Dax, that December Red graft is looking GREAT! I wish I still had my graft. I have been too embarrassed to tell you but one random day in July of 2012 (nearly right after it was planted IIRC) I was out watering my trees and the December Red was GONE. Tag was still in the cage I had configured to keep critters out. I talked it over with Arktrees and abciximab (Patrick) from the conifer forum when it happened. Best we could tell a gopher pulled it straight down and ate it. I planted a white oak seedling in the same spot that fall and in spring/summer of 2013, the same exact thing happened; it flat out disappeared one day! Really weird. I would love to try it again if you have extras and pay you or buy some rootstocks for you or something. Broke my heart when I found out it was gone. I immediately suspected it was the neighbor's kids (it was located 20' from property line) but they are well behaved. I talked to their Dad about it and I am pretty sure it wasn't taken by them/someone else since it was so small. Come to think of it, this same thing happened all the way across my property to an acer barbatum seedling I planted. Maybe I am in a Bermuda Triangle of sorts!!!Very strange... Another plus to this selection, the leaves on mine emerged a very pretty red before turning green. This is a common trait with red family oaks but it was very noticeable on my specimen. John

Going to Madrid for 2 weeks in December, any recommendations for clothing? I'm reading it can get quite cold and is recommended to have at least a woolen coat....I have a nice black wool coat, but it's pretty long, (mid calf) and I hate to bring it on a plane....any ideas how to dress warmly yet versatile enough for evenings out, etc? Thank you!

VaporVac: Thank you very much. Little by little, with great work we are transforming the whole property. It was wild when we arrived. Only large evergreen trees had grown there. I do not know if in your country there will be these trees, they are Enebros (Juniperus oxycedrus) of their fruit you get the gin. They are very slow growing trees, the ones I have in my garden are very big, so they must have many, many years !! There are also some pine (Pinus pinea) and some oak (Quercus ilex). It is a land located in a mountainous system in the center of Spain (Central System, it is called) the soil is sandy, granitic, with low pH, it leaches very easily and both nutrients and water go down, to the subsoil with Too fast. This forces me to take good care of my soil if I want plantations to thrive. In my climate, as I say, the heat of summer is terrible and above all the low humidity. It's a totally dry environment. If I did not protect my soil, I should water it constantly. To take care of it, I make constant contributions of organic matter, based on compost and manure. On the ground, twice a year, generous layers of these materials that nourish the soil, will gradually give a good texture and increase the organic life of the soil. On this layer of dung I cover with what we call padding here, I think you call it mulching. If you want to read an article from my blog where I talk in detail about how I put it, what materials you can use, at what time of year, what advantages and disadvantages this quilting has .... you can open this link. The blog has a translator (right button at the top) and you can read it in your language although you know that google does not translate well but I think you will understand the general meaning of what I say. In the blog, introducing the word "quilted" (in Spanish) will offer several articles in which I deal with this topic. http://eljardindelaalegriaenmadrid.blogspot.com.es/2015/06/renovacion-en-primavera-de-los.html Usually I use crushed crust. A good coat, generous. With this the soil stays cooler in summer, less watering and also has a great advantage, helps to grow less weeds. Here are some pictures of the process. First remove the old padding. Then I add the layer of manure on the ground Finally I cover with the padding. In the case of garden vegetables, directly on the original ground of the garden, between elevated terraces, we put anti-weed fabric that you can see in this image. On this cloth, we put a good layer of cushioning (chopped wood). This greatly avoids weeds. Some leaves, undoubtedly, but much less than when the ground is bare. It is very difficult for me to express myself in a language that Google must translate. I always think I may be saying something stupid hahahaha Rosecanadian ... how terrible the translators are. I can not understand what he wants to tell me !! Google translates me something like that: I'm right !! I do not know what it means to be on the right hahahaha

Hey there! We are considering the same three. Did you decide to install any of them? If yes, could you post photos? Thank you!