I very much enjoyed Marian's link to Tabby cats. I had always thought "calico" was the term for cats that have largely grey coats, but with large patches of white and also hints of buff around their eyes and the bases of their tails. I see that coloration in handsome Ted although his coat appears to a "classic" or "modified classic" Tabby. Vera is "classic" Tabby, both Spencer and Polly are "mackerel" Tabbies, but both show the coloration I described above as "calico", Spencer having a good deal of white on his body. I was esp. interested to learn that a Tortoiseshell pattern is a specific sort of Calico and I did know that coloration is very closely sex-linked. It's all very interesting. But I've never met a cat that wasn't! I did some alteration work yesterday and shortened two pair of tab top curtains, using the excess fabric to fashion tie backs for them, too. I have another two pair of slacks to hem and a zipper to replace either today or tomorrow. Alterations and repair/re-style work always comes back when economic conditions take a nose dive. And I'm very glad I was well trained lo those many years ago. Anyone need new pockets in anything?. (I've become rather rusty with zipper replacements in slacks, though. It took me 15 minutes, up from my personal best which was about 8 minutes (including removing the broken one). ;) Woody, I've seen that Jap. Maple at a local nursery and I simply adored it. You have excellent taste! We have a Bloodgood on the Compound and I've wanted to add a few more but there is still too much "hardscaping" and reorganization on the docket for me to consider forking over the sort of pork required to obtain a nice sized specimen. I rather miss your frequent posts, too, but knowing you're "applying yourself" to the class makes me smile. Michelle, I love the look of matching picture frames... and the aerial views of the farm must be wonderful. I recall commenting on them once a long time ago. It's always neat to see things from the perspective of a bird (or Brenda as she plummets toward terra firma after hurling herself out of plane). I'll bet you're glad the audit is over! I suppose the thing to bear in mind is that the audit is there as form of control and protection and NOT to simply make everyone's life miserable for a fixed period of time. This is definitely the time of year I most wish I'd made the effort to bring in some "germamiums" from the windowboxes... alas. PM, how funny that I didn't read your post to Marian in a negative way, at all. But I've never been much for hunting for "DHMs" (deep hidden meanings) anyway; takes too much time and too much energy, to my mind. ;) I'm impressed by the scope of the JulieJobs you put behind you, Marian. Wanna come here and do some of that in my house? I'll bet you felt great after you finished. It's good to know you're in a "brighter" place. Life in a dark, shadowy world is no fun but sometimes we find ourselves there even when we don't wish to be. I would really like to see the pop open cat cube; our cats have developed a real fondness for a particular upholstered footstool that sits in front of Daddy's chair. It's been basically shredded, and reclaiming it from their sharp little claws will be no day at the beach for me, but for the time being it's OK that they pounce on it, grapple it, and slither around underneath it. We do indulge them. ;) Wondering if Mary has yet put a stopwatch on David's manoeuvering through the wheelchair agility course? Were you able to get to the concert? I thought of you on Thursday when my boss told me there is a gluten-free bakery going into one of the storefronts in town. Another one offers something called "Chocolate Decadence Cake" as a wheat-free offering. I do believe you're a trend-setter! :) Norma, I managed to score a large piece of 3" foam last week. I'd just finished making new cushions for a cuddy cabin and replaced the foam in the process. If I put it to the coals and make a cover for it Rex will have a smashing new bed, VERY plush. Best of all, he won't care if the foams smells a tad musty! Next warm spell I'll clip some Forsythia... you just shove the shoots in water, right? Cigarettes. I saw firsthand what regular use of them did to someone I loved. Bladder cancer is 95+% attributable to cigarettes. 