aw come on ... its alive.. WHAT MORE DO YOU EXPECT FROM A TREE YOU JUST PLANTED ... $40 bucks is about right .... in a year or two.. you will be limbing it up.. and get rid of every single one of those branches.. who cares what they look like now .. they have leaves.. they are feeding the plant ... it is growing roots .... pshaw ... now.. that tree in a 5 gal pot.. did you take the time to unwind or cut heavily circling roots... i dont recall if mentioned above ... if not.. dig it back up in late fall and plant it the right way ... and in the right spot subject to what is next ... now.. i dont like elms... and i ask the rest of you.. that close to the house .. is that a good place for THAT elm .... the carp elms in my 'hood' are all the Chinese elms that shed branches when the neighbors sneeze .... SHOULD SHE MOVE IT AWAY FROM THE HOUSE FOR THAT REASON??? i suspect.. that most of us gardeners.. have paid more.. for a better bargain.. for stock looking worse than that.. and with our help.. i suspect you are at a 95% success rate with most trees ... JUST DONT DROWN IT OR FERT IT ... on some level .. ignore the nattering nay-bobs ... as helpful as they usually are ... i think they are just jealous here .. lol ... could it be better .. yes was it a bargain .. yes ... was it a waste of money .. not really if you like it ... will it live and make you happy.. probably ... quit worrying about it ... if nothing else.. its a $40 lesson ... been there.. done that ... how about a $100 hosta that died a week later.. talk about regrets .... ken

There is certainly nothing wrong with using natives and/or other xerophytes, but they are no panacea. Poor watering practices waste more water than high water-needs plants. It makes no difference if you are growing Toyon instead of Holly, Hollyleaf Cherry instead of English Box and Clustered Field Sedge instead of Marathon Sod if you are going to water for five minutes every morning with half the water from your poorly installed/adjusted/plannned irrigation system spraying onto the sidewalk, driveway and street instead of your garden beds or lawn. Ryan

Moni, I recently bought a new trowel because I'd misplaced mine. Of course, the next day after I began using the new one, I found the old one buried under some mulch. I don't buy tools very often. I try to buy high-quality ones that will last a long time, and I buy them old and well-used or new. Often the old ones are higher quality than the newer ones. I did buy some Reemay-type floating row covers this winter to use to cover some of the squash plants this summer. George, I'm glad you're enjoying your Lee Valley Tools. Just holding that spading fork of yours in my hands made me want to run home, get on the website and order something--anything--from them. I'll probably talk myself into something from Lee Valley, even though I don't specifically "need" anything at this time. It is just so nice that someone is still making quality tools that can stand up to a heavy workload. Jay, The tools from Lee Valley are in a class by themselves. The moment you pick up a Lee Valley tool and hold it in your hand, you know you holding a heavy, old-fashioned (as in high-quality), tool that is made to last. They remind me of the tools my dad had in the 1960s, although I don't think Lee Valley existed back then. When I recommended Lee Valley to George a few months ago, I was just hoping their quality was the same as it always has been. When I held his new Lee Valley tools in my hands and looked at them at the plant swap, I knew that Lee Valley was still making high-quality tools. Their prices are somewhat shocking, but they are worth it. Hardin, We have a fiberglass-handled shovel, transplanting spade and fork that were Christmas gifts. I guess ours are about 10 years old now and still unbroken, uncracked, unchipped, etc. They are very durable, but if anything ever happens to them, I'll probably replace them with the wooden-handled ones from Lee Valley. I just like the old-fashioned feel of a wooden-handled tool, provided it is a good quality wood. Dawn

I'm on Windows on an HP laptop. I have the Gardenweb.com site pinned to my browser so when I sign in and open the browser, it's one of several sites which automatically open without having to mess with their foul sign-in pains. Thankfully, THAT still works as it's worked for a very long time. That said, that's likely the next thing HOUZZLESS will focus on to destroy.