Last fall when I first went to the house ALL of the trees needed much care. They hadn't been pruned in decades, several were completely dead. The fruit trees were pathetic with much bark stripped off. The elms had much dead wood and needed pruning, but the leaves themselves were eaten away like little caterpillars had munched the tender parts between the veins. The only healthy, large leaves were way up on the tree, which of course I could not reach even with a tall ladder. The trees are not vase-shaped like Valley Forge elms. I would like to be proactive in spraying for whatever is eating the leaves up. I thought at first it was Japanese Beetles, but now I doubt that. It seems that Japanese Beetles have probably not even reached the Rockies yet. As soon as the trees leaf out I'll take some photos. Any idea what I should spray for and when? Thanks so much!

Dax says: "Why am I even writing anything more, I don't know". Experience and determination to see people making hard decisions on what to grow get it right the first time. The guy just cares. Wass... Hetz Wintergreen is the best candidate for your needs. Dax is right. Wass... are you going to build this garden from small potted seedlings and 1 gal. conifers. Plan on living their along time to get the look you ultimately want to enjoy. You should possibly think bigger...especially your focal point plants to get this thing going. Does your local nursery buy from Iseli or other PNW growers. If they will special order and piggy back your order with theirs, for this Spring order, that could be beneficial in getting this thing going. The plus side is finding your plants quicker by the large selections they offer. Forget about the root ball myth. If I took into account all the mis-information out there and applied it to my garden, trying to sort the good from the bad, I wouldn't be growing anything. Go with your best instincts. What you accomplished with your former place was very professional and that tells me a lot. Time to put away those insecurities and get moving. The plan is right, the prepration time is right...so get moving. The 6' Picea omorika price is about right for end of season sales. I would be leery of a conifer in B&B state that has been sitting around all summer. Some what compromised for sure unless it has been up potted to insure its integrity. Check needles and root ball. Make sure root ball is not broken. Don't buy if it is. Good luck and keep us updated as to your progress. Dave

Stan, Great you find an heirloom melon you love. Netted Gem is a great tasting green fleshed melon. I had a few good ones but some of the plants were overcome by cucumber mosaic virus, as were some of the Ambrosias. Nonetheless, they were good and early. Other green ones to try are: Jenny Lind, Galia (heirloom and various hybrids such as Vanilla Ice and Passport), its close relative Haogen with softer flesh and banana-pineapple aftertaste, Rocky Ford, and Butterscotch which I could only find in the hybrid "Sweetie" which is both green and orange flesh. They've all done well here in coastal So. CAL. They're all favorites of mine taste-wise as well. The one I haven't been able to grow is Montreal Melon, the recently rediscovered large green heirloom. Charentais, when it's happy, is just as sweet and delicious IMO as anyone of the above. But it's personal preference. I found a vendor at the Farmer's Market locally, and their Charentais isn't as good as the ones I've grown. I think they overwater because the taste is good but not great.

Thanks, Mike-san! Welcome back from the Symposium! I hope you had a pleasant time, and will tell us about some of what you learned and saw. Didn't most of the Chinese cultural influnece on Japan have to travel there through Korea? Looking at the map, the Tsushima Straits look small compared to the open ocean between the Shan Dong(sp?) peninsula & Japan, and those seem to be the two most logical ways to get to Japan from China. Here's a question for everyone: When I try to understand this, I sometimes wonder if the realtionship between Korea and Japan has parallels to the relationship between France and Britain: Culture travels from the continent largely through the country just across the straits/channel, resulting in the highest fashions in art,craft, clothing, decor, etc. often being Korean/French. There's a similarity on the flip side too, in that familiarity breeds contempt, and proximity historically bred war, frequently between Korea and Japan, and seemingly incessantly between France and England. And I understand that the general social reputation of Koreans in Japan is not much better than that of the French in England. There are dissimilarites, of course: there was never a Korean Conquerer taking the Japanese throne in 1066, and so there is no intermingled language as with Norman French and Anglo-Saxon, and none (or very, very little?) of the royal houses holding lands and alliances on both sides of the water which seem to be at the root of so many of the Anglo-French wars. While I'm playing this game, I compare the role of classical China in Japan to that of Ancient Rome and Greece in England. Speaking Chinese/Latin & Greek was the trademark of the highly educated, art and architecture were widely copied and used for inspiration, certain classic Chinese poems (which I wish I could name:) might hold the same place in Japanese culture as the Iliad and the Odyssey. I've even read in a couple different places that Japanese people really like Chinese food (one Japanese-American author described it as being considered "the height of gourmandism".) And of the three finest restaurants here in Salem, two are Italian :) So, how about it? Is this a useful idea, or am I way out in left field? - Evelyn