While there, I spent several hours with Jack in 45* temps and horizontal rain. We talked about the collection & each tree's (all of those pictured above and a few more) history at length, and then went to look at the 30-40 trees that were in the collection, but usually out of the public's view. We then went to his home & spent a considerable amount of time reviewing his trees and looking at his indoor set-up where he grows MANY temperate trees you're not supposed to be able to grow indoors. We toured the grounds with the guy from DC in a covered 'limousine' golf cart with side curtains. Everyone was really hurried about their business because there was a sense of urgency to get out of the rain, so I never got the chance to ask the question. I asked Jack, but I didn't get anything definitive from him. I haven't forgotten about it though. I had composed a letter/message yesterday articulating the question in such a way that I would get a technical answer, but as I was correcting the message I hit a 'wrong key' and lost the whole thing. Frustrated, I abandoned the idea for the day. ;o) More when I DO find something out. Al

My Dear Sweet Micki I haven't been on the Forum lately but tonight I couldn't sleep so I got on to see what everyone is up to. I always go to Conversations first, when I started reading your post I got so scared for you, immediately said a prayer while I read the posts than the Good News. I know going thru Radiation again is difficult but the fact that your doctors checked again and got the results almost immediately is awesome. Everyone has posted just what I feel about you and how much you mean to me for all you did for me. My "Healing Tree" is still up and I will never take it down. It is to remind me that God is Good and that you are my Special Angel. And each ornament was made with a prayer for my recovery by my fellow "Junkee" Angels. How blessed we are to have such friends. Prayers on the way! Love as Always NanaGrandma/Sylvia

Well, the party line answer is clearly both, and obviously for me too, there is enjoyment of the process and the results. I think that must be true for any gardener who is involved in the making of their own garden space and who isn't getting paid for doing it. But I find that as I get older and farther down the garden path, I would like to enjoy the results more, and I find that the process itself can sometimes be tedious, expensive, require too much patience, and overwhelming. So I am going to be brutally honest here -- while I enjoy the work of gardening to some extent, if I could hire more people to do more things for me and just enjoy the results myself, I would do it. The problem is that, for the most part, if you are a real plant geek like I am (and a whole lot of others who responded above), you can't really hire people to arrange plants for you in the way you want them. So there is a certain amount that you have to be involved with yourself. Being involved again in the creation of a new garden, and having left a mature one, I have to say that so far, I enjoyed the mature one more. The last few years I spent there I did work a lot in the garden still, of course, but the proportion of time spent just enjoying the garden was greater. That doesn't mean that I was sitting when I enjoyed it. It doesn't mean that I didn't pull a weed or two when I walked with a glass of wine in the evening. But after 20 years working on that space, the garden felt "finished" to a great extent. That doesn't mean that there would never be anything new. But the garden had a certain cohesiveness that is certainly lacking in my new garden. It also had as much seasonal interest as I could pack into 2/3 acre in my rotten climate. So, weather permitting, the garden always had moments of great beauty and enjoyment for me. But then again, I know that one of the reasons the garden meant so much to me is that I had spent 20 years making it. I had watched the trees, shrubs, perennials that I had planted get moved from one place to anohter (NAY he says, "I MOVED them from one place to another"...) until they finally found a place that they (and I) liked. Still garden making takes patience, and it is hard in the early stages not to want more results, with less work at garden making. I think that's one reason why, relatively speaking, I did not take many pictures of the new garden this year -- in the last year I was at my old place I took over a thousand, this year less than 100. A reflection that the garden was more about process than results, so far. One of the greatest times of garden enjoyment I ever remember in my old garden was after a big garden tour. The weeds were all pulled, the plants all relatively pristine (it was mid-June), the crowds were gone, my family and the dog were gone, the walks and drives all neat and clean, no cars or other distractions to be seen. Then I walked through and enjoyed my own garden, for a couple of hours, nobody but me and the hummingbirds and butterflies. One of the best times of garden enjoyment I ever had, along with very early foggy mornings and late summer evenings. Give me more of those, and less back-breaking work, any day....

I love it! It sounds like my Grandmother talking to the young version of me. One of the highlights of my Air Force public affairs job was speaking to Mr. Brokaw, and calling him back on his private work line, in connection with space shuttle and several NASA officials being transported to our base.