Jeez, I just skimmed through the thread and saw that because I used asterisks to simulate a swear word, Garden Web removed the first post I made today. Eyeroll. So my above correction doesn't even make any sense now. To reiterate it: Today the owner of the roofing company came into my yard without announcing himself. I only knew he was there because my wonderful watchdog barked. He had a camera and I assume took photos but I don't know for sure of what. He also had another person with him. I went out as he was getting in his truck to leave and he introduced himself and the professional gardener he had brought with him. He said he has never seen anything like my letter and there was no way I was getting $700 out of him (which was the number I finally went with, significantly less than the total sum for damages and repair). He said I could take him to court, but he would only countersue for his lost wages, which would be substantial. He could see I had "a bit of a garden," though, and was willing to "chip in a few dollars for some plants". I explained that he couldn't see much of the damage because it involved plants that weren't there anymore, that was kind of the whole point, and that I had estimates for replanting and remulching and it costs a lot. He essentially said I was lying, that there was no way there was enough damaged to total $700, and tried to intimidate me by adding that he was contacting the property management and owner (which I already did, of course) and that the woman with him was a professional gardener. He says his guys had legal access to do the work and had to do it around messes like dog poop (yeah, I miss a pile once in a while, I admit it) and there was just no way to avoid some damage with the kind of work that had to be done. I say this is bull poop (ahem: happy, GW magic eye?), most of the damage was done during cleanup and if it had been the garden of one of the guys up there on the roof, they would have made sure to find a way to protect it. I've since called 4 local roof companies and asked them and 4 out of 4 have answered that no, there would not be big piles of shingles and debris on the flowerbeds if they did the work. As a rule if someone is trying to intimidate me I assume there's something I CAN do that they don't want me to do. But I'm deathly scared of a countersuit, because there's no way I could pay it if he did win. In retrospect, the minute I found out who he was and that he had simply walked into my fenced backyard I should have called the cops. I am really angry now -- I HATE being manipulated -- but I have to find out what the likelihood of his countersuit being successful is before I can go ahead like I want to and sue his sleazy brains out. Kristin

Do not feel any guilt ridding your yard of this maple: it is a cultivar of the Norway maple, which is considered an invasive pest species. Here's a quote from the Western Oregon University: "The Norway Maple is an invasive pest that should be discouraged from growth." The purple form is commonly planted in suburban yards, and escapes by seeding itself all over. You would be helping the local environment by "discouraging" it from growth. Yes, the ginko and european beech are also not native, however, they are not known to reseed themselves wantonly around a neighborhood, county or state. Although beeches have very thirsty roots too, just thirst is not the point here; when it comes to competition for the entire environment , the Norway Maple can out-compete almost any other tree (there are other tree thugs too that share this infamy). Sunny

OK, I'm game to start... Your soil test results show that there has been way too much unnecessary fertilising going on in your gardens. You say "Mom used to spend a lot of money on miracle grow garden soil and some kind of rose fertilizer. She would just give that to (every) thing growing in the yard." And " I figured the bottle brush was needing some too, so i poured about 2 or 3 pounds of epsom salt around the tree and waited." There's really no reason for you to throw around fertilisers willy-nilly, without knowing the reason for it. For your bottle-brush (Callistemon) specifically, they hate pretty much ANY fertiliser, but especially phosphorous, which will kill them dead. And your soil test indicates very high levels of phosphorous. Personally, I'd cut that plant down to about 6" high and see if it re-sprouts. They survive this treatment very well and grow back big and fast. (Unless it's already past the point of saving.) In the meantime, I'd stop using any bought chemical fertilisers and continue with what you're doing now, just adding leaf mulch, compost and maybe a light dusting of blood/bone meal. Then, in a year or so, get another soil test done for comparison with this one.

Dee, I had to look to see if we were on the rose forum. [g] Yup. I'm not an expert in the least, but I've seen this type of question answered that way on the rose forum before. why are my roses changing color? Well, you definitely don't have Dr Huey growing from root stock. I just looked up an image of it and Dr Huey is red. So, I'm just reading the article too. Did you say you know the name of the original rose you were given? It was a bagged rose, but was it named? I see that Fortuniana was a common rose root stock that roses were grafted onto for hardiness, and it is white, but it doesn't quite look like yours. But here is a list of some roses that were grafted onto that and I see a couple of coral color ones. Fortuniana And here is one more link that tries to explain all the reasons a rose might change color... rose changing color