Well, we're FINALLY getting fall here in Northern CA. This is my neighbor's pistachio tree that has just begun to turn yellow the last couple days. Usually it starts turning by early October, and is nearly defoliated by this time. It's been a weird fall... And this is one of my Japanese maples. I don't ever remember it getting THIS red before! It's so cool!

Just give them water and kind words! Fertilizers should not be a given to a plant or tree that is stressed. In order to determine if you need to water, use the finger method daily for 2-3 weeks. At about the same time in the early morning hours, insert a finger into the soil to a depth of 4". If the soil feels wet or moist, do not water. If it feels dry or almost dry, water the soil (not the leaves or the blooms). Each time that you water, make a note in a wall calendar. After 2-3 weeks, review the notes and determine how often (in days) you had to water. Say, every 3 days or every 4 days, etc. Then set the sprinkler or drip irrigation to give them 1 gallon of water every 3/4/etc days. To make the moisture last longer, make sure that they have 3-4" of mulch at all times thru the drip line. The amount to water per watering can vary as it depends on the size of the plant and whether your soil is sandy or not. A newly planted hydrangea should be given about 1 gallon of water per watering (1.5 in sandy soil). Hydrangeas will abort blooms and flower buds if they get insuffcient moisture. They will also brown out the blooms when it is too hot or -in the case of rebloomers like ES- they will brown out as the blooms fade. If you notice the original color of ES changing to a pinkish-green and then to a brown/sandy color, that would be simple fading. Regardless of why the blooms browned out though, you can deadhead them now, keep an eye on the soil moisture and you will eventually get another flush of blooms. Hydrangeas do not need a lot of fertilizers. A single application of fertilizers in Spring should suffice if you use a general purpose slow-release fertilizer. You can add 1 cup of cottonseed meal, compost or composted manure. You can also use Osmocote 10-10-10 according to the label's directions. During the rest of the growing season, you can add some coffee grounds, liquid seaweed or liquid fish. But stop fertilizer around the start of July in order to make sure that fertilizers let the plants go dormant ahead of early frosts in the Fall. Luis

I won't be able to come. We will be in Oregon that weekend. I was hoping we would be leaving the following Sun or Mon, then I could come, but we're leaving on the 12th.

MHillgal, you said it!!! MUCH too early. The trees still had leaves on them. And in our back yard next to the house, we had over 8 inches of the wet heavy snow, looked like a mattress on my chaise lounge. A mulberry tree kept leaning further and further, until it fell and the branch was across my car. DH went out and cut it off, but that stub still hangs there. And the tall gnarly locust trees all along the street broke and fell across the power lines. We got our power back Thursday, about 2 pm, and what a blessing it was. The response by National Grid was criminally negligent, did not show up until the weekday, and only worked during the daylight until 4pm. So far there is news that one elderly woman in western MA died in her home from no heat. I am furious about the lack of timely response to this weather anomaly. So here are a few of my pictures taken over the last week. We've just about burned up our entire supply of firewood. Before this, we were trying to give it away. :) And this is my favorite one of all....the little Reliance peach tree standing up to it all.