you been taking lessons from Bill. Those are really nice.

that is so beautiful.

JV, the color of the hydrangea has all to do with the soil acidity. I tried to turn mine pink year before last but it didn't work. Someone told me that because of the million oak trees I have that my soil is too acidic.

I think mine blooms on last years wood when should it be pruned?

Amigatic, I have dill coming up too. What do you do with yours?

this basket has a nest in it

Ok, what do I have to do to get my hosta like that? Mine are still little 6 leaf affairs. Do I need a different type of fertilizer something special for the hosta?

I should show you my "bean bag chair" hosta. Its huge. These are ancient. I have quite a few little 6 leaf ones. I don't do anything to these....just put egg shells around them to keep the slugs off of them.

I can't wait till mine get like that! I just split one this year, so I have 4 little lanky ones, plus the 4 babies I bought.

What's that in the hanging basket? And the purple one with the butterfly on it?

Here are my gems for the day. Well, from yesterday actually.

Of course, another rose pic.

and a red glad

I really need to do some major 'cleanup' in this bed. Next year I'll have these spaced out a lot more...assuming I can find all the corms! I can't believe how many there are!

The hanging baskets are petunias. The purple with the butterfly on it is a butterfly bush. Its pretty large...and i trimmed it pretty harshly in the early spring.

I am REALLY enjoying everyone's pictures here! Such wonderful colors, and butterflies to boot! Jenn - I can't believe your butterfly bush is in full bloom already - mine don't even have buds on them yet, and I think we're in the same zone?

It's so great to see the different choices of plants that we each have. Makes for the great personalities gathered here.

Here are a few things blooming im my gardens today.

First, my yucca flowers are beginning to open - first time for me - they are sooooooo pretty!


Next is a birdhouse gourd flower. Didn't expect it to be white, or so big. Only thing is, after the flowers wither, I don't see any kind of gourd starting to form - am I missing something?



And last, but not least, a different perspective of my petunias - hanging upside down, with a hummer feeder on the pole.


I was walking beneath my 2nd story deck and looked up, and this is what I saw. Different, huh?

I was just saying today we need some purple flowers. I don't think we have any at all. Would you recommend using the butterfly bush(es) for a hedge along a sidewalk? I've been contemplating that one. We need something to keep the neighborhood dogs out of the yard, but didn't want to put up a fence. Figured bushes would deter them good enough. Whaddya think?

Might be something to think about. I don't know if you can keep them trimmed to an actual shape...and you need to trim them for winter b/c if your limbs get too long they will snap with a heavy snow fall. Mine isn't quite in full bloom. Today was the first day I noticed open flowers on it. I'll take a picture tomorrow of how large the bush is in the yard.

Thanks Jenn, I'm looking forward to the pic. It's always hard for me to find a full grown plant pic when I'm reasearching. All the catalogues show are closeups which doesn't really help in planning. I thought about lining the sidewalk with them, if the branches grew into each other it would be ok - preferred, even. What zone are you in? Also trying to coordinate bloom times. Thanks!

Everytime I look at this thread,
the pictures and flowers are getting
prettier and prettier!!!

Thank~You everyone...

It is sooooooooooo much fun to see what all
is going on in your gardens..

(and I got no camera waaaaaaaaaaaa )

Do you want me to send you the community camera Weezie?

OH, Thank~You sooooo very much Tammy,
that is so very kind of you....

My husband and father~in~law are doing
their research and finding one with the
biggest pixels, and yadda~yadda~yadda!!!!
As soon as they come up with thier score cards
tallied up, they'll find one...

It's just I have things I wanted to take pictures
of, but I can wait..
I would much rather have your's taken and get to see your flowers!!! but Thank~You again for the offer...

I' glad your going to get a really good one. I'd have probably just asked Bill. He takes such great pictures he's got to have a good camera.

Well I'll keep snapping pictures. I'm sort of waiting for the dianthus to do something. They have flowers on them but they are little tiny white ones. After the bud opens do the petals grow or something? Cause what I got ain't like the pictures lol. Story of my gardening career so far lol. Maybe I should take a picture of what I have and let you see what I am talking about huh? I am so slow sometimes. Ok headed out to the garden to snap pictures lol.

Sorry Tammy,
BUT I AM THE QUEEN OF SLOWWWWWWWWW,
SO SLOW SOMETIMES I'M BACKWARDS!!! :p :p
I am still out there planting my vegetable garden.
Just got some cucumbers in *lemon one's??*
and some hubbard squashes..
Yesterday got the acorn and zucchini's in...

Gotta finish the cuke's... and work on the cantaloup's(sp?)
Still can't figure out where I'm putting the decapitated sunflowers yet

Then it's the Swiss Chard going in next,
and more cuke's, pickling one's...

And I haven't even gotten to my mater's yet!!!
UGH!!
Back outside!!!

Manhot Sweet Yellow Hibiscus Duckie sent me the seeds for this one.

That is absolutely gorgeous!!!!
I love that yellow...
Ahhhhhhhh, Thanks for sharing that one!!!

I plan on growing herbs around the birdbath next year.

Also the arbor was for Kiwi plants that died.

Well I bought a piece of ground behind the my house and this ground had a burnt house on it. I tore the house down and had a lot of brick and concrete blocks up do something with.

I still have some blocks left, but the brick will be used for a patio of some type.

I have some more picture at:

My Garden

JV that hibiscus is absolutely gorgeous - and it looks huge! Are they huge? The flower, that is. I know nothing about them, obviously I thought about getting some to plant among the hollyhocks I plan on planting (LOL That was a mouthful!) Thanks for posting that!

Amigatec,
We're all meeting at Amigatec's house
and raiding his garden!!!
Looks like you've got a ton of stuff...

Whens' the corn ready/??
I'm hungry for some!!
And it looks goooood!!!

