My only tree damage occurred today, over two days after the winds and rain. I just happened to be looking out my back door when I saw the 60 year old Japanese plum tree come creaking down to the ground, and come to rest quite artfully to miss the deck, other smaller trees and my house. My first thought was, "Thank God I wasn't up in the damn thing pruning it when it came crashing down." I feel for all of you without water and power and real storm damages, but still, am not really looking forward to renting a chain saw to clean this mess up! This tree is the last remnant of the original landscaping before I bought the house, so I guess the garden is finally all my own creation... I also thought I would touch base with various garden clients to see how their gardens fared with the high winds. In particular I am hoping my client with the 2 100 foot tall and 100 year old Monterey Cypress trees in the top of the Oakland Hills still has his house and garden intact. I have been trying to persuade him that it is time to take these trees out for the past 2 years, but the cost has scared him from tackling it. I need to get up there and see if there is any indication of heaving soil from rotten roots, and pronto...

Thanks to all who responded to my post. I've been about every route with my mother's estate. With Craig's List I usually end up waiting for people that never show up. I don't live close enough to any large population centers to make it worth the trip for anyone interested in just one thing. I had one woman leave an angry message on my answering machine "I drove for two hours and I still didn't reach your town!" I have contacted estate liquidators and the consensus of opinion is that unless I have very high-end antiques (you know - Ming vases and Duncan Phyfe furniture) it would cost me more to pay them to do a sale than I could make from the sale. Most of the dealers here in upstate New York only want the very finest antiques and collectibles. Consignment shops won't take anything either because they are not selling very much right now. Everyone is griping about how bad the antiques market is. I guess I just hit it at the worst possible time. I know my mom bought most of her things, like Depression glass, in the 1970's when it was a hot item and expensive. Now you can't give it away. A few weeks ago I saw a Madrid cookie jar in the local Salvation Army for $2.99. I went back this week and it was still there! I have two pieces of Oyster and Pearl I've been trying to sell - a 14 inch sandwich plate and a divided relish. No one even looks at them. Most people that stop at my sale ask for: military and sports memorabilia, old fishing equipment, jewelry and gold and silver coins. Yeah, everyone has that laying around the house. I made a Web page with photographs of some of the contents of the house. If you'd like to look, click on link below. On another note, I theorize that unless you can have a tag sale on the first or second weekend of the month, don't bother. By the time the third and last week of the month rolls around, people are starting to run short on money and not looking to blow it at a tag sale. Any opinions on this? Here is a link that might be useful: Contents of House

Halyna, are you in the US? I have Dreadlocks and can probably find Red Iceton locally with some looking and some time. I'm not sure I have a small rooted plant of Dreadlocks but I can look. It's probably too late in the year for propagating but I could send some cuttings if you want to try it. My small croton list... AFD #5 aureomaculatum aka Gold Dust Banana Batik Caution Light Coral Showers Dayspring (a favorite) Dreadlocks Eleanor Roosevelt aka Sloppy Painter Excellent General MacArthur Golden Glow Lauren's Rainbow Magnificent Mango Mother and Daughters Mrs Snyder's Disraeli aka Disraeli Ovalifolium (my favorite) Red Tortilis Revolution Stoplight Sunny Star Theodore Roosevelt Turtle Back aka Tortoise Shell Undulatum aka Piecrust aka Mortimer Volutum aka Ram's Horn Unidentified, like Gold Dust but much more yellow. 6 unidentified varieties 10 random hybrids, seedlings I've found in the ground originating from my collection. Russ

Kara, holy cow!!! What a beautiful plant! I can't blame you for favoring this one. I wish I had one in my front yard. You must admire it every time you walk by. It is simply amazing...Thanks for taking that pic for us... Nancy, not sure which one I would keep either!! Lol. So many favorites but if forced, we would all have to pic one( Stupidlazydog...You crack me up lol I would have a hard time especially if I had the room to grow more like you to..You have some gems there and I love seeing you post them. Thanks Gabby, quite interesting..Does it grow slowly? What a great color on that. I am almost in love with anything that grows black leaves, like the 'black prince'. What a nice dark color on that one. Josue, wow, what a huge Aloe..I'll bet you could squeeze juice out of those leaves..Very big. Maria, did I ever tell you how badly I want one? Yup. I keep admiring your plant there. You must look at it every day and treasure that one. Love that one. Mike