CEF, Molly is adorable! I want to kiss her snout. She sounds like quite the little rascal. Love it. You definitely are a busy one, I am so impressed with all this building of things. Are you self-taught? I wish I knew how to do some of that. Kitchen cabinets! Awesome. Our kitchen is original (not a good thing, 1973) and I'd love new cabinets. Reworked, recycled, whatever! Just different, pretty and CLEAN. I planned to paint ours when we moved in last year-- bought all the supplies, watched some videos... just never did it. I underestimated how long EVERYTHING would take. Every room had wallpaper and I figured I'd take a weekend or two before we moved our stuff in and get that out quick. HA!! It took 2 months, just to get it all down. And half the walls still have spackle. It's been 13 months and we have two rooms done. Two! Whatever. I'll get to it. I am a hairstylist and only work Fridays and Saturdays (til the kids are both in school anyway) so it's difficult to take time off. I do it now and then though and if I'd known about this plant swap sooner, I probably would have. Is there a website I can bookmark so I will know early next year? Our rancher is brick. I'll post a pic of it when we bought it, with the row of yews. I couldn't wait to get them out but now that they are finally, I'm a little overwhelmed at how much work it is to get that area in order, long before plants will even be concerned. Right now the dirt is all turned over and weeds are everywhere-- I pulled up all that I could see last week (almost a full day of weeding!) and then we had that crazy rain and few days later, weeds everywhere again. I posted about it on the soil forum but nobody responded so today I went out there with my pump sprayer full of vinegar and covered every square inch. I know that can kill the stuff I want as well but there's nothing out there but weeds so I figured I'd give it a go. Edge out a bigger bed tomorrow with my new edger (SO EXCITED) and then maybe mix in some topsoil and turn it over before mulching. I may not plant anything this year after all. Use containers so I can make sure the soil is good first, move things around for a bit til I get a feel. Who knows. I want to paint the shutters too, not liking this green. Medium-darkish taupe maybe? With just a hint of green/blue? Leaning more toward the brown, less the grey. I'm off to research fertilizers for my new maple, and perhaps my Mikawa Yatsubusa, if it's not dead yet. I know Al has some good stuff on here about it, found another member recommending him when I was google searching a few minutes ago ; ) oh and p.s.- you mentioned liking the weathered look, have you considered making raised beds out of pallets? Saw something on pinterest about that and it looked great, plus they are usually free somewhere.

"We also learned that the potting mix the JM's arrived in was heavy on the bark side.This is commonplace with all growers and grafters of JM's. It ROTS within 6-12 months, so the bark must be removed from the JM's whenever you up-pot...... Remember this: Growers don't ship plants with sustainable soil. It only lasts 6 months." I am going to disagree with this :-) While I don't do it commercially, I grow all my JM's in containers and have for many years.......my oldest is approaching 30 y.o. And my potting mix is and has always been heavily barked-based as it produces a very freely draining, textural and extremely durable media. With this barked based mix (the 5-1-1 discussed intensively on the Container Gardening forum), I do not need to repot or refresh the soil for 3-5 years depending on the container and the size of the tree. Even at that point the soil is still in reasonably good condition. The location and depth of the perched water table is entirely dependent on the soil media being used, not the size/depth of the container. It is quite possible to maintain a small seedling or 1 year graft in a 4" pot or a larger, 7" deep trade gallon for as long as necessary before up-potting provided you are using a highly textural soil that allows for fast drainage. Due to the vagaries of soil physics and water movement, there will always be a PWT in the base of the container but the better the potting mix, the lower/thinner the PWT will be. The reason growers focus on bark-based mixes is for this very reason. They hold up well long term yet provide the aeration and very necessary fast drainage but the degree of moisture retention JM's are happiest in. And also maintain a low PWT. Although it would not be my first choice, your perlite based mix should offer a similar situation. However, I would encourage you to disavow yourself of the notion that a barked based potting mix deteriorates rapidly. 30+ years of using it and growing a large collection of containerized trees (a variety but primarily JM's) has adequately proven that to be inaccurate :-) I would also encourage you to read this thread on container soils and water movement thoroughly to educate yourself on the many qualities of a bark-based mix.

I bought my Korean maple approx 5 years ago at one foot high for $30 (2 gallon pot). Maybe I just lucked out on finding a good one, or maybe I have a good sheltered spot, but it's done well for me (zone 3, though sheltered city lot). It never developed much in the way of fall color until this year. I believe itÂs because itÂs in a shady spot (3 hours sun). Not as brilliant as MikeÂs photo, but it did get an orangy hue to it with some of the leaves on the branch ends reddish. Nice to see as most of my other plants get yellow fall color. As my tree gets taller however (6 feet tall) the top of the plant isnÂt as shaded by nearby buildings. My only complaint, and itÂs not a big deal, is that here the leaves seem to get frost bitten, then stick onto the plant, instead of falling off. ItÂs just a minor complaint because now I have a tree with crispy leaves ready to fall off into my small pond nearby. According to some sources, this tree can get quite big, but I am happy that it is slow enough growing (at least here) and seems more shrub like than tree like. I also have a couple of Japanese maples, though smaller height ones. For winter I take a box, remove the bottom flaps, place around the tree and essentially fill in around the tree with peat moss, then leaves. Once it snows, mound lots of snow. TheyÂve come through 3 winters this way. I know they will never be huge, because any portion of the plant that I donÂt winter protect wonÂt survive, but itÂs kind of neat to be able to grow at least a couple. I know they too can gain great size with age, but I sort of view these as miniature trees. Glen

Hi Guys and Gals!!! I am sitting here in my hotel room LMAO.. You all are soooooooooooo bad!!! It's ok though, i don't mind if you refer to me as "the Laura" lol.. I have really been trying to be good. I have set my new goal to get rid of some of my doubles and settle for what i have.. Yea. Right!!! I did confess to DH that i have a Giant Aussie Orange coming soon.. he just looked at me and said that i was a Plumeria "Hoarder" LOL... Hey!! It could be shoes.. or purses.. I will finally stop sometime soon. Then there is next year!!! Only kidding.. : ) My friend from Northern Va who likes to wear lights on his head wanted to go in on some cuttings.. I really said "no thanks" I think he was as stunned as i was. He didnt buy anything either. This was when Maui PG had their sale. See... I did stop. Go ahead.. use my name.. LOL.. it's ok!! Jen, i really do need to sign up !!! have you? Thanks everyone, Now all will be wanting Rhonda!! "Help me Rhonda...." Take care, Laura