We planted a magnolia tree out here as they were so beautiful there & no dogwoods here so the magnolia was next best thing, well it got burnt looking leaves & they were mostly on the ground, we took it out & next door neighbor got 1 so I get to pick up their leaves as they blow over the fence. It does have the pretty flowers high up & I get to enjoy them. They are about 6-7 in across & mostly white.Don't know what kind they are . Your's don't constantly shed the leaves do they?? Oh yes I remember the beautiful rhododendrons & have seen pics of some park in the South that has lots of them in several colors with lots of lawn. Can't remember where. My azalea just had a few blooms on it-wrong time of yr,they bloom in spring. All my spring bulbs are up too so will flower by xmas I suppose. Never know what to expect out here.Jan

I have a metal thing that I'm going to stick some of my blue bottles into as soon as I figure out how to mount it in the garden. I'm not sure what it is, maybe a heavy duty cupcake stand or some sort of specialty stand. I just realized the other day that it can old bottles. Its too short unless I raise it up somehow. Kathy

A branch at the "wrong" angle can still be fine if well attached at the crotch. The red flag is included bark, where it appears as though the branches are being swallowed where they meet. This implies a lack of secure attachment below the crotch. The opposite is a crotch with a mantle-like bark ridge, which taken to indicate the wood beneath the crotch is connected and sound. However, many crotches I see appear to be a combination of both, with a bark ridge part way across and included bark the rest of the way. Stereotypic ideas of how a tree should look don't allow for the natural variations between species as well as between individual specimens within the same species. This results in destructive pruning of numerous trees, in my area orchard fruit trees and flowering crabapple trees in particular are butchered in order to inflict a cartoonish idea onto the specimen or "make it grow (or fruit) better." In the case of the plane tree shown here cutting the horizontal limb back or off in order to "protect" or "save" the tree would result in a huge opening in the bark.

Well it's finally finished. Dh is an ale drinker, but he discovered Bud's new platinum brew in blue bottles isn't bad, so he contributed quite a few. Sandi, I bought a couple Ty Nant bottles of water. The labels on the Saratoga Springs were engraved on the bottle. I wanted removable labels. Thanks again to everyone for the help!