I think you would find gardening very liberating and appealing in NC compared to Minnesota. We can grow many more varieties of plants here compared to northern states, and the weather makes it possible to garden year round. Spring can be very spectacular when dogwoods and azaleas are blooming, and weather is most pleasant in spring and fall. Summers can be oppressive when we have spells of hot weather, and it's not unusual to have extended stretches when high temperatures are above 90 degrees. That's generally not a problem for gardening unless accompanied by dry spells and droughts, which unfortunately seem to be becoming more prevalent. The weather in fall is also very nice, although the leaf show is probably not as spectacular here as in Minnesota due to lack of sugar maples. Winters are very mild and some plants (eg, pansies) will thrive and bloom from fall through spring. In the Wake Forest area and throughout Wake County, we unfortunately are having a population boom and loss of natural habitat for deer, which can be a serious problem depending on where you live. In my neighborhood in N. Raleigh, deer roam through the yards at night eating just about everything in sight. This has forced a drastic change in my gardening. I used to grow lots of vegetables, pansies in winter, daylilies and hostas - but the deer have changed all of that. I don't grow vegetables at all any more, and have to spray my hostas and daylilies with repellent to keep the deer from eating them to the ground.

A forest will choke out a thicket, I often recomend that fruit and nut trees be planted on purpose, so that we lock up carbon and produce food for ourselves, and chocke out the brush plants that are unpleasent to walk through. When you go on a hike along a tail it seems that you are always either bordered by clearing/lawn or by a thicket, but once you break through that thicket you can useually travle quite quickly and easily and have plenty of space to move about. The main reasonfor removing trees and brush historicly wasn't to make things more pleasent, it was to open up land for agricultural use. with a field we can grow staple cerial grains, or legumes, or use it as pasture for animals, while some trees may provide seasonal food for some critters it takes alot of work to survive off of them year round (and trust me when I say thing, willow does not taste that good) . Our modenr day lawns were not contrived from thin air, you need to look at were they came from to understand how they fit in. Lawns are popular mainly in the south (sure, lots of people like them, but in the south they are sick for them) the south had a large portion of its caucasian inhabitants come from scotland (the southern drawl is very closely related to the scots accent) in schotland they have huge green field that are kept down to a few inches all summer long, this is because there is alot of rain and people raise sheep. Now, in the south there isn't as much water in the summer, and there aren't as many sheep, but people still liked the look of home so a lawn with mowers and irrigation is what they came up with.

I’m no good at identifying hawks either, Digit! Don’t have any idea what the one I saw last week was! About the only one I’m ever really certain of is a Red Tail—in flite, when I see the glint of red in the sun! But here are a couple pages that “might” help—some! This is about the best “hawk ID” page I’ve found! http://www.birds-of-north-america.net/hawks.html And this is the “main page” with links to other birds of prey too! http://www.birds-of-north-america.net/Birds_of_Prey.html I can’t use this on my Dumb Phone, but possibly it could help you—and others! Just got it in an email today! http://ebird.org/content/ebird/news/merlinphotoid/?utm_source=Cornell+Lab+eNews&utm_campaign=ac5ca3fdac-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2016_12_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_47588b5758-ac5ca3fdac-302450646 And this is another “bird email” I got today with three “bird cam shorts!” I noticed it because Zach brought up ravens above, and the first short video has a VERY “vocal” young raven in it! Enjoy! http://us2.campaign-archive2.com/?u=b35ddb671faf4a16c0ce32406&id=de8a57e0bb&e=cb6f4a5944 My feeders—and birdbath—have been mobbed for the last couple days! Wonder why!!! Just a little bit chilly out there! Haven’t seen a flicker back at the suet again, but I do believe the house sparrows have decided to look for Friendlier Yards, so I think I’m probably safe in putting the second suet cage back out near the little branches—where the house finches and juncos can reach it! Looks like more “weather” coming in in the next week—or two! Feed the birds! Skybird

Beng: Right, Rothkugel is the earliest forest planting. And, it was a planting that mixed the spruce with European larch, and black locust. As a result, the trees are in places scattered or in small groups. but, they are in a forest, and are the oldest such trees. Yes, NS were planted here way back in colonial times, but few of these trees survive, or can be documented to be from that period without core samples being taken. The oldest one--I think--that I knew of near here was at the old house at Morven Park in Leesburg, VA. But, when they did a renovation/restoration of the house, they took no care to protect the grand old tree, so it's now gone. Of course, its planting may not have been at the time of the building of the house, but If I were to take a guess, I would say that tree dated back to at least the 1880's. I consider its loss to be a great shame, and am astonished that care was not taken to protect it, and its root system, during the work. The view of it from one of the upper rooms was wonderful! The first "extensive" planting of Norway spruce in this country happened as a result of the Colombian Exposition of 1893. What I know about this is sketchy, and I am not sure how to get verification, but here goes anyway: the story I heard is that at the German Pavilion, they handed out little seedlings to anyone that wanted them, and that they also told about the tradition in Germany of a young married couple planning "bride and groom" trees in front of their house--a pair. You can still see this in front of many old homes, although they are gradually disappearing, with one or more dying, or the houses being removed, or renovated, with no protection given to the trees. Many of these pairs of trees are quite old, and could date from that year. When I travelled in England a number of years ago, I saw extensive forest plantings of Sitka spruce. I don't think they are hardy here. They planted one at the VA Arboretum, but it didn't survive. I have spent a number of years on the West coast, and explored the forests of the Pacific NW, and saw some of the giant Sitka spruce trees, some 300 feet tall, and up to, and maybe over, 17 feet in base diameter. --Spruceman