Ken, my GGs were planted in two installments: First, three rather nice, larger specimens from Botany Shop went in up in the well-drained field soil where my primary tree seedling planting is going on. That would have been maybe four years ago. To tell the truth, I did not see these three on my visit, as they are in amongst lots of other rapidly growing pine, spruce and larch. Then two years ago, I put in three more but this time, downhill in a decidedly wet area, right adjacent to native Thuja o's. Those are the ones within which you can see such a huge difference. Who knows, maybe these are less well adapted somehow on account of being down in the swamp. I can't see why that would be so, but just thought I'd throw that in. I also have mentioned Chamaecyparis lawsoniana "Oregon Blue", of which three little guys were planted last spring. We also planted one of these at my son's house in Cedarburg, a town not far from whaas and TJ's area. All of these look toasted-a not-too-surprising outcome. Mine up north were snow-covered all winter until just recently, where the tips became exposed. If those tips indicate anything, these are in trouble. Son's looks probably dead. Of course, all are being left in place for now. I never had real high hopes for that particular experiment. I'd bet yours will go on as if nothing happened. This winter may have helped us mark a line on the map for that plant's suitability. For my part, I'm more happy than anything....to see the utter ease with which most of my stuff has made it through-Norway spruce, red pine, white pine, hybrid larch (I think!), uh what am I forgetting? Oh yeah, the Thuja o's! We're going to dig some more little ones if it ever warms up a bit and drys out, to be moved up into groupings in the main field planting area. All of those we've done previously have survived and thrived. Plus, most mysteriously, deer leave them be, completely. That's odd, but I'm glad of it, of course. Good luck whaas. +oM

Please ignore my question. I will not be back to Garden Web to read it. Thank you anyways. Lorie

OH, Doug, I read it quite well and it does not support or agree with the study you posted. In fact the link I posted states the following, amongst other things about selenium but it doesn't say what you posted. "Goggins says the key to selenium supplementation is not taking too much, though. He recommends women take 50-60 mcg a day to raise levels to the ideal range, and men 100 mcg. However, it is difficult to buy selenium pills at such low levels, so the authors suggest finding a good brand (e.g. Solgar Yeast Bound Selenium, 100 mcg) and breaking the tablet in half, or taking one tablet every other day." Now you said the following "his landmark research effort showed that daily supplementation of diets with 200 micrograms of selenium yeast cut the cancer death rate in half." Now, who didn't read a link? I'm not going to play tit for tat with you. You can post all you want till the cows come home. There is no regulation of any kind in supplements, especially ones that are obtained from out of the country, manufactured out of the country and brought into this country. There is a place for some alternative treatments, but those that you are advocating, well, they are suspect to say the least. No one, especially me ever said that our health care system is the best. As a matter of fact, I support a universal health care system, not what we have now or even the Affordable Health care act, that was passed. but that is far better than what we have had. Nothing is perfect and no matter how hard one tries, there will always be such things as infections in hospitals, deaths from medications and it is an unfortunate fact. There is no possible way to test any medication for 100% safety. That can only come once it has passed the testing that the FDA requires and then the medication is widely used by the general public and done so over quite a number of years. Then and only then, will some possible side effects start to show up that could not be found unless there is mass use of the particular drug. That isn't defense of big pharma, that is a fact. When testing is done on a limited number of people, for example 5000 people, the side effects of that drug can appear to be very safe, or as safe as can be determined. When the same drug is then widely used and more than 150,000 people use that same drug, then various side effects can start to show up that where not seen before. and yes, sometimes, factual information is kept from the FDA until it is too late and people have died that would have not died if big pharma told the truth. There is also something called the "risk benefit ratio" that is used in prescribing medications and how doctors and their patients make decisions on when to use a particular medication and when not to. Unless you are in a position to have to decide something based on that "risk/benefit ratio", you don't know what you might or might not do, decide to use or not use and whether you are willing to take the risk that the medication that might save you life, could give you a life to live and function in could also kill you, that procedure, treatment, test could be that last you ever have or it could give you a new lease on life. Believe me, from personal experience, those are very, very hard decisions to make, scary ones to make, and yet I've made them more than once, and I'm here posting on this thread because of those choices. On the other hand, there are people that made the same choice I did, and they are not alive to talk about it. Your idea of supplements, vitamins, minerals etc, they come from all over, have been found to be contaminated with lead, and various other contaminants that have the potential if not the outright ability to kill those that take that brand; and that is because there is nothing, no regulations, no US agency that is responsible for making sure these imports are safe. They just come into this country and are popped right on the shelf of stores to sell and it's the buyer beware of what you are taking and what is contained or not contained in the bottle. There have been many cases where the dose was way to high or way lower than the bottle claimed. Any why? because no one checks them, no one regulates them, no one is responsible for them. make all the claims you want, it still doesn't change the facts, dosing with vitamins, minerals, various supplements have overall been proven to be a waste of money, not safe and the few that have a benefit or might have a benefit are being sold in way to high doses to be safe.

My primary care physician is a D.O., my cardiologist is a D.O. and the guy who is going to perform surgery on my right eye in a couple weeks is a D.O. I also have seen a gastrologist who was a D.O. On the other hand, my Orthopedic guy is an M.D. and my opthamologist is an M.D. I feel I get good care from them all.