Beautiful fall photos, everybody! I missed my chance here - to busy with Thanksgiving, DD's birthday, Adrian;s birthday and the party scene! Ooooh, I don;t envy you the Honey Locist clean up Marian. But is the tree gorgeous in the summer? I have a weeping Gingko, that is a Gingko grafted onto something else so it grows in an umbrella type shape - but in the grafting process somehow the yellow fall colour is lost! The fan-shaped leaves just turn brown around the very edges and then the leaves fall, still basically green, and all at once. One day the leaves are on the tree, the nex they are on the ground. Wierd. It is not nice to try to fool Mother Nature!

Love them, can't grow them reliably here because this area is rife with diplodia lately. I have half-dead ones who will be ugly their entire life until the infection finishes them off in a bad year. I say lately since some of them were quite large and nice until the last two decades.

Those are fine pictures Laura, and I live in Southern Illinois. The bumper crop of squirrles here, though cute, have dug up my bulbs, the expensive tuberous begonias and even chewed up my lawn furniture cushions at my lake house. They used to stymie me from feeding the woodland birds before I discovered the solution: "Squirrel Season". I invited all my hunting friends to show up and fill their freezers, and so they did. Problem gone. As a boy I used to love squirrel hunting with my Dad, but now I seem to have no stomach for the hunting sport. I'm sort of liking that foil on my head idea, but since I tried it, the aluminum reacted to the steal plate in my head and the people who take care of me had to take my foil and my crayons away. At least the birds like me and my bulbs are safe. 'Tis a mystery, but I agree with others that you have a squirrelly problem. jim

Native Red Cedar turns into a lovely and stately tree, IMHO, and it provides food and shelter for native wildlife. Plus, if you know anyone with some old farm property, they likely have some that they would be willing to give you for free, and the effort of digging one up. Amalanchier or Serviceberry/Shadbush, Vernal Witchhazel...both lovely natives and great for supporting native wildlife. They provide welcome blooms for pollinators in early Spring or late Winter, respectively, even before Redbud blooms. Here is Serviceberry in early April. The photo below of Witchhazel was taken in January. And the scent is divine! Fringe tree (Chionanthus virginicus), another Southeast native is also a lovely addition and rather carefree, with fruit much favored by native songbirds, though it is deciduous. Or, how about a Sweet bay Magnolia (M. virginiana)? Smaller than the usual M. grandiflora, and lovely scent to the flowers, though it is deciduous in our zone. Alternatively, "Little Gem" Magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora 'Little Gem') grows to less than 30 feet and is evergreen. Go native!