I'm afraid I'm not a fan of the SoCal Las Pilitas. I found their plants to be high priced for the size, friends paid $40 for a 5 gal romneya which turned out to have no roots at all (and he's a very experienced grower) and the last time I was there I found the young man working to be rather rude. I think that was because he was more interested in helping the couple who were going to give him a landscaping job.....I might add that I have never given a 'thumbs down' to any nursery but this one....

In Southern California the polyphagous shot hole borer and Citrus Greening disease are poised to wreck havoc on the urban forest. Then there is the increasing human population density that is making lots very small and houses being built to the lot lines, eliminating space for trees.

Kentucky - I have been trying to figure out how to make some raised beds- or raised pots for the front yard landscaping. I don't want the look of basic garden vegetable beds for around the front of the house though. I thought maybe I could dig 2 ft hole and put a 2 ft raised planter on top of it, that night work. I iam also thinking about making very big planters (they are ridiculously expensive to buy. I am not sure about the aestetic for my front landscaping, but after considering many materials and my craftsmanship capabilities I have a plan. I will just have to try it and see how it looks. It could sit above ground, part in ground or in ground. My design is 2"x2" wood frame cube (or taller) dark cedar stained (ECO friendly and plant safe). Side and bottom panels of 1" hardware cloth. Inner lining of natural burlap. It would sit on 8" concrete blocks (in ground) with the hole side up foradditional drainage. Inside bottom filled with river rocks then another lining of burlap to contain the soil and the plant and finally mulch on top, of course. It would have to be big enough to allow 3'x3' space for the roots to grow in the soil area. Again, the aestetic is the probelm (aside form all the hard work and digging). I think it wold look descent but odd. To build a retaining wall for the space under the front window of the house would not look right eiterh at the height I need it to be. I think the real solution is to pay for a backhoe to come in here and excavate the clay and then have new soil put in - way too expensive for me right now. I do have one narrow strip on the west side of the front yard that I am lining with concrete blocks to build up that soil area. I plan on very tall trellises lining that hill (all my land is hilly) and covering them with rose and jasmine vines as a privacy fence. The probelm is the area is part shade - never sunny and that is not goo for any of the plants I like. I bought the Charles Darrow Hybrid Musk for that location as it is reported by others to grow and bloom very well in shade. I also have some varieties of Jasmine that might do in that spot. I am also thinking of Camelias and Sky Pencil Holly. My Hollies are about 1ft tall now. It will be years before they grow big enough.

I just received a batch of native eastern trees (bitternut hickory; American beech; sassafras; American chestnut; mockernut) from Nutcracker nursery. They're all right, but shipping is outrageous, ($87 to Alberta for 500 grams of bare-root trees), and several seedlings were broken on arrival. I'm giving them a pass this year, as things have been so strange, but I may not buy from them again. Acorus Restoration in Ontario is excellent. They stopped selling for a few years, but I see that they've started up again. Prices are great and shipping is reasonable, so I'll try another order from them in the fall. Next year I'll try Grimo Nut Farms, as they have an interesting selection of nut trees. Honeytree Nursery in PEI also sells a variety of interesting trees, and it's worth looking at their website.