Hi Jordi, sorry for the delay. I've been quite buisy this week. Rosemarie's guess on this Commiphora-like Euphorbia isn't bad. E. guerichiana occurs in Namibia, builds shrubs up to 2 m or trees up to 6 m, stem up to 30 cm in diameter with paper-like bark, branches erect, about 3 cm in diameter. Maybe trouble causing are the leaves of your plant. According to literature the leaves of guerichiana are obovate to lanceolate, 3 to 6 mm and more long, 1.2 to 2.3 mm in diameter, apex rounded, base cuneate, margins entire, light green to blue green, minutely puberulous when young on both sides, with green or pale red petiole of 0,25 to 4 mm in length, deciduous. To me the leaves of your plant look somewhat larger than described, but I'm uncertain about the true sizes. Frank www.euphorbia.de

Do you have any idea what Sherwin Williams paint this island (not the cabinets--they are stained) is closest to? (I posted this in the kitchen forum also) Thank you!

here is a lesson ... those are single leaves ... from the trunk ... yes.. all 5 leaves and that stem.. is technically one leaf .. it falls off as one ... ever after 30 plus years in the garden.. it mystifies me.. so i always bring it up ... and it also narrows down the possible plants it could be ... ash being the usual suspect ... most likely.. once you google up some images.. you are going to find a mature seeding tree.. very close.. if you have that many rogue seedlings around ... many newbs .. get excited about a free tree... but let me suggest ... on some level.. its a garbage tree.. that self sows too many seedlings under and around it ... and no matter where you stand today on that thought.. sooner or later.. after you have pulled out your hundredth.. or thousandth seedling.. you might understand why i say it ... ken

The pot is very large, considering it only needs to be large enough to provide a home for a root system only large enough to supply moisture to the plants above-ground parts. Odds favor over-watering as the culprit causing the current calamity. If you're using the second knuckle method of checking moisture levels, it's almost a certainty the lower reaches of the soil are 100% saturated, even if the top inch or two of soil is dry. It's far better to make/use a 'tell' from a wooden dowel rod. See below for more about using a 'tell'. Given what I just said, there is a very good chance, even a slight probability, the root system is suffering from one of the fungal infections commonly grouped under the heading of damping off diseases. When you repot, you should bare-root the plant and completely change the soil/grow medium. If you want a step by step tutorial, ask and I'll upload it. If/when you do bare-root it, keep the roots wet at all times. It is highly unlikely, 'certainty' could probably be used here, that you'll discover the roots are healthy. Remove any rotten roots by cutting them back until you find sound tissue, then cut back a little more. It's important to remove as much rot as possible if the plant is to survive. If you DO repot using the same pot, make sure you use something in the bottom for ballast. Properly used, ballast can be a lifesaver as it displaces soil at the bottom of the pot that would otherwise be 100% saturated with water, refusing to drain after a good watering. The pots above are full of soil. The shaded part is 100% saturated soil. Image D uses an over-turned pot as ballast. Compare the shaded area in D to A in order to get an idea of what ballast can do for you. Have you been fertilizing? With what? How often? Does the pot have a drain hole? Has your tapwater been routed through an ionic exchange water softener (one that utilizes salt as the source for exchange ions)? I ask because another potential cause is a level of dissolved solids (salts from fertilizer solution and/or what's dissolved in your tap-water) would limit the plant's ability to take up water. Using a 'tell' Over-watering saps vitality and is one of the most common plant assassins, so learning to avoid it is worth the small effort. Plants make and store their own energy source – photosynthate - (sugar/glucose). Functioning roots need energy to drive their metabolic processes, and in order to get it, they use oxygen to burn (oxidize) their food. From this, we can see that terrestrial plants need plenty of air (oxygen) in the soil to drive root function. Many off-the-shelf soils hold too much water and not enough air to support the kind of root health most growers would like to see; and, a healthy root system is a prerequisite to a healthy plant. Watering in small sips leads to avoid over-watering leads to a residual build-up of dissolved solids (salts) in the soil from tapwater and fertilizer solutions, which limits a plant's ability to absorb water – so watering in sips simply moves us to the other horn of a dilemma. It creates another problem that requires resolution. Better, would be to simply adopt a soil that drains well enough to allow watering to beyond the saturation point, so we're flushing the soil of accumulating dissolved solids whenever we water; this, w/o the plant being forced to pay a tax in the form of reduced vitality, due to prolong periods of soil saturation. Sometimes, though, that's not a course we can immediately steer, which makes controlling how often we water a very important factor. In many cases, we can judge whether or not a planting needs watering by hefting the pot. This is especially true if the pot is made from light material, like plastic, but doesn't work (as) well when the pot is made from heavier material, like clay, or when the size/weight of the pot precludes grabbing it with one hand to judge its weight and gauge the need for water. Fingers stuck an inch or two into the soil work ok for shallow pots, but not for deep pots. Deep pots might have 3 or more inches of soil that feels totally dry, while the lower several inches of the soil is 100% saturated. Obviously, the lack of oxygen in the root zone situation can wreak havoc with root health and cause the loss of a very notable measure of your plant's potential. Inexpensive watering meters don't even measure moisture levels, they measure electrical conductivity. Clean the tip and insert it into a cup of distilled water and witness the fact it reads 'DRY'. One of the most reliable methods of checking a planting's need for water is using a 'tell'. You can use a bamboo skewer in a pinch, but a wooden dowel rod of about 5/16” (75-85mm) would work better. They usually come 48” (120cm) long and can usually be cut in half and serve as a pair. Sharpen all 4 ends in a pencil sharpener and slightly blunt the tip so it's about the diameter of the head on a straight pin. Push the wooden tell deep into the soil. Don't worry, it won't harm the root system. If the plant is quite root-bound, you might need to try several places until you find one where you can push it all the way to the pot's bottom. Leave it a few seconds, then withdraw it and inspect the tip for moisture. For most plantings, withhold water until the tell comes out dry or nearly so. If you see signs of wilting, adjust the interval between waterings so drought stress isn't a recurring issue. Al