I like Garden Compass, formerly Over the Hedge. It is based in San Diego, published by Bruce and Sharon Asakawa of the Saturday and Sunday morning radio program. The magazine has evolved from a poorly edited, but useful magazine to a beautiful glossy useful publication. This month's issue has a wonderful piece written about Cal Poly's Leaning Pine arboretum. In addition to featuring botanical gardens around the state, they have very nice articles on what grows well in all parts of our state. I have discovered some great plants, trees and techniques through this magazine. I also get Organic Gardening, and they are very slowly learning there is a Mediterranean component to the U.S.

One of the problems with Zerzan is the generalization about hunter-gatherer subsistence. While his summaries of the Mbuti Bushmen and Kalahari San are accurate, they are only two examples. A broader reading of the ethnographic literature shows that hunter-gatherers were opportunistic and their economies varied depending on the ecological niche they occupied. The particular mix of subsistence patterns might have included hunting and fishing, as well as horticulture (although in some ethnographic typologies even limited ag would automatically exclude them from the hunter-gatherer club - see how it works?). Then what do you do with the Aleut (Eskimos) and their predecessors who lived virtually totally by hunting and fishing? Another problem with the ethnographic literature is that most of the examples are from non-temperate marginal ag areas (rainforest or desert) where hunting and gathering still survived although likely early civilizations occupied more temperate niches too before the advent of agriculture. In those areas, seasonal variations in food availability likely resulted in what is termed "seasonal rounds" where groups moved around to different locations to exploit seasonally available food sources such as fall seed and nut crops, spring fish runs, migrating deer and ducks, summer fruits, etc. They might even totally reorganize their society to more efficiently distribute themselves across the landscape - breaking into family groups part of the year and regrouping other times. This was typical of some North American Native groups. Humans were very resourceful

As I mentioned in another thread, I have voted with my wallet and subscribed. Issue 1 was a bittersweet experience for me - the content is fantastic, the presentation less so. I have to remind myself that Paul is just starting out, and that his layout and image quality is not dissimilar to the mainstream magazines of 8-10 years ago. Picking up an old copy of 'Better Homes and Gardens' in the doctors surgery yesterday drove this home, and I'm sure that the ability for a mag to emply topline graphic artists and use state-of-the-art publishing software is directly in line with ad revenue. STG will only improve, but I guess we can expect the ratio of ads to editorial content to increase - c'est la vie. Overall, Paul and his team deserve hearty congratulations for having the guts to give this a go. I hope that gardeners north of the Tweed will all get behind him, even those who persist in trying to grow temperate plants in an equatorial climate :) Cheers, Artie

Greencroc, You have generated a most interesting and varied discussion on one of my favorite subjects. I have been growing Cordylines for several years, a few Aust. natives and about 300 fruticosa varieties and have a different favorite each week. They love fertilizer and your application seems fine.I use Organic Xtra and Seasol mixed with Fungicide as foliar spray, kills 2 birds with one stone. I now have the CD that Andrew & Silvercargo mentioned. The photos are magnificent and infomation invaluable. I got mine through "The International Tropical Foliage and Garden Society". I have noticed that my Cordylines are still producing Winter coloured leaves, most unusual for this time of year. Is it just mine or are they doing it all over? Reg.