Thank you gardengal! I forgot to take a pic of the mix itself but it seemed like very fine pine bark-- like my usual shredded pine bark mulch only much finer and more moist and dark-- as if my usual stuff were shredded a few more times and maybe had something mixed in. I saw your reply early this morning and planned to go back and get more on my way home from work tonight, after hitting up a favorite nursery for a Mother's Day hosta, and I asked THEM about pine bark fines. Again, hadn't heard of it but... he gave me the name of a big mulch place in Baltimore and I went to their website since it was after-hours and under "products", there it is. "Pine bark fines"! I am very excited but will call on Monday to make sure they have it in stock. If they do I will post it here for others who are looking. Seems there are a lot of us who've looked and looked to no avail. Thanks also for the advice on the moldy mulch. I'm always excited to get to use something I thought I was going to have to toss-- these little positive tidbits help with some of my frustration for the mistakes I've made.

Remember that once our noses get accustomed to a scent, we may no longer smell it but others coming in might. That may be why you could smell it when your returned from vacation but not after you became reaccustomed to it. That's why so many women go WAY overboard on the purfume, they stop smelling it and keep adding more, while those around them are passing out.

No, it like subliminal, LOL. I didn't go. My sis is arriving early Fri morn from TX, we say she is a displaced person, (sorry Jay!, but you are a displaced NE er!). Anyway I have been cooking and cleaning. I am also helping with a community beach party for 130 that is Sat. I did all the shopping and I am lending lots of equip so they don't have to buy..table cloths, baskets, utensils, etc. So I have been busy, no time to shop at Pier One.! I was in the dollar store yesterday, and yes, the Christmas stuff was being put out. It was so hot out I couldn't even think about looking! It will be here soon enough...and Halloween IS around the corner!

Thank you, Beth - the kind words are appreciated. I apologize for not getting to your message. I'm easily behind by more than 100 replies to forum members, so you're not the only one. I'm soo busy at work, and I'm trying to get all my tropicals repotted - less than 10 to go, I think. I'm off Fri & Mon, so won't have trouble getting the repots done this wknd, but I'll never catch up on the mail. You really need to cut those long branches back very hard. In a 2D photo, it's difficult to get a sense of how much the tree is leaning. In the top image, the lean doesn't look bad, but it could be a misperception due to lack of depth perception - no way for me to know. If the lean isn't horrible, it can easily be corrected by simply changing the planting angle during the next repot. So, I suggest you put a wedge under the pot and tip the plant to a spatial position that looks good to you, then do your pruning based on that. For demos, we do that to extremes when we style bonsai trees that need radical changes in the planting angle to bring out the best in the tree. Witness: See the 'before' image below The hardest part of the pruning is going to be choosing your apex (top). Right now, your apex doesn't exist, but I can arm you with the knowledge of where it WILL exist in short order. More on that in a sec. You want your tree to eventually be a dome - like a mushroom cap that is maybe as high as it is wide. So, the lowest branches should ALWAYS be the longest, or at least branches need to become successively shorter than branches immediately under them as their position on the trunk gets higher. Nature makes sure it happens just so, as a way to ensure the lower branches don't get shaded out by the stronger/higher branches. So, the really long branches @ the top need to be brought back into the fold by pruning them back to 1 or 2 healthy leaves. The lower branches that are really long need to be brought back so they sort of fit the mental image of a dome that you need to keep in your mind's eye as you prune. I'm guessing you'll be removing well over 50% of the canopy volume - maybe as much as 75%. Where branches will appear and in what direction they'll grow is very predictable. You can see that the branches will start growing from the axil (crotch) formed by the leaf and the branch, and grow roughly in the direction the leaf is pointing, not considering the effects of phototropism (growing toward the light). After branch pruning, to determine where the apex should be, just look for a leaf facing upward on the tallest branch. The leaf should be right above the point where the trunk exits the soil (with your tree tilted as you like it), or it should be pointed in a direction that ensures it will grow toward that point. Cut the branch off just distal to that leaf. Within a week or two, you'll see a bud erupt, which will grow into a branch. You can even help guide that branch into the most appropriate position. I'll be in Chicago in mid-Aug. If you're not too far from Deerfield, I could stop on my way to the hotel (Thu, Aug 17) and prune it for you. I've done that for forum members several times, and even repotted about 10 large plants for a wheelchair-bound lady in SW MI. Al