Last year was definitely not a good gardening year for me. My mother died six weeks after my father died (and it was quick. She went in the hospital, got diagnosed and died all in a weeks time). My father, we had known since October 07, and then he died in February 08 (which was pretty quick, but at least we had more time than with my mom). They both died a good 20 years before their parents ever did, which was also unexpected, considering they had better health care and better lives than their parents ever did. So, no, I don't usually wait that long, and I don't make it a practice :-) There's a few other jugs of things that are left over from last year that I was waiting to thaw out before I tossed them in the garden beds. They're getting dumped very soon. A tri-color sage seedling survived the fall and winter too, so I won't be surprised if these other left-overs wind up germinating when I dumpt them! I'll be sure to get pictures of the Sweet Rocket when it blooms (I'm really liking the leaves on it! Nice :-) Linda

I haven't, but I thought about going there tomorrow. They have tons of stuff that has sat around for a while. Worth checking out, as there is a darling little nursery tucked in behind the pottery place. The guys that run it are very nice. Good succulent choices there, too, especially for containers. I checked Green Thumb and Buena Creek Gardens. The fellow that now owns Buena Creek Gardens is going down to Mexico to do a pottery buy, and he wants me to send him a couple of better photos, and he'll see if he can find it down there. Patty S.

Hats off to Robert Cheetham (and edzard by extension) for those notes; madde me wish I'd gone but now I know why... This question is the one that stuck out at me... "Questions: My name is Junji Shimada and I maintain the Nitobe Garden. I trained and studied in Japan, but we have limited resources and we cannot follow this tradition. So I have become a Pacific NW gardener and have no choice but to break the traditional rules and construct new pruning styles that are faster and works with our conditions. I think that this type of approach may be necessary when considering maintenance and authenticity." The traditions are not questioned as right or wrong (as has happened TOO many times here), but as unapplicable! This is the question we should have been asking all along; can we fit this garden style into our lives? I have struggled to maintain some semblance of order and maintenance in my J-garden, often not happy with the condition (spring in the nursery industry leaves little time for anything other than sleeping, eating, and working. Gardening is an afterthought). So the two days that Val used to take to pinch all the shoots of of his maple (a traditional approach) is not available to me; how do I procede? Am I forced out of maples by my lack of time? Out of J-gardening? It seems that much of the symposium was given to the same questions we ponder here; it makes me feel in good company (not that I was complaining about current company :p ) Scott

#2 most garding book show under cut branch to avoid split branch. some time you don't want to drop brach over another branch or over shurb or plant or something else, you cut wide V shape cut under branch then cut vertical cut from both side of branch, leave narrow center of brach, you can push branch either side to avoid hit other plnts/shurb then make final cut. #3 when prune shrub , try to trim off branch slantly. cut face toward ground, if branch of tree need to trim off, cut branch face up ward. This way pruingis less ovious.