I think you are right - crazy has everything to do with it. We do not have frost of any kind where I live so I am hesitant but thought about just going for it. There are a few people who have managed to grow both maples and dogwoods where I live. Some of them have made it to the age of 10. Others not so lucky.

Stratification is indeed the plan. Most of the seeds will be spending around 3 to 6 months in the fridge while I try other methods for some of the leftover maple seeds. I got a lot extra to try and find out which ways work best. Luckily, I do have a very large densely shaded area that is about 13 degrees celsius lower than in the sun so that might be a good place for the maples and doogwoods one day. I've got a lot of canadian peat to help keep the ground cool as well. It works very well for insulation from what I understand.

Got all of the other necessities today unfortunately, we don't have that pumice you've been bragging about yet.

Here are two of the trees I got today. Lovely pricing thanks to the good old Black Friday madness. Up to 45% off all of the trees. I wanted to get the really old black monkeythorn but there was no way to transport it in my car.

I'm thinking that if I add enough peat moss to the surface of the pot and add crushed ice it may help keep them cool during winter. Not too sure though. You hear a new story about peat moss every day now. I may either way be relocating to a part of the country where it actually snows so that may end up becoming the solution.

For the life of me I can't recall the name of the one species above but the second one is a Virginia juniper - lots of potential with this one.