Sam, Clement, Resin and bboy, thank you very much for your answers. All three P. menziesii should be of almost exactly the same age. Is it a possibility that genetic variances between them caused one's bark to mature faster? It is quite likely that the third one is P. pinaster since that tree used to be planted on small scale for forestry around where I live. Thank you for the compliment, Sam. :) Taxus baccata is a conifer which is wild growing here anywhere; presumably because of its extensive use for hedges. Close to the one I found were numerous "normal" (single coloured, dark green ones) so this one catched my eye immediately. This one has smaller, more sickle shaped leaves which are green on the inside and bright-yellow across their edges. This post was edited by liopleurodon on Fri, May 17, 13 at 5:23

Hi Linda: I never thought of pesticides. Come to think of it I have not seen a ground hog, skunk, or racoon lately either. The ground hogs always attacked my swiss chard, and ate the apples which dropped from my tree. There are definitely no pesticides on my property and the neighbours on either side have small kids and work so they just plunk in a few annuals from the nursery each year. We live in the suburbs and there are a few farms nearby: mostly corn and strawberries. However, they have recently been bought out by a larger outfit and I wonder about their methods. I commented to neighbours recently that you don't see any worms in the corn, which were present when 'old Henry' ran the farm organically. I must investigate this more fully. I definitely have fewer bees, and I have seen several yellow jackets rather slow moving and listless. I get some butterflies attracted to my Blue Fortune, but that's about it. It really is sad. I must make an effort to check other parts of the neighbourhood. Thanks for your ideas.

Hi Carol23_gw and Floral_uk . Thanks for taking the time to id my plant . With both suggestions I did a google search and at first I thought neither were the correct answer . Ulmaria seemed way too tall to fit the plant I grow here and Palmata seemed the bloom was pink and mine is not. However , upon further research I believe Floral_uk that you are correct . It is a palmata but Palmata ' Elegans' which is a white bloom. YAY ! I finally have an id on this plant. I have been growing for some 6 or 7 years. Meadowsweet ........who kniew ?

looks like a particularly aggressive Eriosyce? I only have one, an occulta. It is largely bald.