This is really a great thread! I just wanted to chime in a bit. I just finished planting 140 trees on about 1 acre, and it went pretty well. I planted: 25 Common Lilac 15 Manchurian Crab 25 White Pine 32 White Spruce 10 Bur Oak 5 Paper Birch 5 Silver Maple 5 Black Cherry 5 Red Oak 5 Rugosa Rose 2 Red Maple 5 Red Pine 4 Hybrid Poplar In addition, this summer, I planted 4 larger trees... a bur oak, an Autumn Blaze Maple, a Siouxland Cottonwood, and a Red Splendor Crab It will be interesting to see how fast everything grows. The clone of Hybrid Poplar I planted can grow anywhere from 5-10 feet per year.. while the bur oak will grow at a glacial 6-18" per year over its entire life. In 1996, about 60 red pines, 10 white pines, and 10 black hills and blue spruce were planted on our land. In 2007, the tallest Red Pine is about 15 feet tall, the tallest White pine is about 12 feet tall, and the tallest spruce is 7 feet tall. Of course, these were all started from seedlings with no weed control for the first 3 years, and only mowing after that (when we moved in). We no longer mow the eastern portion of the property, where red pines are growing. There are a few clearings among the trees, and some shrubs are starting to become established. Among them are Rugosa Rose, low bush blueberry, chokecherry, and American Hazelnut. To date, not one hardwood tree has seeded. Under our deck, however, about 6 Boxelder seeds germinated, and one vigorous and desperate sapling is about 4 feet tall in its second year. I will transplant it to the edge of our property when the leaves drop... Otherwise, the land we own on a lake is already forested... and it's more of a question of management than anything. I desperately want to clear some of the underbrush (it's nearly impossible to walk through the woods here... so thick with underbrush). Between the Beaked Hazel, tree saplings, fallen logs, grass clumps, and various other shrubs, if yo'ure not tripping and trying to regain balance, you have several small branches trying to enter your head through your eye sockets. You basically have to close your eyes and bore your way through the woods with your hands in front of you, shielding your face.

Hi Incitatus First off I need to know if you are in Vail, Corona De Tucson, Basicly where. Because if you are in Tucson the temps are warmer than in Vail... So I need to know how much freeze they have gone threw. Just to let you know I have been growing plants in the high desert all my life, As child at Edwards AFB. My Mother gave me a little corner in the backyard which I grew a vegtable garden, in Casa Grand AZ. while in jr. high, and High School I also grew a vegtable garden. While in apartments in Tucson going to U of A I grew my veggies in pots. I work in a nursery in Tucson. To Start I would never water any plant everyday even in summer. Unless they were bedding plants, or in pots. Watering in the desert needs to be done deeply, it forces roots to grow deeply, and the plants don't get overwatered. The first sign of plants being overwatered is, the plants look fine except that they are not growing, not producing flowers. The second sign, is the leaves starting at the lower leaves turn compleately yellow, and will drop off. Bamboo I don't believe will have an over watering problem as long as they as the soil is a good draining soil. I believe watering everyday for 2 weeks is not long enough to do damage. The duller sheen could be due to the fact that the myrtles are going dormant. In some areas they can go compleatly dormant. In other areas they can go semi-dormant. Depends if you are near a wash, a large park or golf course, or near the mountains or in Tucson. It also depends on your yard and where thing are placed in the yard. This is known as micro climates. when I water to establish; I water once every 3rd day, in summer. Shrubs to depth of 18" trees to 18 - 22". I keep doing this untill I see leaves turning yellow, and droping. Then I will water every 5th day and deeper, till I see the signs again, then every 7th. till I get the watering down to once every 2 weeks. In winter I would water once every 4th or 6th day to start. Again I need to know your area to advise you on what plants to get for privacy. I don't want to tell you something to get if your area wont's support the temps for the plant. If you noticed my zone is 13. That is because I don't follow the USDA's idea of zone temps. That is because they do not take into concideration the extream heat we have to deal with. Any thing that is writen by Sunset deals with the western states, and have zone ranges that deal with all the climets of the west, and takes into concideration the extream heat we have to deal with. I tell you this because If you read something writen by someone who is in the east, and their information tells you, you need to add lime into the soil to bring the ph up to nutural,,, well that would be very bad for us because are soil is a high ph. We have to add acid to our soil to bring our ph down to a nutural level. I hope this isn't too much information to start. Naycat

I think they are full of hot air with their demands or about what they can expect in court, but that doesn't mean it wouldn't be a pain to deal with it. In most places I've lived, if you have vegetation going over into another person's yard (like tree limbs or roots), they can do what they want with it on their side of the property line, but that doesn't mean they can force you to do something on your side. Even if a tree on my property falls onto a neighbor's property, it's not my responsibility unless the person has sent me a certified letter showing there was a hazard. I'm not an attorney, but I would think that they will have a hard time in court, especially if they can't show any damages. Do they actually have any bamboo coming up in their yard from your grove? Or do you know if the rhizomes have crossed over? And what is all this Internet evidence they have? Just because it's on the Internet doesn't mean that it's true or that it applies to your situation. They just sound like they have a hole in their lives that they try to fill with mean-ness. It's unfortunate, but it's probably time for you to consult a lawyer to get a reality check. I don't pick unnecessary battles, but I draw the line at someone trying to force me to do something on my own property, and I sure wouldn't let some neighbor force me to remove plants that are important to me. But that's me. As they say: In the U.S. anyone can sue anybody else over anything, regardless of whether the case has any merit. I'm starting to believe that Britain has a better idea...you can sue anyone, but, if you lose, you pay their attorney's fees, too. That would choke off frivolous suits, like the one you're being threatened with. Keep us posted: I'm very interested in what develops. And good luck to you!

Mine has been shooting like crazy, this is the second year it's been planted and it's doing fine. I think maybe you are watering too much because if you weather has been like ours, I haven't had to water anything. I don't think it needs over an inch a week, like a normal garden plant. I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong on that. I did mulch mine when I planted it, I watered it a couple of times, and I've not watered it since. If your soil feels moist, it's most likely been getting enough water.