60+ yrs. of a solid pack/day put Mum in the sorry position she found herself for the last 5 yrs. of her life. Not to mention the toll on her respiratory and vascular system. There are theories that smoking also affects hearing, weakening and reducing elasticity in the tympanic membrane. When I was changeing the urostomy pouch once/twice every week and routinely dealing with all the necessary steps involved I used to look at pretty young women huffin' on a butt and think that there was a time when Mum thought as they did... nothing will ever happen to me. And I wanted to take them home with me to get a good, hard look at REALITY... an 80 yr. old woman who was reduced to peeing into a bag glued to her side and depending on someone else to care for her most intimate, personal needs. Not to mention the sheer scope of the MONEY wasted maintaining the habit. Do the arithmetic, a pack a day X365, then calculate the interest it could earn (or save if applied to a mortgage or installment loan). Clearly, we all share the same view on the topic. But the fact that the addictive properties of nicotene are now becoming clear gives me hope. I feel so bad for W, because he knows the score and in the face of so much flux in his life he's unable to get that monkey off his back. Lots of love (and more love) and support is all that will work. I truly wish him well because I understand just how tough an addiction it can be to get under control. Also the toll it takes on those around you. ((('bug))). Great pictures and Deanne your backyard is as lovely in winter as it is in the summer. I can't wait to see you next weekend; let's hope there is no snowstorm! OK! it's time to get busy with the day. We chalked the lines for the floor last night and it's time for me to get out there and come up with my plan of attack. It took me a fair piece of time to come up with numbers to lay out the grid. I'd been stuck in a rut seeing only parallelograms (rhombus, actually) and was having trouble coming up with measurements required to lay out the grid. Then it came to me... a rhombus is actually 2 equilateral triangles, which can be broken into 4 right triangles... and then it's only a matter of plugging numbers into an equation and isolating variables. Praise be Pythagorus! :) (I loved geometry and it was geometry that made Algebra make sense for me, isn't that silly?). It tickles me that V. is working on the ceiling and I'll be working on the floor... reminds me of the great Paul Simon song, "One Man's Ceiling Is Another Man's Floor".

I haven’t visited these forums in some time and actually rediscovered this thread doing a google search on some rare plants (go figure). Since we have a lot of trees and not a lot of resources and time to protect them, most of my losses are due to deer/rodent herbivory. Instead of dwelling on all of the plants I haven’t been able to keep alive, I’ll mention the highlights and surprises here. I went go in depth on too many so ask if you want more details and I’ll try to keep an eye on this thread and respond back when I can. I have been in Arizona since May and I’m basing the updates from this past growing season on my mother’s observations. -Strongest growing maple is Acer lobelii by far; arrived as a stick broken in half during shipping en route from Colvos Creek Nursery in Washington state and has grown at least 3 feet a year. It towers over all of the other sticks in my maple collection at about 15 feet. -Acer davidii grosseri hersii (what a taxonomic mess!) is the strongest growing snakebark and a new addition since the original post I believe. I don’t give it any “help” nutrition-wise and it has grown 2 feet each year; excellent striped bark turns crimson with the onset of cold weather and the leaves are a mix of red, orange, and purple in the autumn. From Forestfarm and while they are awesome, I have not yet keyed this plant to confirm its identity; either way, doing awesome for a snakebark in a clay-dominated alkaline soil in an exposed area. -Acer rufinerve gets no fertilization either and has some years where it sits back and grows little, and other where it takes off. Apparently this year it grew over 2’, so it now stands about 8’. Bark is excellent, although it doesn’t change to crimson like some of the other snakebarks. Can occasionally develop minor signs of nutrient deficiency but not a big deal. Leaves are amazing both texturally (coarse) and by color in the autumn, a mix of red, orange and violet. -Acer henryi looks like a Boxelder and grows like one in upstate NY. After a rough time establishing and a nasty bout of sunscald, it now grows about 2’ a year and has excellent red and violet autumn colors, with violet usually dominating. -Acer longipes is notable because I was able to get one through a winter (low -13F) with the only damage due to herbivory. Supposedly sprouted up big time this past summer. Not many experts seem to place much faith in its hardiness and it may have been below the snowline at the time of the low temp. Time will tell. -Acer mandshuricum, Acer triflorum, and Acer maximowiczianum all suffer through chlorosis. A. triflorum does the worst, A. maximowiczianum the best. A hybrid from Forestfarm between A. pseudoplatanus and A. griseum has done very well, with violet-backed leaves and red fall color. Hybrid vigor and no cold or soil issues. -Acer oliverianum is starting to pick up steam