IF it is appropriate to fertilize (and that can only be determined by a soil test or the plants indicating an obvious need), then the fall is an excellent time to do so, especially with hardy woody plants. Roots are in a period of active growth at that time and it has been documented that they are more able to access and metabolize nutrients then than at most other times of the growing season. You just want to avoid a high nitrogen fertilizer -- pretty much anything organic would work. Although I would never say NEVER (ken, ken, ken!!), established trees and shrubs seldom require supplemental fertilizing unless soil pH is marginal and chlorotic conditions develop. Anything applied to the top of the soil surface can be considered a 'mulch', although organic mulches like bark OR compost (or leaves, grass clippings, wood chips, etc.) are preferred and compost will provide an excellent, well-rounded, low grade nutrient source. If you mulch with compost regularly, you may NEVER (and I qualified that with a "may", ken!!) need to fertilize :-)

"we would have to have all the facts of the quality of the plants.. ball and burlap vs pot .. source [bigboxstore?? ].. how rootbound the pot may have been and what you did about it ...... how they were planted.. when ... how well they were watered the first summer... how much mulch was applied ... what if any weedwhip damage .. what if any lawn spray might be involved ... how you dealt with a pot full of peaty potting media in your bad clay ... which you said was already swampy .... even in drought ..." Bought them in 2007 when they were approximately 16" tall from a nursery going out of business. They were potted. Hole was dug twice as deep and wide as the pot, with compost placed at the very bottom of the hole before putting the unpotted roots in the hole, and backfilled. I haven't mulched them, and we don't use string trimmers on the arbs to avoid trunk damage. The farthest we go is using a walk behind, and pulling any weeds or tall grass. I never said my lawn was swampy. It doesn't flood, The ground doesn't sink while walking or driving over it. My boots become wetter from morning dew. I didn't start spraying for spider mites until an infestation in 2011. Before that time, I was under the impression arbs were impervious to almost all wildlife... clearly not so in my region. I don't spray my lawn for weeds. This is the only one with any issues. At the very least the others aren't stressed.

After the cones of T. occidentalis mature and go brown they can look pretty ugly, the way they are densely clustered on the trees. Also when the concept hoped for is a wall of green - like a vertical lawn - sections of cones, even when not yet brown don't fit the image. Maybe this is one of the reasons for the extreme popularity ofT. occidentalis 'Smaragd' - not only is it dense, strongly green and often quite narrow - I don't remember it having noticeable cones very often. A T. occidentalis 'Nigra' I saw on the heavily watered lawns of the Yakima Area Arboretum may have been comparatively full but otherwise this selection - pretty much always described as deep green* but in fact differing instead from the typical plant in color by being a bluish green, as we see in the photos here - seems to be one of those that tends to produce a see through specimen, unless site conditions are ones promoting density. *I don't know if stock on the contemporary market under the name is true to the original introduction or not

Carol: I'm happy and proud for Holly. Autistic children are VERY SMART, and VERY GIFTED. Jess: I was puzzled by the 40 lbs. mistake too, I saw your hand in one of the pic., it's a slender hand. I'm happy that it's only 20 lbs., due to the kilograms conversion. Twenty pounds is easy to lose. It took me 6 months to lose 20 lbs. when I had the time to eat salad & apple & carrot & exercise. Then I got busy & get into fast-food & IV myself with juice ... and gained back 20 lbs. WEIGHT-LOSS is a life-long-habit to MAINTAIN, rather than a goal to achieve. People achieve that goal, go back to the old habits, and re-gain all-over again. Jim: Thanks for that link on processed meat, I read the entire article. I wish it would say how many people were involved in that study, or how many test-subjects. Re-post info. from Huffingpost on tips to lose weight: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/tips-losing-weight_562e8606e4b00aa54a4ab51b "Aim for 20 to 35 grams of fiber a day from plant foods, since fiber helps fill you up and slows absorption of carbohydrates. " Portion control: Popular “100-calorie” food packages do the portion controlling for you Eating mindfully means giving full attention to what you eat, savoring each bite, acknowledging what you like and don’t like, and not eating when distracted (such as while watching TV, working on the computer). Chew slowly, and savor each bite: Keep in mind also that the most pleasure often comes from the first few bites of a food; after that, it’s the law of diminishing returns. Thus, you should focus on those first few tastes of chocolate, cake, or other indulgences, as this may be enough to satisfy. Get protein in all meals: Some research suggests that distributing your protein throughout the day also helps in weight loss, rather than eating the bulk of it at, say, dinnertime. According to a 2015 paper in theAmerican Journal of Clinical Nutrition, higher-protein diets that include at least 25 grams of protein at each meal may reduce appetite and thus body weight, compared with lower-protein diets. Limit variety at meals. Don’t drink your calories. Allow for (controlled) indulgences. Consider weighing yourself regularly—at least once a week." Huffington Post Tips. **** From Straw: I agree with the above. My lowest weights were achieved when I snacked on high-fiber & high-protein cereal with soy milk ... with at least 35 gram of fiber per day. Also at least 25 g. of protein for each meal, be it peanut-butter or eggs for breakfast, beans for lunch, or fish/meat for dinner. I gained weight whenever I forget to weigh myself at least once a week. Really love their tip of " Keep in mind also that the most pleasure often comes from the first few bites of a food; after that, it’s the law of diminishing returns." So true, I really enjoy the first 4 bites of peanut-butter toast, that's all I can remember ... the rest was just to fill my stomach. Dolly Parton stays slim with her life-long habit, she eats 3 bites of a yummy food, and NO MORE. Practice portion-control is actually fun, once it becomes a habit. So proud of myself last night, I had a sour fruit, so I grabbed a fig-bar, took 3 bites, it was too sweet ... Instead of finishing that, I told myself "You don't have to eat that, you can give it to God." So I wrapped the rest and put away, GREAT FEELING! It felt good to be in control over a piece of junk, and turning something over to God, rather than torturing my body with that.