I'm not the biggest Master Gardener fan. Call an ISA certified arborist. Just know if the tree is near the house, your cooling bill will go way up. Plant something to replace it ASAP. Dan

Do yourself a favor and never buy any seeds for mint. Always buy plants from a grower who specializes in herbs. Even the knowledgeable retailer sometimes gets duped. The spearmint seeds always produces a rank (undesirable) form. And guess what? Peppermint seeds also always produce a rank form of spearmint. Peppermint (mentha x piperita) is a 99%+ sterile hybrid between Mentha spicata (Spearmint) and Mentha aquatica (Water mint). Most of the seed companies know this and don't care-they need to offer as much variety as they can. This is why several big companies still offer Tarragon seed (French Tarragon is sterile the seeds offered produce the worthless Russian variety). Doublemint and chocolate mint are also types of peppermint. Orange mint is Mentha aquatica. Pineapplemint (Mentha suaveolens 'Variegata') Apple mint- 2 kinds Mentha suaveolens (an unvariegated Pineapplemint and Mentha x villosa var. alopecuroides-a hybrid. Francesco DeBaggio

Jean001a, after reading about hemlock woolly adelgids I believe you are right. They are concentrated on the bottom of the branches in a manner similar to the pictures I saw on Google. I am wondering if it might be more cost effective to remove the hemlocks entirely and replace them with a different plant? Thoughts on that as well would be greatly appreciated.

BUTTERFLY: Danaidae Danaus plexippus USA (Monarch, milkweed butterfly, wanderer, black-veined brown) HOSTPLANTS: Apocynaceae (Dogbane) Apocynum androsaemifolium Cosmopolitan ([creeping, flytrap, spreading]dogbane; Indian hemp, bitter root) Asclepiadaceae (Milkweed) Araujia sericifera Nearctic (white bladderflower, cruel vine, cruel plant, bladder vine) Asclepias amplexicaulis USA ([blunt-leaved, bluntleaf, sand, clasping]milkweed) A. asperula USA (antelope-horns, [green-flowered, antelope horn, spider]milkweed) A. californica USA ([California, Sierra]milkweed) A. cancellata Nearctic (wild cotton) A. cordifolia USA ([purple, heartleaf]milkweed) A. curassavica USA {syn: A. nivea, A. bicolor} ([annual, scarlet, tropical, Caribbean]milkweed; bloodflower, butterfly-weed, silkweed, cotton bush, pleurisy root, red top, redhead, sunset flower, cancerillo, ipecacuanha, koningsbloem, Indian root) A. curtissii USA ([Curtiss's, sandhill, scrub]milkweed) A. eriocarpa USA ([Monarch, Indian, butterfly, woollypod, woolly]milkweed) A. erosa USA (desert milkweed) A. exaltata USA {syn: A. phytolaccoides} ([poke, poke-leaved, tall]milkweed) A. fascicularis USA {syn: A. mexicana} ([narrowleaf, narrow-leaved, Mexican whorled, Mexican]milkweed) A. hirtella USA ([tall green, prairie, green, Barrens]milkweed) A. humistrata USA ([sandhill, pinewoods, purple, scarlet]milkweed) A. incarnata USA ([swamp, rose]milkweed) A. lanceolata USA ([red, fewflower, smooth orange, pineland, lanceleaf, lanceolate, few-flowered]milkweed; purple silkweed) A. latifolia TX (broad-leaf milkweed) A. longifolia USA ([longleaf, Florida]milkweed) A. obovata USA ([pineland, green]milkweed) A. oenotheroides USA ([zizotes, Texas, longhorn]milkweed) A. perennis FL ([white swamp, aquatic]milkweed) A. physocarpa Cosmopolitan (goose plant, balloon plant, balloon cotton bush, balloon cotton, swan plant, pod milkweed) A. purpurascens USA (purple milkweed) A. rubra USA (red milkweed) A. speciosa USA (showy milkweed) A. subulata Cosmopolitan ([desert, rush]milkweed; candelilla) A. subverticillata Cosmopolitan {syn: A. galioides} ([Western whorled, horsetail, poison, bedstraw]milkweed; Navajo Name: Ch'il'abe's'óóz) A. sullivantii USA ([prairie, Sullivant's, smooth]milkweed) A. syriaca USA {syn: A. cornuti}(common milkweed, silkweed, wild cotton flower, wild cotton) A. tomentosa USA ([velvetleaf, hairy, tuba, sandhills, velvet]milkweed) A. tuberosa USA (butterfly[weed, plant, bush];[pleurisy, wind, white, Canada, orange, tuber, flux]root; chigger[plant, flower];[butterfly, Rolf's, orange, yellow]milkweed; Indian paintbrush, Indian-posy, swallowwart, orange swallowwort, Southern butterfly weed) A. variegata USA ([white, redring, green-flowered, variegated]milkweed) A. verticillata USA ([whorled-leaf, whorled, linear-leaved, whorled white, eastern whorled]milkweed) A. vestita USA ([woolly, Parish's woolly]milkweed) A. viridiflora USA {syn: A. obovata}([green comet, green, short green, green-flowered, wand]milkweed) A. viridis USA ([green, oblong-leaved, spider, green antelopehorn, green-flowered, antelope horn]milkweed) Calotropis gigantea Cosmopolitan (giant milkweed) C. procera Nearctic (calotropis, rubber bush, apple of Sodom, mudar, madar, king's crown, roostertree) Cynanchum angustifolium USA (Gulf Coast swallowwart, milkweed vine) C. laeve Nearctic {syn: Gonolobus laevis, C. sinaloense, Ampelamus albidus} ([sand, blue, honey]vine; [honeyvine, climbing]milkweed; angle pod, vine milkweed) Gomphocarpus fruticosus Nearctic {syn: Asclepias fruticosa, A. arborescens, G. fruticosus} (narrow leaf cotton bush, Irish ballon, swan plant, balloon-cotton, Cape-cotton, duck bush, bristle-fruited silkweed, balloon weed, white swan milkweed) Marsdenia Spp. Nearctic {example species, descriptions follow} (M. cundurango (Cotton root); M. zimapanica(Mex), large climbers, latex sap) Matelea reticulata USA ([pearl, net-vein, netted]milkvine; milkvine, pearl milkweed, green milkweed vine) Morrenia odorata FL ([strangler, milkweed]vine; tasi, Florida milkweed vine, latex plant) Sarcostemma clausum USA (white twinevine, white milkweed vine, viney milkweed, whitevine, narrow-leaf milkweed vine) S. crispum TX (wavy-leaf milkweed vine, wavyleaf twinevine, wavyleaf climbing milkweed, wavyleaf milkvine) Convolvulaceae (morning glory) Ipomoea Spp. Nearctic Malvaceae (Mallow) Gossypium arboreum Nearctic {available in TX}(cotton tree, tree cotton, devkapas) Rutaceae (Citrus) Citrus Spp. Nearctic Sapotaceae (Sapodilla) Manilkara grandiflora Nearctic ( ? possibly M. zapota)