Hey denninmi, I sent an email a couple weeks ago through gardenweb and yesterday. Not sure if they reaching ya. Just was curious if you had any 'Brilliant Rose' variety Autumn Olive cuttings that haven't leafed out yet that maybe you can send over so I can try rooting. I am doing some cuttings now of Ruby and the wild form that are leafing out now and also getting some H.S.N. varieties in a few weeks from Rolling River, (except Brilliant Rose which is sold out until next year, so let me know if can send some cuttings). Take care, Ari

It is sad that he is not able to work his yard anymore and unfortunate that there is no one to help him. As you've seen, you will get new ones from his bushes regardless of what you do. But I think it is the right thing to remove all the seedlings that you find. That plant doesn't need to spread any more than it has already. My neighbor has them too and when they are in fruit, I walk down the street plucking off as many as I can reach, stuffing them into my pockets. Then I go home and dump them in the trash can! Thank you for removing them.

Not seeing how major pruning by a contractor every so many years into perpetuity is an economical choice. And if you have turned them into pollards or otherwise severely pruned specimens then the charm of the natural shapes has already been lost - maybe plant some more suitable kinds of trees among them, cut the olive trees out after the new set is of some size. Otherwise they should probably be trimmed frequently, maintained as formal specimens instead of getting whacked back hard at longer intervals. Every time they are forced to regrow most of the top that was present at the time they are drawing on nutrient reserves in the trunks and may be gradually becoming diminished by the repeated assaults. There is also the possibility of trunk decay developing due to the large pruning cuts being made. For planting near swimming pools you want plants with large parts that do not get sucked past filters. As you have described olive trees are probably about as bad a choice as one could come up with.

We also had problems obtaining anything other than actual purchasing of the jam. We looked at our Ball canning recipe book 1999 for help. There we found a Berry Jam pg 32, to that we added lemon juice just to add a little canning acidity. We experimented with different amounts of sugar to taste. Our final recipe is as follows: Made 14 - 1/2 pints 9 cups pulp with juice - without pits 14 cups sugar 1/4 cup lemon juice Sterile 1/2 pint jars Sterile laddle, funnel, tongs, lid lifter Bring slowly to boil (see pg 32 Blue Book Ball Berry Jam instructions), stirring until sugar dissolves. Cook rapidly to gelling point . As mixture thickens, stir frequently to prevent sticking. Remove from heat. Skim foam if necessary. Ladle into hot jars, leaving ¼-inch headspace. Adjust two-piece caps. Process 15 minutes in a boiling-water canner. We cooked mixture 50 mins before canning at as rapid a boil as possible, stirring constantly. We took foam off as necessary during boiling Actually spreads nicely and is not solid in jars, has good spreading without chunks. We also discovered a good way to get the pits out. After washing and taking the stems off, we put two layers of berries into a microwaveable dish, we cooked them for four minutes on high. Then we put the berries through a food mill(potato ricer)to remove the pits. This process made it so much easier to get the pits out and retain as much juice and pulp as possible. Autum Olive Berry aka; Autumn Berry, aka; Aki-gumi (aukee - goomee) Autumn Olive bushes originally came from Japan in 1830 per Internet Web site