Hi Heather and Tony, I am sorry I hadn't seen your replies over all of this time! When I get home from work I will update the pictures to something hopefully more beneficial. I have not seen any insects through the foliage and now another tree is going through the same thing. I have three trees in a row about 3m apart, and whatever is affecting them has started on the right tree, now the left tree (4 weeks later) and the middle one is still leafy and green. The trunk and thicker parts of the graft are green when I lightly scratch the bark, but the twigs and leaves are dead. I have trimmed the first one back and am about to trim the second one back. At the moment it is just a dead looking tree. I have given them a seaweed fertilizer too. I will have a closer look for any evidence of insects and report back. Thank you! Lauren

Lee, according to Aus Women's Weekly Garden Guides 'Colour in your garden" : Sapium sebiferum. If you are looking for a small tree because your garden cannot accomodate large trees ... this is a clourful autumn gem. Growing to no more than 10m ... it is also an adaptable tree as it can thrive in a variety of drainage conditions. I think this is where the problem is in stating how big some trees get, if you give them better living conditions, they will grow bigger, another thing, how big is your friend's, father in law's backyard? I know a tree in the neighbourhood that is a mere 4m tall and "I got to know it 19 years ago, :-)". I do not think it gets any aditional water apart from that provided by nature.

I am sorry that no-one has come up with any ideas for you yet. I think the problem is partly the wetness. My first thought for your area was a Japanese maple. There are so many lovely ones in various heights, also grafted ones, weeping ones, red varieties etc. I know they will grow in clay, but I think a young one will really not like to have wet feet. You could build a raised bed to give the tree better drainage. I have seen this done very successfully. I do agree with NOT planting a mop-top (by which I assume you mean a Robinia). You will have problems with suckering. I think planting a group of Silver Birches may slow them a little, but they will still get big. I'm sorry I can't be of more help. Cheers, Dee.

I don't have area rugs with fringe so the Roomba handles them pretty well, I pick up the smaller ones by the door that I use to keep the dogs from tracking in from the yard. Low pile is fine - I don't let it run on one rug that I have that has long loops, I'm sure it would stall. I understand if you have black rugs or rugs with dark edges the Roomba won't go over them because it thinks it's a drop (like a step). It uses a sensor to watch for stairs and such and will stop when it gets to them. To elaborate on the Scooba a bit more for those who are curious, yes, it does a wash more than the Braava which only pushes around a damp cloth. You set it up to clean a "small room" or a "large room". It has a water reservoir to which you add cleaner. The cleaner is not sold in my area so I buy off Amazon. BestBuy is supposed to carry it but not my local store. iRobot also has it on their web site. It doesn't take much cleaner - I only add a small amount to the water. The I set up my lighthouses/virtual walls to keep it in the area I want scrubbed (and obviously not on the area rugs). It runs around a bit to get a feel for the space and then it starts - it lays down a thin film of water as it goes, it vacuums and puts down the water, goes back and forth and in circles, using the brushes I suppose, then it goes back and vacuums up all the left over water. So the floor is pretty dry by the time it shuts off. It's a bit entertaining at the end as it shakes itself off, kind of like a dog. You then dump out the water from the dirty side of the tank, rinse it out and pull out any hair. You can then add more water to the clean tank and top off the cleaner, and recharge it. I found it does need another small area rinsed out or you will get an error code, but easily done. The dirty water is noticeably dirty so it is doing something to clean the floor. As I mentioned, the manufacturer warns against other cleaners. and other users have posted that the unit will fail if caustic cleaners are used, as it will damage the unit. I have sprayed windex on the floor ahead of it with no issues. It's not a perfect solution as you will still need to damp mop your baseboards and tight areas occasionally, but I do like it for my bathroom and I have on occasion used it on my engineered wood, but I follow it with an old towel and wipe up excess water so the wood does not absorb it. If you, or your family members have long hair, I would definitely recommend doing a quick vacuuming or Swiffer run first to pick that up before running the Scooba, as it will pick up hair and then you will be very unhappy pulling it out of the reservoir and brushes. It is also not very quiet so don't think you can run it while you take a nap.