cattleya, congrats on the blooms. I bet you can't wait for those to open :) Jroot, I don't know about that Y thing anymore, only because I have 2 nice straight cuttings that I recently took off, about 2 inches from the bottom of a 6 ft CG tree. The Y is at the top of the tree. The trunk had no other branches on it. It has only been a month and one is about 10 inches and the other is about 12 inches tall. These guys Y'd while they were in water rooting!! One made a Y and one made a tri- Y !! It is the freakiest thing. They even started some tiny buds in the crotches of thier little Y's. This is the first I 've ever personally seen of this on any of mine. I need to take some photos! Typically they do have to come above the Y to Y and flower while small/young if its a cutting.

Congratulations!!! It killed me too, to sell my house for what I did. I never overpriced it. In fact, I listed it under comps. However, there were no buyers in Oct 06-Jan 07 & it was a struggle to get a legitimate looker, never mind a buyer. My buyers from Aug 06 (they backed out in Sept) really hurt my timing & sale. In the end, I was just glad to sell it. This happened to my neighbor: They've listed too high & then the price could not have come down low enough or fast enough to sell. Many times, if you list too high you will end up selling for less than you would if your were listed closer to where it should have been. Perhaps, that is exactly what happened to you. Nonetheless, it's champagne time for you!

Long grass wouldn't worry me, nor a bit of a mess I suppose, but what I can't understand is when what I would consider a part of the sale is taken away. The gazebo for instance, or shrubs. I would feel that what I had seen, was what I was buying, unless the sellers asked me would I mind if they took this prized rose that reminded them of their old dead Aunt Mary. Or, could we take some of the daffodils, would that be all right? And yes, of course it would be. Yet, with some people, it is considered normal to rip out shrubs and young trees to take to their new place, after the sale. So strange. Anyhow, I am glad that you've 'moved on', musicgold, as it's NOT worth the angst to pursue this sort of thing. But please, next time, refuse to settle unless and until they put back what they take.

Don't think you can use the stuff as a dormant spray it just doesn't work. We were using volk oil every winter to kill boring or under the bark critters. They no longer sell it, so we tried the neem for two winters only to find out it did not work, it is not dormant oil. We had to cut off some limbs on the plum and apricot this year because of bugs. It does ok for fruits and plants but does not work well for over wintering bugs. The Neem works great on roses before leaf break.