Thanks NHS!!! Maybe I'll ring them with lawn cuttings this winter and then next spring fertilize and water them a lot more. They always leaf out very later around here, sometimes at the end of May. My blue spruce up on the flat of the lawn are growing well. Brought them home in big pots inside my van in the summer of 2008 and now one is about 13+ feet tall. I know that's nothing for a southern pine but I'm happy with their growth around here.