Hello, I feel that whilst paranoid and misquoted scientists can hinder relevant discussion, so to can emotive responses from people without any knowledge at all. Rainfall has not increased or decreased along the East Coast, whereas human activity has! Also, landscapes are cultural before they are natural! Homogenous landscapes can't be avoided, especially where people are involved and the linear relationship between deep green conservation and the horticultural industry is slight. Jan, what is important for land management, is identifying objectives and what resources are available. If you were to leave your paddock be, it might take 1000 years for a climax forest community to result? Also, you have to determine if your area was 'originally' rainforest or scrub and if so, to what extent? Did Aborigines live there and what was the fire regime and history? What I would like to impress upon you is however, it might be feasible to put a D3 through your paddock and deep-rip with follow up herbicide spraying (pasture grass is terrible for tree establishment!). Then plant (pioneers) up to 4000 stems/ha and wait for canopy closure... Cheers and Good Luck!

The promised storms started at 1:07AM. I don't know what happened, other than thunder, because I didn't hear a thing after that. This afternoon another torrential downpour, with some interesting clouds in the north-east: And then a gorgeous sunset. I hope that 'red sky at night ...' saying holds true for tomorrow's forecast. Here are some, taken just as the sun dipped below the horizon, centered behind my neighbor's tree:

Adding to this My own hybrid (seeds collected from maculata) - the one with big polka dots and light pink blooms. And a no name white bloomer. Plum Gorgeous and Judy Cook (Passing Storm is in here too). A green heracleifolia is with Judy Cook and you cannot see Proud Mary in the same pot. Red Coleus and Connee Boswell have great contrast. Big purple euphorbia is taking over a big parviflora. small rexes from Lowe's, Walmart, and maybe Home Depot this spring Shy Dancer and Stormy Sunset (pink-purple) I just call this White Bloomer since it has no name

Prb'ly not a 100 yr flood, which I'd say would be a one-time event instead of long-term rains. A 100 yr flood would be like downtown Johnstown, PA in July 1977 w/10 inches in an afternoon & historical flooding. Johnstown also had an even more catastrophic, famous flood in late May, 1889 after similar heavy rains. Still, my Sept 12.48" beats the (I'm ~60 miles west of) Hagerstown, Md's wettest month (Oct 1976) by a few tenths, and its record goes back to 1890 or so. But such a record is only for one single spot and some nearby, unrecorded spots could easily have greater-amount records. Over the yrs here the stream (too small to be a creek) has meandered noticeably, one side eroding and the other side accumulating sediment, some holes filling up w/rocks & sediment or new holes dug out, etc. Edit: This got me thinking and I realized I had some old NWS spreadsheets from some other locations. Found nearby (just 12 miles to my west) Cumberland, Md's records and my Sept amount does not beat out its record amount -- 12.94" in August 1915. Edit2: More records in my library. Chambersburg, PA (25 miles north of Hagerstown) had 14.49" in Aug 1911. So my amount is looking less impressive in the big picture.