And I really like that arbor!!!
Great idea!!

JV, that flower is gorgeous. Yellow - my favorite color.

Someone tell me what to do with the dill that's come up. I got the seeds from someone of this forum.

Hi MaryReboakly the blooms are about 4 inch across I did not measure. I got this close up as I was trying to show the inside color as well as the outside color. Deep inside is a dark red gets lighter toward the top. I love Hibiscus and can never get enough of them or Roses'.Coleus is also a favorite.
Jimmy

Dill I like it in chicken noodle soup. A beloved boss and friend used to make it for me when I didn't feel good but needed to keep right on working.

BEAUTIFUL,JV!

The corn is ready NOW!!

I fixed 4 for supper the other night and have 6 more ready to freeze.

I need to go out and weed.

Some more pics...

Cannas


Zinnias


Glads


Mexican Petunias


Don't you jusy LOVE this time of year!

G-Mom

JV - I love the softness of the yellow in that flower! You grew that from seeds??? WOW!

G-mom - as always... just gorgeous!

Here's my first cactus bloom of the year -
Cindy.... how could you not love these plants?!? I'll take any off your hands that you want to get rid of!


and some baby pink dwarf lilies - gotta love 'em!

Beautiful flowers JV, G-Mom, Lynne!! I can't wait to see if any of the seeds I sprinkled not too long ago, do anything. It was packets of babies breath, red poppies, and shasta daisies.

Meg

I'm living vicariously thru your flowers
everyone!!!
Thank~YOU!!!!!

G~mom, I love those Mexican Petunia's,
never saw a real~time photo of them,
love that purple!!!!

Well lets see the glads have produced more leaves so far. ahhem.

Lynne those baby pink dwarf lilies of yours where did you get them? What climates are they good for? How much water do they require? Questions, Questions, Questions. They are very pretty. This from the lady who professes not to like pink lol.

Hum I didn't know the cannas came in yellow I may have to look into that too. They sure would look nice mixed in with the red ones I got this year.

Thank you all for posting your pictures it is so cool. Even if I do have to repeat my self-discipline mantra everytime I look. No I am not buying anymore plants, No I am not buying anymore plants .....
hehehehe

Don't worry, T. I only have about 5 of my million that are blooming either. Some others have shot up stalks...most are just leaves - they'll come! I just planted some bulbs last week - I can't believe they're sprouting already! Those babies came up fast. I wasn't even sure they were any good...they've been sitting for a few months

Wish I had more pretties to post, but I'm fairly limited - it's so nice to be able to see everyones stuff!

It gives me something to look forward to. When the soil is all amended just the way it should be and the weed trees are all gone and the poison oak is history and the terracing is all done and the plants are all planted.

What did you say about the lottery? lol. Ones as good as another I think. Boy is there a lot more to do. I could get out there this evening and do something. But I am still having lazy day syndrome.

someone asked me to post a picture of the entire butterfly bush in my yard. sorry it took me too long, but here it is.

My gosh that's a beauty!!!!
How old is that puppy???

Its almost the first of July and I still have pansies blooming-- is that normal?? Especially here in the deep south???
I've never planted any before so I don't know what they are supposed to do...

That was me, Jen, that asked - Thank you for posting it! That's big compared to the image in my head! LOL! Thanks so much - it helps me put it in perspective (ie. now I can figure out where to put one)!

Mary-- since your thinking about planting a butterfly bush-- you can cut them back hard every year to keep it the size you want it and it will still bloom. It only blooms on the new growth each year...
Our wonderful gardening friends here taught me that!!!
Would you like to see a picture of mine??

Ohhhhh that's good to know! I'd love to see it Tricia! Please post! Thanks!

this is the front of it...


this is the back...

Its actually about 8 feet tall right now. I cut it back in early March to about four feet. It looked like a bunch of sticks coming up from the ground!!!

These pictures are so pretty. The cannas are gorgeous and those butterfly bushes - something to write home about. Do you guys have zillions of butterflies?

pcgrav, I still have pansys too. I think it might be because of all the rain we had.

WOW Tricia absolutely gorgeous! Hmm how good does it smell, say, in comparison to a lilac? LOL! I'm trying to find something that's close to as fragrant as the lilac for summer. I can't believe you cut it back to 4' in March and it's so beautiful now. Wow...really awesome. I think I need 10 of them. LOL!

Believe it or not --I've never smelled a Lilac!!! But when I stand as far away as say the back of that blue truck in the background-- I can smell it wonderfully!!! Its a very fragrant bush... And they come in several colors... I have three more that I planted this year that are supposed to be tri-colored... Lavendar,Pink,White.

OOOps!!-- I just looked back at those pics and realized you can't see the truck!!
But it is about 10 feet from the bush I guess...

Actually I have a ton of bumble bees!!! They outnumber my butterflies... :p :p

But I've seen some absolutely gorgeous butterflies on the bush...

Trica,
That is an awesome color!!!
Is it really a blue*ish* color
like it looks???
That's pretty!!!

Have your Tri~colored one's bloomed yet?

Weezie, I have no clue how old it is. It was here when we bought the house. I get alot of butterflies. The Monarch that I took the picture of is the first of its kind that I've seen on the bush and this is the 3rd summer we're here.

The smell of the bush is very similiar to a lilac bushy. Its VERY fragrant and the blooms last longer than a lilac bush. During the winter, the bush look like a bunch of sticks in the ground, just like Tricia said.

I have no clue how tall mine is. I don't know if you can see the light in the picture that I took. The bush is growing right next to a pole with a lamp on it. That is probably 8-10 feet tall. I trim mine back harshly every other year so that the branches don't snap off.

I'm in zone...ummm...6 I believe...can't really remember at this point (I'm REALLY tired right now!)