Re: help finding archives please

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I've also noticed that the archives don't seem to be keeping current lately, and was wondering about that.  Could it have anything to do with the reduced level of postings?

From a landscape designer's viewpoint on the xChitalpa versus Chilopsis debate, I would make the following points.

Chilopsis I have planted in Berkeley/Oakland have not flowered well nor been vigorous growers in the landscape, and I attributed this to lack of summer heat.  I've stopped using them almost completely for this reason.  I also don't much like the winter appearance of the Chilopsis, with all those messy seedpods, and for this reason alone I much prefer the xChitalpa cultivars because they don't form seedpods.  I realize that the flowers are not nearly as showy on the xChitalpa cultivars as for the Chilopsis, but they are showy enough, and come over a long season on an attractively shaped tree that also performs very well under our local, relatively cool summer conditions.  I've also used this hybrid in hotter, more inland Bay Area valley and Sacramento Valley locations, and they perform equally well there.  I understand that the xChitalpa cultivars are not as universally easy to grow further north into Washington state, but don't recall the specific cultural problems they may have there.  In my opinion, Chilopsis linearis is a better choice as a background large multi-trunked shrub for screening or backgrounds, rather than a limbed up accent tree, and also better used where it truly gets hot in summer.