Even though it has been less than 2 weeks without rain with temps in the 80's and a few 90's, it is hard to believe how dry my sandy loam soil can get with sunny windy conditions. My one 7 ft. Paper Birch that is recovering nicely from being planted too deep a few years ago, and raised this spring, had leaves turning yellow even though I was giving it water regularly. Apparently, it wasn't enough to keep the soil moist deep enough to prevent this from happening. A long soaking watering stopped the yellow leaves from increasing in number. My 3 ft. Eastern Hemlock had it's first branch turning brown. I thought being it's second year in the ground, I could cut back on the every 3rd day watering when it doesn't rain, guess not. When you read that Tsuga Canadensis will not tolerate drought at all, believe it. My Black Ash in the front yard, had individual leaf clusters in several spots, shriveling up with no change in color, like it was adjusting to lack of water. So, to prevent further crisis, I'm back to every other day soakings of the new trees planted this spring and the trees that were raised this spring, plus every day soakings of any water loving trees like Red maples as they quit putting out new growth until the watering resumed. And this is all on soil that is a real upgrade (Sandy loam) to the Loamy sand where I used to live. The single biggest factor I attribute this problem too is the lack of shade in my area (due to the lack of any mature trees at all). The mulch makes sure that only the tree gets the water which is a plus but it doesn't prevent the soil from getting sucked dry by the tree in short order. Finally tonight were are getting a nice soaking rain that is supposed to last all night and most of tomorrow, hopefully giving us a couple of inches to penetrate down past the dry layer. Otherwise an inch will help but it won't totally alleviate the dryness. Either way, irrigation will start again in either a few days or a week at the most, depending on conditions of temps, sun and wind.

Yes, could be red elm-Ulmus rubra, rock elm-U. thomasii, or the afore-mentioned U. americana, but there's not enough tree being shown to tell. Also not especially helpful is holding the leaf of one species in amongst the twigs and foliage of the other! Norway male is highly invasive, being only one tier under those species that produce fruit which gets carried for miles by birds and other wide-ranging carriers. It can really out-muscle a lot of species once it gets going in moist, shady areas. Sun or shade, of course. That's my ranking, anyway, and depending on where you are, NM might be the worst issue going on.

I've compared American Classics Leather to Hancock and More along with other manufactures and seeing their products, they seem to be the best. Made in Hickory NC, is there anybody that compares to their quality? www.americanclassicsleather.com

We went with the Texas White Ash Korlok. Do NOT buy Karndean flooring. Contrary to their claims, the floor is POOR quality, hard to clean and not as robust. I've had planks de-laminating and gaping. I paid top dollar for this floor and would not recommend their products to anyone. Stay away! Dealing with their warranty department is a nightmare as well. Its taking forever! I'm over half a year into the claim and all they want to do is point the finger at me for installing it wrong, even thou I followed their installation instructions. They do not stand behind their product nor do they look after the end customer. I can't stress it enough - STAY AWAY!