It's true - we are desperate for the sun.......we immediately flock to a public park, get down to our vests and stretch out like basking sharks (in March, if we get a chance). I am old enough to recall liberty bodices - sort of felted undergarments which we wore from November through to Easter. Melissa, the soil, when I get to it, is truly remarkable....the only thing is the acres of ivy crossing and recrossing every inch of ground.....along with the vicious brambles (although mulching head of the brushcutter is sorting that). Oh yeah, those nettles which cover every inch between the ivy vines.........it's going to be a long job.....but as soon as the spade cuts through the top layer of vine and root, it sinks into the earth like a huge downy pillow - tantalisingly out of reach but there still, waiting for many hands to start the ivy pulling and rakeover (off again later today and taking my boys (men) to help. Nik, we are all turning our eyes east to Europe these days and shivering in the chill winds of emerging fascism. We have 2 strands of this in the UK - the crazy but delusional UKIP (no immigrants...and a whole slew of other, less publicised goals) and the horrific coalition of thugs and hate-mongers which comprises the EDL and assorted racist bullies.Truly hope all is well for you and yours. Daisy, I surely will take pics....but 2500, while it sounds a lot, is actually hardly anything when spread around 5 acres. With an eye to establishing colonies, the bulbs have been planted in groups of 100 or so, spread around the woodland - it will be a start but I expect to be waiting at least 5 years before we really have something worth looking at.

Just thought I would expand on what Christine said earlier about people driving up the price of online auctions and additionly what Mike has said. What is done by a couple of sellers mentioned thus far is that they pay as little as $5 to buy a 4" pot wholesale (This is also done by website sellers, but they offer a fixed price) and then either immediately or after growing them on for a season, they sell them at acution on ebay. Sometimes, a seller may have some stock plants of common nursery varieties the he grafts himself, but orders in the new plants he does not have stock plants for. So when we go into an auction, the value of that auction for a first year plant is in obtaining a very low price. Additionally, some sellers will ship at very reasonable prices, but others are much too high in my opinion. So when we drive the price of these often very small plants up, we pay nearly as much as we would from someone who sells maples though a hosted website (Wildwood, Mountain Maples, Eastwood). This is where I feel it is better to turn to a web-based nursery than persist with ebay auctions. Even those that have nurseries like Jherter and Nishikimaplesman choose to sell through ebay and the reason being is that more times than not, they will average higher prices in the auctions. Some will even fudge a bit to call a plant a two year tree when it is not. If we are going to spend $30-50 then we might as well establish with an online nursery that will guarantee their plants and is ethical enough to sell through a web-based business. As much as ebay wants us to feel it is a business, it is not! It can be enjoyable to buy from ebay in the winter when not much else is happening and I buy during the growing season also. But I also frequent local nurseries in Oregon. So in anycase, whether or not we buy from ebay, it is nice to have a balance between local sellers where we can go and see the trees and buying online. It is only in going to an actual nursery that we will learn about the plants and those that care enough to propagate them. Establishing an entire collection over ebay is something that I would not enjoy as I would miss the interaction with the growers and nurserymen who also love maples. Of course there are unfortunate areas of the country where local establishments are not accessible and thereby it is understandable to have to use online sellers only. There is something said for establishing relationships and I do not believe that will be done on ebay--it is about the money to be had by auctioning trees. As Mike said in different words, it is "Buyer Beware" and now with this thread, equally as interesting, "Seller Beware!" I have had equally good and bad experiences with almost every seller mentioned here so far, but I will say that Cedric (Bonsaibob) seems to know the most about maples and had the best communication practices--problem is that his enhanced photography seems to lead to a higher frequency of auctions where the price is driven up. There is no reason to pay those kind of prices unless we feel there is no other avenue to obtain the plant and we have to have it. MJH

