The Sawara labeled 'Lutea' in the above picture appears to be a filifera form, perhaps casting some doubt on the identification. "P. mariana 'Wellspire' Introduced --A.L. Jacobson, North American Landscape Trees (1996, Ten Speed Press, Berkeley) Under the previous entry, P. mariana 'Fastigiata', Jacobson notes that trees sold in the 1980s under that name were a P. abies cultivar like 'Cupressina'. I have observed myself that stock coming from Wells in recent years as upright P. mariana forms have been the same as other plants labeled P. abies 'Cupressina' elsewhere.

candler, Back in the Win 95 era I bought a flat bed UMAX scanner. Really a good unit and came with Adobe Photo. The UMAX wouldn't work on the 98 system and I went through a couple scanners and ended up with an Epson 2480. In the meantime, I had I purchased Abobe Photo Delux Home Edition 4. It is the best of 4 or 5 software imaging packages I've tried. I finished scanning black and white family photos for the years 1916 to 1966 just before Christmas. Not really difficult, just time consuming. If you spend a little time learning your software you'll be surprized what it can do. For example, half of a B&W photo is in shade. So, with your image software you trace the shaded portion to define the working area and then begin to lighten and increase the contrast until it matches or comes close to the unshaded area. Creases in the photo can be overpainted with the clone function. Select the color or pattern at the crease and use that to paint over the crease. And the list goes on. It is astounding what can be done. Some will tell you that if the detail is not in the photo then there's nothing that can be done to enhance it. Don't believe it. I have copied eyes from one photo and pasted into another; change portions of the background that contain farm equipment or the neighbors dog. Get a decent scanner with a decent speed. Nothing is so frustrating as waiting for the thing to do what its supposed to do. Use the image software that comes with it and if it won't do what I've described, go to plan B. Hang in there. Its a wonderful project you're starting. Bob Central Arizona.

You need a scanner which can scan slides and negatives. Most of the ones which are called photo scanners will work, I used the Epson Perfection 1660 Photo to do mine. It cost around $80 when I bought it. A regular scanner will not work. To scan slides and negatives they have to be backlit. For editing the pictures after scanning something like adobe photoshop elements or corel paint shop pro is nice, but you may have other photo editing software on your computer that will work. If you have a dvd writer on your computer you should have everything else you need. There was a thread about this not long ago. You should find it if you do a search. Dont expect to finish the project in a hurry because it will take some time.

I have a high-end Cannon scanner and it does a pretty good job. The benefits of owning a scanner are obvious, do the work at home at your convenience. One thing you did not mention as an option--use a professional scanner and do your own. In my experience the professional scanners give better results than home scanners. Some Targets have scanners, Kinko/FedEx and most copy shops have them. You scan the photos and choose CD's or reprints. Very reasonable prices and good results. The photo below of the quarter horse filly was taken with a 35mm film camera and scanned to CD at Target. The second photo of my garden was scanned at home with the Cannon. Difference is obvious. Marnie