DH, it’s hard to tell exactly what killed them. The warmer temps meant that predatory bark infections and insects weren’t killed off. I would see the bark break and ooze sap as die back started on the tips of the branches and spread down to the trunk. A Weeping Santa Rosa sent up suckers everywhere, then the SR and suckers all died mysteriously. Was it Armillaria root rot? The section in my picture is a little further from the house and everything is still thriving there. Perhaps I should have watered longer and deeper over the summer. Or would the moist soil set off killing fungus and root infections? It’s easier to just replace the tree than to figure out why, as important as that is to know. I’ve switched to fig trees that are more drought, fungus and disease tolerant, grow affordably from cuttings, can be cluster planted, pruned to any shape easily, have a wide variety of delicious flavors and just grow and produce better overall over time. Best of all, figs don’t set off my acid reflux the way other fruit does now.

Dot - I'll try to post some cat photos soon. The last time I posted kitty pics hardly anyone commented on the daylily photos. LOL Cindy - Thanks for the comment about the spider seedling. And I posted that photo of part of the blue and white bed per your request. Debra

I hope everyone gets lots of rebloom this year, both in the north and the south. The Westbournes are favorites of mine, I just keep buying more Westbourne intros. I have over 40 of them. What I have found is that most are slow to get started and take 2 years to start to show their stuff. Branching and budcount increase dramaticly by year three. I can't believe the difference. The colors on the blooms are fabulous. Many are rebloomers (not all so check each listing). Most clump up slowly for me although there are exceptions. I would never be without them. I am now into the late bloomers blooming. The regular daylilies are just about bloomed out with only some here or there and most on empty scapes. The plateau in the back is just about done but the slope at the side of the driveway is in better shape. As is the front. But the other side of the driveway is bloomed out. Very dissaponting as it all happened so early and the bloom period seemed so compressed. The excessve heat and no rain for 6 weeks just didn't help :-((

Hi Magpie, I am patriotic as well, maybe it's the reason why I'm so sad after having heard what this teacher said... Something I learned while browsing this forum an others, while communicating with Americans is that you have a great sense of community; which is something that is missing in my country. I would like to create such kind of community to help others when they need, to be stronger when things are not going well or when people are alone. I think that my teacher gets confused between lack of culture and... young nation. I also think she is frustrated as she seems appreciating noboby... As for me and my culture, I'm a French history passionate and study it for more than 30 years but one of my favorite authors is... Martha Grimes, an American one; it's always a real pleasure to read her books, re-read them again and again. I would like to get the chance to come in America; unfortunately, there's the Atlantic ocean between you and I and I'm afraid to fly otherwise I would have already been there, at least for some days :-( Actually, just after 9.11, flying prices dramatically decreased and with a friend, we decided to take advantage of it to fly to Florida. Some days later, I finally decided to NOT take profit from such a drama and stayed at home. Congrats on your job for saving the library; here we would have let it down and it would have closed. Sad, isn't it? Hello Belle :) As soon as this teacher told us Americans were "closed minded", I was shocked. Particularly because there are a lot of different communities in your country; whether Asian, European, Australian, African, etc. Well, your message as well as those of Magpie and Luvs made me think about my childhood. Actually, I grew up in the Brussels' European District and my grand parents used to rent furnished rooms to EEC employees. So I always had expats around me till I've been sixteen and my grand parents were too old, sold their home and bought a flat. They were generally English, Scotish and Italian and also often gathered with their fellow expats but also often participated in the life of our family and became family members. We are still in contact with a lot of them who moved in another town or country. I've worked in schools for three years and since the beginning I tried to stick to the truth as much as possible - except for questions from 4 years old children asking "what are my mom and my dad doing in bed when mummy is screaming..." ooops! I generally replied "for security reasons, they are testing a new kind of toy before letting you play with it; if it's not a good one, they won't let you play with it" - just hope they aren't still waiting to get the toy! I also try to get accurate information on everything I state. All in all, that's what I thought and now I'm free to tell her she is wrong and would have to open her mind. It all began with a new kind of language teaching program tested by the British schools. She stated it was important for ALL English-speaking people to learn to speak foreign languages. Well, I asked why, since English is the first language spoken in the world... She was right on only one thing: French-speaking people only hear one type of sound; which is the reason why they have a very bad accent when they speak another language. Thanks for those great replies!