and has yet to be damaged by temps as low as -16F. Might be benefiting from the protection of a nearby hedge. Fall color is usually reddish-orange; it is deeply shaded. -Calycanthus raulstonii ‘Hartlage Wine’ is a huge success. Massive flowering in the second year and completely hardy. Grows very fast and gets leggy unless trimmed. Flowers are gorgeous and large, with virtually no scent. Numerous visitors that have seen the plants have subsequently scoured google for a dealer. The intense color has even drawn some hummingbirds. Seedless. Highly recommend. -Magnolia grandiflora ‘Bracken’s Brown Beauty’ gets defoliated by about January when the truly consistent cold temperatures begin. This about the time that the soil freezes for good as well, limiting the plant’s ability to care for the leaves no doubt. At times, it looks like a fancy houseplant with shiny green leaves growing amongst the snow. No cold-dieback although it is not yet established and grows only about 6 inches a year max so far (haven’t got an update for this past season yet). It is late to leaf out in the spring. -Have a Stewartia malacodendron that apparently did very well in a shaded and very rich sand lens in a protected area that gets partial shade. It is big enough to be above the (likely) snow line and I will be very, VERY interested in seeing if it overwinters. Perhaps more updates later (and as I receive them!)

Right, as Sue said, it just isn't vigorous and has been tough to propogate. I got very interesting comment on it from Jed from Olivers (who as you might know is willing to offer you ANYTING new and unusual even if it is marginally hardy for z6b). When I ask him about LH he said that even his best grower on Long Island can't produce decent looking (read saleable) plants for two years. Rate of mortality in a first year in nursery conditions is over 30%, in ground almost twice as much. So far nobody knows why it is thriving on West Coast while being a problem on East one. Reminds me of a polemonium 'Brise'd Anjou' story.

I wrote out a whole long response and then lost it when my browser crashed . . . here's the main essence of my suggestions, although I still would vote for no foundation plantings. I would suggest that you map out any paths with flour, not just as a single line, but the actual width and location of the path and try walking it to see if it is comfortable, even if they are paths you won't use much. You don't want to leave so little width that anyone walking the path has to brush up against your plants. You will want your plantings to stay low as well as narrow. If you grow them up to the bottom of your window, they will be against the shingles and you will have discoloration and rot issues. I'm making some general suggestions of shrubs that stay low, but I don't know how much sun this area gets, which will influence what does well. For instance, the red color on the Midnight Wine weigela will be better in more sun, while the variegated leaves on My Monet weigela will do better with some shade. Also, there may be some lime leaching from the foundation, so you may want to do a soil test in that area to see how acidic or alkaline your soil is. I'll let you look up requirements of plants that appeal to you. Here are some low bushes to look into: -Small weigelas include 'My Monet' and 'Midnight Wine', both of which will stay under 2' height and width. -Rhododendron 'Checkmate' is a PJM type of rhodie, but unlike regular PJMs my Checkmate, which is probably 6 years old and went in as a 2' high plant is now only 3' tall. It might be a bit wider than you want, but should be easy to keep in check with light pruning. Some other rhodies with shorter stature can be found on the site linked below, which allows you to search by height, and then the database entries will include width. Not all of these will be easily found, however. -There are some small boxwood varieties, like 'Morris Midget' and 'Morris Dwarf'. -There are several varieties of short, golden leaved spireas, though I am not sure how wide they get. -Some of the new varieties of Hydrangea macrophylla are quite short, such as the Cityline series (Berlin, Venice, Rio, Paris, etc.) though they aren't hardy enough for me to have any experience with them. Another option would be to have plants that stay skinny enough so that they won't be against the foundation. A trellis with one of the smaller clematis might work for you. 'Piilu' is one that is fairly restrained (usually 4-5 feet) but still flowers well. 'Bijou' stays under 2 feet. You could ask on the clematis forum for other suggestions. If you put the trellis between the windows, it would have the decorative metal work for winter interest, and the flowers in the summer without blocking the window. Here is a link that might be useful: American Rhododendron Society database search