wow, i havent been in here in a while and was surprised to see this thread is still alive. so i read through the last few responses and heres mine: Posted by lindac If you are sick and can't work I feel it is my moral duty to feed you....but not buy you cigarrettes nor a movie so you don't get "depressed". Where did this sense of entitlement come from? You really think society owes you money for small luxuries? Aren't you ashamed to accept a handout? Don't you feel guilty using government money for smokes and a DVD when there are people out there choosing between the medicine that keeps them alive or having a telephone? first, YOU are not buying me ciragetts and dvd's. I AM. WITH MY PAYCHECK. "You really think society owes you money for small luxuries?" absolutly not. but i do owe it to my kids to provide some sort of life to them other than playing with their toys (oh wait, should we sell those to buy dinner?????) and staring at the walls. "Aren't you ashamed to accept a handout?" no i am not. i do what i have to do to feef my family. "Don't you feel guilty using government money for smokes and a DVD when there are people out there choosing between the medicine that keeps them alive or having a telephone?" i do not feel guilty because i am NOT using gov't money to buy these things. in case you forgot, I WORK 3 JOBS. i pay taxes on ALL 3 INCOMES. i am a tax paying citizen of the greatest country in the world. me and my family DO NOT DESERVE TO BE TREATED LIKE CRIMINALS IN JAIL BECAUSE WE RECIEVE A LITTLE HELP!!!!!!! have you people never had someone come over to your house to help you with something? have you never moved and asked a few friends to give you a hand? you have never been in a store and couldnt find something so you ask an employee where it is? oh you have. were you embarassed? no. hmmm... when you asked your friends to help you move, did they tell you that because of that you cannot buy ANYTHING because if ou couldnt PAY someone to move you stuff, you definatly dont have the money for a USED $7 dvd from the video store??? just make sure you read my words carefully and fully understand what i am saying before i am stomped for needing a little freakin help. maybe i can look into selling a kidney or 2.

Gina - I'm sorry about the loss of your son. That must have been really tough. My dh and I are in somewhat of the same predicament in that we don't have anyone to leave our small, but growing estate. We are in our late thirties/early 40's, no kids. Would love to have them, but have been unable. we are doing fine financially, for people our age. We have a small mortgage, no debt and some retirement savings. I just started working recently due to immigration process. Because of lack of experience in the US, I can only get temp jobs at a lower rate of pay, even though I have significant IT, HR and Finance experience from Canada. The similarity is we will eventually have a nice nest egg, but we have no one to leave it to. I have an older sister and a niece, but my sister is very well off and niece is spoiled. She may grow out of her spoiled phase, I dunno. That said, I have always wanted to donate to charities that help underprivileged animals. Our dogs are our kids and we adopted an unwanted 14 YO blind shitzu nearly two years ago when his family left the gate open and let him wander across a hiway. Did I mention the dog is BLIND? They didn't want him anymore. A wonderful woman found him and took him in, but she died a short time later. I found him posted on Freecycle and we took him in. He has been a wonderful part of our family for nearly two years and even though he's blind and deaf, he gets around just fine. Unfortunately, it's getting to the point we may have to put him down because he is arthritic and can't walk like he used to. We will do it with a heavy heart, but also knowing we gave him two additional years he wouldn't have had and that he had alot of love from us. When Katrina hit, I wanted to adopt every single homeless animal, but of course I couldn't. We also couldn't donate to every organization, but there are many shelters right now that still have homeless animals left over from Katrina. They need lots of funds and donations to keep them afloat so these displaced animals aren't put down. Perhaps that is the type of charity you're looking for? Even if it's not Katrina shelters, there are countless shelters that need funds to feed animals and give them medical attention, especially no kill shelters. We are doing our wills right now and in the event both of us go, a large sum of our estate will go to a reputable organization that saves animals, mostly dogs, from euthanasia - specifically no kill shelters. There are even places that house dogs for life, much like a retirement homes for dogs, where they live in the country and have dedicated personnel to keep them happy in their old age. If one of us goes, the other will survive on the life insurance and rest of the estate. Once the survivor goes, then a significant donation will be cited for an animal rescue charity since we have no one else really to leave our funds. They are small now, but in the future after dh retires and with family inheritences, we should have a sizable estate. I'm also one of those frugal ones. My friends call me the Bargain shopping Queen (BSQ for short). I may not be as frugal as you, but I don't pay full price for mostly everything. If I find a good deal, I will buy it. I did alot of couponing and it's AMAZING how much money you save, especially combining buy 1 get 1 frees. I did a huge grocery shop one day and the bill came to over $300 and with coupons it was less than $20. I was proud of myself for that one! lol