it was sarcasm to suggest you get rid of it .... to mock you into understanding that your preconceptions are a bit hasty ... my eyes are supreme to me ... it is of little use to be a blind gardener ... all my trees are limbed up.. so that i may walk [and drive the rider] safety about the yard without worrying if i am going to poke out an eye ... i am quite lax in actually pruning things.. but if one of those chuckers knocks off my glasses or the baseball cap .. i run to the garage.. and saw off that limb with vengeance ... my point simply being.. that in the future.. you might want to do the same ... but mostly is was taking about the just the 3 bottom stubs .. not the first set of major branches .... in my yard.. i use properly diluted round up for grass in beds .... it only works on greenery .... so it will kill the grass with no impact to the trunk of the tree [though i would avoid it] .... and it does not work in the soil ... presuming you arent dumping a 55 gal drum of it there .... that grass is stealing water.. which is the only thing that tree needs for its first 2 years .... so get rid of it ... and it will not help the tree to go digging in there too aggressively to remove it ... IMHO ... but that would still be better than leaving it ... water deeply into the root zone.. and then do not water again.. until your finger.. inserted to the second knuckle.. indicates the soil is dry or hot [hot soil under mulch will be dry tomorrow]... that is watering 'well'.. or good.. or goodly ... more betterer than others ... the size of the ring around any of my trees.. is the ability of the riding mower to turn in a circle.. which give me 4 to 5 foot rings around my trees .... which is a bit bigger than yours ... below are a few pix of those which are an island unto themselves .... good luck ken and this one i planted from an acorn 4 years ago .... oh wait.. thats in your dreams .. not mine.. lol ..

No, they are not in the ground and tomorrow night is supposed to be 24 degrees. I am not so much worried about losing the plant as I am going to all of the trouble of planting and then having it not produce heads. I have never heard of this problem, but two people on another forum have been discussing this as a problem with broc planted to early. It is hard to grow in my climate anyway because we go from winter to summer in very short order some years. Some years it works fine. I was hoping others had grown it from WS plants and could offer some advice. Thanks.

rmkitchen, thanks for those pics of your beautiful WTs! Do you mean 'relaxed' roman shades that pooch out a bit at the bottom in the middle? I think yours are more beautiful, myself. Where did you have them made? So much very useful information in your post. If we ever get roman shades (I'm trying these other ideas first) I'll refer to your discussion of issues around them. Funny, but I've now painted all the trim around windows and doors in the semigloss or satin version of the color of the paint on the wall around them, just to try and minimize the trim! (our house is more modern, though, I think). You could always get a bit of trim and just tack it up there with a few nails to see what you think of it--if you don't like it you could take it down again and fill/paint over the tiny holes... And wow, such good information in the rest of y'all's responses! We didn't put up the film yet--DH put a cat-away spray (one called "Boundary" and one called "Cat-Away") around the slider (and the front door--did I mention that they do it to the front door too? UGH), but I think because of the rain it wore off, and what do we have greeting us when we get within 5' of the door? More pee this morning. UGH again. I'm going to order that predator pee granules today--thanks oceanna! I wonder how long it will last in the rain--but it's definitely worth a try. We'll look into the Cat-stop too--thanks, annz. We'll look into the Cat-stop too. I do know where they come from -- one is from a house that belongs to a couple who inherited it from their grandmother, and they are really *not* as caring about anything as much as most other residents in our neighborhood (yard is an eyesore, etc.). When they moved in they immediately let the cat, who's at least fixed, out all day (and part of the night, judging from seeing him out around 11 p.m.). At first he was nice, sweet, a bit timid--now he's a full-on street-fightin' man, one of the ones who got sprayed with a hose and kept on going. Another one (unfixed) used to be fairly sweet, too, when he had a home to go into (the next door house) at night, but when that family moved out of state, they *left him here* to fend for himself. It's unconscionable what they did to him--they displayed just as much of a community spirit by leaving Blackjack (named by the pirate-loving neighbor boys) out as they did in so many other ways while they were here (as in NONE). The little guy's adapted and has survived for --what, 4 years now?--but he's gotten nasty too. Because we know his story, I just don't have the heart to trap him and take him to the H.S., where he'd probably be pts. Not a desirable adoption candidate. Poor little guy. :( There's a third that we don't know at all. The thing I was thinking about neutering them was that my first cat was neutered, but he still sprayed on things in the house (like a heating vent, very smart...it spread the lovely aroma every time the heat came on) -- it may very well be that with these guys, they're so used to spraying that they will not stop if they're neutered. They'd just have an operation site that might get infected or ripped into before it's healed, which could be really dangerous for them. Maybe I'm not looking at that the right way, I know... Off to order granulated predator pee...

Laurensmom2010, I think you are making a wise choice. Good for you for being brave enough to CANCEL. The first time you posted I had a sense of fear that you were making a mistake. I wanted to be supportive but I could tell you did not want this. You are good to go with your instinct. Then you posted later on about the red apples in the sink of one of the pictures I posted. I knew right then you needed to cancel. I am soooooooooooo glad you have. You are not alone in trying to find the right stone. It took me months to find the right stone. DH ended up making plywood tops. Partly because he wanted extra support under the granite but also because I could not choose a granite. We need a place to prep for dinner and place the kids could make their lunches. We lived with the plywood while I took days off to shop for granite. We spilled coffee, chocolate, wine, spaghitti sauce and joked that we did not need to worry as the counter could be replaced for under 50 bucks. The humor and family kidding/support kept me going. At first I felt pressured to go out and buy something. Anything! But as time went by I knew the important part was going at my pace. Choosing something I could love for a long time. I ended up with Virginia Jet Mist and I have no regrets. I am glad I waited until I found the right installer and the right slab of granite. You will find the right counter. You did a wise thing by cancelling the order so that you can take your time and enjoy the process. Not feel pushed into something you know in your heart is not going to make you happy. ~boxerpups