I have emerged from the abyss otherwise known as the Guest Room..Ai yi-yi! Im sure that many of you are familiar with The Guest Room.."Where should we put this stuff?" "Oh, just throw it in The Guest Room for now." So there it goes and there it stays until oh-oh, a real guest is coming ! So you shove it all in the closet and warn the guest not to open the closet doors under any circumstances. I spent the better part of the day up there, and have effectively sorted and purged . Filled the trash tote and have two more 32 gal trash bags full and waiting in the wings. Put together a huge pile of salvation army items and lugged them down to the garage. Also lugged down 3 pieces of defunct stereo equipment to take to the electronics recycling next weekend. Discovered that one of the twin beds is sporting two mattresses instead of a mattress and box springs-it teeters at an odd angle as a result.One can only speculate how that came about ! Found a box of 45s. Cleaned out the cedar "Hopeless" chest, which had only two items of any value in it. Its the smallest room in the house , and yet an absolute mountain of stuff kept emerging. ! So it was a productive day..and beautiful weather as I gazed longingly out the window. I did take a break for some watering and deadheading. Everything is just bone dry. How great all the pics were for the birthday trio ! Michelle, I am going to get butternut squash next weekend at the farmers market and make a recipe I found for squash enchiladas. If it turns out Ill share Marian , you and Marie asked about the photo, it was a pic from Yosemite , taken by DS. Marie, maybe you will have some pics of the Bouvier couple ? Deanne- lol, youd probably need an extra truck for all your containers ! My DD is coming down for Thanksgiving and I told her to bring an empty car, because I am sending as many of the containers back up for her to babysit as I can fit in her vehicle. Mary, I have not read "The Road", but had in fact made plans to read all three of his border trilogy this winter. I am so behind on my reading list ! I have promised myself that I will get back to my book-a-week pace this winter. Thank you so much for posting the David Russell link- I have always loved classical guitar and dont have nearly enough cds in my collection. I will definitely order a couple of Davids ! Babs, glad to see a post from you no matter how brief ! Hope all is well. Mariann, isnt it nice to encounter the kindness of others ? I hope your DD is helped by the device that was sent to you ! I imagine that the protracted recovery period has affected your DDs attitude which in turn makes healing more difficult. I wish her the best ! Okay, time to take an evening stroll in the garden with a glass of cheap-o chardonnay. Greetings to all ! Kathy in Napa

Put up a fence. 'Argentea' makes a striking effect in time (I've seen it about 20' tall). The other might become similarly arresting with age although yellow produces a different feeling than white, the tree might therefore look considerably less ethereal.

I have a variegated hydrangea (got 2 off the "rescue rack" at Lowes) that I just planted next to my evergold sedge. I think they look great together and plan to get another sedge for the other side of the plant next spring. I recently picked up on markdowns a variegated Japanese iris and a variegated butterfly bush. They are also close to each other, but I am thinking the Iris might like a slightly shadier spot... Still kicking myself for not getting the Silver Dragon (I think, it was green and white, not yellow) lirope I saw at a nursery down in Atlanta a few weeks ago. "No use buying this here, they are sure to have it in SC..." Yeah right... ARGHHHH don't think it is worth the drive down to Atlanta just for a few liropes.

I guess it's a little late, but I live in Central Illinois and I have two Butterflies. One I have had since 1995 and one probably about 4-5 years. It's probably all about the siting. My original one is growing down in a small valley. The other is more exposed, but my yard is kind of protected by woods all around. Sometimes I get a little dieback on branches, but not a lot. I should also say that I spray all my Japanese maples with WiltPruf and wrap them in floating row cover or burlap until they get too big. My original Butterfly is too big to wrap anymore, but I still spray it. I guess it depends on how much babying you want to do. As far as variegated maples to for zone 5, my vote would be for Beni Schichihenge. It has been so hardy and has grown so much, also since 1995, never has dieback, just a fantastic maple. Ukigumo is another that has been really strong, but I'm not impressed with the amount of variegation on mine. Orido Nishiki grows like a weed. I didn't think I'd like it a lot (since 2003), but it is eye-catching and vigorous and looks great from a distance, even though the variegation is mostly at the tips of branches. Well, I'm kind of rambling on... Sorry. Thanks for the info on Stanley and Sons. The larger my maples are, the better they seem to do overwinter. I'd be happy with a #5 container plant. Kay Dye