Those trees used to shade that complex, and I'm sure the tenants appreciated it during the summer. They'll probably have tufts of twigs at the ends of those stumpy branches for a long time now. That will be interesting to see!! How do I find the City Forester? I know Texas Parks & Wildlife used to have an Urban Forester, I heard him give a talk about the urban forest once, but have no idea how to get in touch with him, there's no link on the TPW website. A search for "urban forester houston" yields a landscaping company. Way to go, Ken. private means private, even if what they do is butchery. God forbid, they should cut them out and replace them with Bradford pears, though! I found a city ordinance that regulates the planting of street trees, but I think these are a bit too far back to be street trees. And I learned that the city of Houston requires each new house to have one street tree in the front yard, and it can be a new tree or existing tree. Wow, I had no idea. I have noticed that the landscapers usually stick a small live oak in the yards of new houses, even if the yard is the size of a postage stamp. I can just imagine the damage to foundations and driveways when those trees get large. The tree canopy will be larger than the yards. Very good, Ghost! Thanks! This post was edited by eahamel on Thu, Jan 31, 13 at 20:30

hehehe....I'm starting to feel like I'm in a receiving line at an very big Italian wedding! This forum looks deceptively obscure and small, but step in the door and....MEET the inlaws! "This is my cousin Vinny. He's a Grimaldi man all the way...he'll set you up". Okay, my giggles are subsiding enough to type on... Phoenixryan, thanks for the welcome. And I really appreciate you confirming that Kartuz is a reliable grower, cuz that was just a shot in the dark. And I also appreciate knowing about the eBay grower/venders. Someone else mentioned them in this thread but I thought they were folks from this forum. So now I know they are eBayers. Well any addict will tell ya...always good to have sources...day or night. Hi Daniella (or is it Daniel?)! Maybe we should start a 12 step program for pre-brugs. However your enthusiasm is dangerously contagious and it might backfire. And yes we are all one...and I'm sure to become color blind. Speaking of enthusiasm... I went to the nursery today and the woman attendant led me through a maze of plants in the greenhouse and finally stopped at the one brug plant which apparently was left like an orphan to fend off the winter alone. I was still on a brug high from my conversations in this forum and was speaking about them in hushed, breathless tones of awe. The attendent seemed perplexed at all the fuss. I asked when they were planning to get more in and she said it was not really on their plant list, but they sometimes took them when growers had them available. She said they weren't big money makers for growers. I must have gasped because she raised her eyebrows and began backing away. I'm guessing she thought I was one of those folks who claimed to see the image of Mother Mary in a leaf or cracker....as my reverence for this mere 'plant' seemed vastly disproportionate to her own borderline disinterest. See what you guys did! I need to get a grip! Anyway, thank you again for all the help and welcomes. My name is Dragonfly Wings and I've been a brug addict for two days, one hour and 36 minutes....

Should've asked here first before going! ;-)) You weren't all that far from a good site for Pinus remota, the road running southeast out of Rocksprings (towards Uvalde), there's a good group of them in the first gully out of Rocksprings, about 15km (just short of 10 miles) southeast of the town, right beside the road at 29°53'25"N 100°07'20"W, 680m altitude (you have to sneak over a low stock fence to get to them). This is the easternmost published site for P. remota that I'm aware of, and they weren't difficult to find. The other place I saw them is much further west, as Ron says in the Glass Mts., on the road from Marathon to Fort Stockton. There's a little car park / picnic site there surrounded by about 40-50 or so Pinus remota, at 30°28'55"N 102°55'50"W, 1370m altitude. The trees there are smaller than the Rocksprings ones (only 2-5m tall, compared to 8m), and have smaller cones, too. There is only Pinus cembroides, no P. remota, in Big Bend NP, and also the Davis Mts west of Ft. Davis. Further west, there is Pinus edulis in the Guadalupe Mts close to the NM border. If you want to get seeds, around 10-15 September should be best; I was there on 21 Sept., and most, but not all, of the seed was shed. Resin

I think that is the sound referred to as "Beadle, Beadle" or to my mind "Tweedle, Tweedle" The Blue Jays here bob up and down as they do it. Susan