Josh: The western Hemlock grows somewhat differently from the eastern hemlock. It grows faster, and often in dense stands, and can produce some good quality lumber relatively free of knots. Here in the mountains of Western MD it is seldom utilized for sawn timber. Even very large logs are knotty all the way to the ground, And the knots seperate from the sawn boards very easily. Some mills, especially in the west, have computerized systems for cutting out knots and pasting in fill plugs. I don't know of any mills in my area equipped to do that. But some timber cutters do put large hemlock logs on trucks and they go somewhere for something, but most logging operations I have seen just leave them alone. I am sure with the proper mill they can be made into good plywood, at least. Beng: Really interesting about the adelgids seeming to disappear and the hemlocks seeming to recover, at least to some extent. Maybe you could call some one there--a forester--and ask about what might have happened. Maybe you are observing something that just might be (hope, hope, hope) indicating some success with the predator beetle releases. Now that would be very stunningly good news. Perhaps some weather variations could be responsible, but I doubt it. I read one report that these adelgids can withstand temps as low as 60 below zero. Maybe some extreme warm/cold/warm pattern could have disrupted their life cycle or something? Anyway, I have heard that in colder climates they spread more slowly. They were reported about 10 miles from my timberland 6 or 7 years ago, and so far I haven't seen any on my timberland. They have been releasing beetles in the area, but so far no one is publishing anything about good results--or maybe I just haven't seen it, but I frequently do web searches for the latest news. But what I understand is that even if the beetle releases are working, it will take a number of years for their populations to get to a level that they can effectively control the adelgids, which seem to multiply much, much faster. The researchers working on this emphasize that we can't expect to wake up one morning and have these bugs under control, but over the long term this all may just pay off. --spruce

Hi Bob, I appreciate your comments. I did want to point out to all that this was originally posted in February of 05. I have found myself posting to an old post a number of times and didn't realize it. Easy to do. I am glad this post was resurrected as it gives me an opportunity to update. Wow, it has been two years since I posted that. So what has changed since then? Well..I don't feel overwhelmed any more and I have arrived at a comfortable pace at making changes to native. My maple tree remains and I feel fine with that decision. As I pointed out before, I am surrounded by maples of the same variety and removing mine will not make a difference at all in my immediate neighborhood. I do still hold out hope of taking the tree down, but one thing at a time. We removed a 100ft shrub border of old overgrown shrubs and started with a clean slate. Have started adding native shrubs and perennials. Clethra, a gray dogwood that someone here recommended, lindera benzoin, oakleaf hydrangea, ninebark and viburnums and a small dogwood tree and amelanchier tree so far. We are enjoying the new plants in the yard, but the change has not been without cost. Ripping out that whole border has exposed our yard all along our back lot line and we have no privacy at all whereas before no one could see into our yard. That is another reason the tree has remained. So when our new border fills in enough to give us some privacy we may find we are ready to take the tree down. Has anyone checked prices on having a tree removed? I have been hearing $1,000. Pretty steep! As for perennials...we created a long 50 ft raised border along our vegetable garden and are in the process of adding butterfly plants and other natives. Asclepias, echinacea, joe pye weed among others. We are now just beginning to add shade natives. This seems to be a little more difficult because they are expensive and not as easy to start from seed as the sun lovers are. I also am on a budget so I look for seed trades and for some reason the shade plant seeds seem to be scarce. We have also started buying more and more from the NEWFS here in Massachusetts. That is new. I have also met and have started corresponding with at least two other GW members who are also interested in native plants. Plus it just seems to me I am running into more and more posts on GW that mention an interest in natives. That is very encouraging. So..two problem plants that are still in my yard are one burning bush, that is slated for removal as soon as we can get to it. The other is a spring poppy that is not the native but the import from China. I have started pulling the non native poppy two years ago, but still am getting back some reseeded ones evidently. I think this will be the year though. I just ordered some native poppy seeds from NEWFS and hope I get good germination. I am ready to pull the next generation of the old poppy and that might do it for me then in goes the native poppy and voila! lol I am enjoying it and feeling good about it. So I hope that encourages everyone in the native forums that all your time spent responding to posts and answering questions and trading seeds is making a difference. :-) adam

I installed Mirage brand yellow birch, select, natural (no stain) site finished floors about a year ago. So far they've held up pretty well, and we are NOT a gentle folk with them. There are some dents where furniture was moved around during the reno, but mostly it's surface scratches in the poly that are showing up. The scratches bug me more than the dents because dirt gets in them and then they're visible, where the dents you don't see unless the lighting is just right. So, if I were to do it again I'd still go for the Birch, but I'd probably stain it a slightly darker colour so the scratches aren't quite as visible. It's a pretty light floor overall. I still have 100 yo Douglas Fir floors that scratch and dent if you look at them wrong (which I absolutely love), but the scratches aren't so visible because the floor is darker, which makes the difference for me. I say get whatever makes you swoon. There was something about the birch that my husband lusted after. The graining and neat iridescent looking spots sold him, and eventually me too. If you get those pangs over either of your flooring choices, just go for it. Just maybe consider a medium stain on those birch floors if you're like me and scratches will bug you.

We installed mirage floors 10 years ago. Maple cashmere. We have semi gloss in a bedroom and I do not like those as much, I do prefer the matte look of cashmere. Our previous dog nails created scratches in the floor. Our current dog is twice the weight but doesn’t scratch the floor. Odd how their paws lay/ walk differently. There are dents when anything metal like the vacuum drops or anything sharp. It has yellowed which I don’t think is unusual but thought engineered would prevent that. We went with mirage because we could sand and refinish. Haven’t investigated the cost yet. I would like to continue it into the bedrooms but not sure if I can get the floor to match correctly.