Hi. I live in a new development. The only trees are along the old fence rows that once stood between cotton fields. Our lot was a bare 1 acre. I planted saplings/whips to save money and enjoy the growth. Here's what I have, and I'm pretty much at the limit. I have a septic system and had to leave that spot bare. Red Maple 4 Dawn Redwood 4 Bald Cypress 2 Weeping Willow 1 Sourwood 1 Crabapple 2 Washington Hawthorne 2 Giant Sequoia 1 (just an experiment, lol) Loblolly Pine 2 Smoketree 1 American Hazelnut 5 Cherry (3 varities, dwarf) 3 Apple (2 varieties, dwarf) 5 Pussy Willow 3 Mock Orange 3 Wiegelia 3 Azela 6 Norway Spruce 3 American Arborvite (as screens) 9 I don't expect the Spruce to make it and may pull them. We're in a rural area with no sidewalks, and shallow drainage ditches (hence the willow and cypress near spots often too wet). It looks a little odd now, since they are all rather small. Only the Norway Spruce are in danger of crowding, so I'll probably remove all but one watch how it does with the heat for the next few years. I hope I inspire others to plant the development. I will remain responsible with limbs, tree health, leaves, etc. That's the key when having a suburban forest, at least in my opinon.

Momali, that is drop dead gorgeous. It reminds me more of cloudswift's in that it's a tealish blue; mine is blue-gray with cobalt veins. Here's the TMI: 1. For synonyms or closely related granites, try looking at azul do mar (cloudswift's) and azul imperial. I'll also attach a link to my granite yard website (equally hard to navigate); go to "quartzite" to find an azul macaubas with strong green, gray, and blue lines. On the same website, check out Caribbean blue, which is very close to cloudswift's and, possibly, yours. You are definitely in the land of exotics, where sometimes yards just slap their own names on stuff.... 2. ...and your slab will be priced accordingly. In Cal., we buy the slabs from a yard and separately hire a fabricator. I paid $40/sqft for mine. By comparison, the least expensive granites might be $10-15/sqft; the least expensive blue I ever found was $25/sqft, and the "you have to ask?" lapis and sodalite stones were $200/sqft. Prices varied wildly by both the yard and within the yard -- the "ugly" azul macaubas was $25/sqft and the "pretty" one, at the same yard, which came from the same quarry, was $115/sqft. It really pays to shop around. Fabrication might be $30-50/sqft more. YMMV. 3. Mine seems nearly indestructible so far -- no staining or etching from olive oil, lemon juice, tomatoes, bread dough. Geologically it's a quartzite. 4. I just posted pix yesterday of my 99% completed kitchen -- if it's not still on the 1st page, search for my name and "lotsa pix." 5. Colors for yours: because it has such a strong wavy pattern, maybe you do want to stay within the no-movement, just-speckles family. Black (absolut black granite is pretty inexpensive, I think; virginia mist and jet mist are soapstone-imitations), beige (yech! not my favorite! but it'll definitely recede), or if you're up for daring and different, copper (high maintenance) or zinc (not sure). HTH. Here is a link that might be useful: Marble Unlimited - exotic granites

Ha! One of my own made up words showing up. Pretty funny. As far as when I do them, it depends on the plant. If it's a kind of boring NOID, I would probably just cut the smaller, less developed crown off the plant, doing as little damage as poss to the main stem, basically scrapping the offending piece. (You could try to save it if you just really need a challenge.) If it was a nice plant that I cared about and once the secondary crown had already taken root, I would probably leave it grow a bit longer just to make dividing the plant up later, a bit easier. Hopefully, at some point, leaving me with two viable plants. I have had really good success at just taking out the trusty exacto knife and literally cutting the plant in two. If possible, try to have some roots attached to each part, not necessary but helpful. Pot them up in appropriate sized cups. Good luck and enjoy! No help really but it is what I do.

Decades ago I was interviewed by our local Council's deputy CEO for the position of library assistant. During the interview he told me that he never read for pleasure, he only read work-related material, and owned no books. I was horrified and not a little gobsmacked. Vee, I get that about the hens. I used to keep hens, until the second time foxes got into the yard and bit the heads off all of the hens and left them lying there. I would have been a little upset but understanding if they had taken one or two away and eaten them, but just killing them all and leaving them to waste was too upsetting to deal with again, so now I don't keep hens.