I hadn't really thought of all the uses beneficial insects have for the garden during the colder months. Thanks for the enlightenment! Another good book that has been in my library for decades is " The Living Garden: the 400-year history of an English Garden". In one chapter they discuss the actual amounts of organisms per unit of soil. I found it fascinating and informative.

Good Afternoon, Ladies and Gents! Josh, thank you. Will your Jades keep color over winter? Your Skinny Fingers is extremely red. Btw, is Skinny Fingers, Hobbit or Gollum? I still get the two mixed-up. :) A few posts below, you posted a photo of your Hobbit. You wrote 'mother and daugher.' Is daugher attached to mother? If so, will they be together, or removed to form a tree-shape standard/solo trunk? You also wrote, 'another beautiful day in northern CA.' What were temps that morning? One more question. :) You said, 'Hobbit in the light of the rising sun.' Are Crassulas in an east window? No more questions...Not at the moment anyway. lol Rob... I had no choice but to leave Jades outside when temps dipped below 32F. So far so good, however, during the day, temps are between 40-50F, nights 29-34. They're predicting 60F from Tues-Fri, although like you said, weather doesn't listen to the forecast. lol. Think I'm going to place a small table on the front porch, set Jades out during the day, then bring in at night. Today, the third of Nov is the first day we've had actual sun! If you've ever seen The Wizard of Oz, picture the twister scene. Remember the sky and wind? That's what the last 5 days resembled. :) Kuroc. Patience is the key..it seems some Jades grow faster than others. Your Jades will soon be tall and wide, then you will not know where to set them come winter. Mike, thank you..Tidy? You should see the mess after a windy day/night.. Or when I'm cleaning, and plants do the domino thing. lol. Toni

What a beautiful tree you have in your front yard Caroline. So many of the maples around here are still showing extensive damage from the ice storm as are many other trees. My parents have two hard maples that were badly damaged and used to be so pretty. It just makes me sad to see a beautifully colored tree that has the top half missing and shaped so badly. Yours looks great. Your October Blaze is going to have wonderful color Gld. That may be what I see in town that's one of my favorites. There are some that look good every year and hold their fall color for a long time. There's one called October Glory that I think is planted a lot. We planted Autumn Blaze (I think) and red maples and none of them have outstanding color.

Okay -- it's still 12/21 in my time zone, so I think I'm just in time to make a last post on our seasonal thread. HALLELUJAH! The evacuation orders were lifted this morning, so we got back to our house, where the first thing I did was hose off my garden (I even went to the bathroom outside so I wouldn't have to waste time cleaning up, going in, putting shoes back on, etc.!!!! Then had to wait for gas company to come turn gas back on. Then had to do the same for a friend who lives 3 doors down. Then had to give doggie a bath because he was filthy racing around our ash covered yard. Whew! Then went out to dinner at Joe's Cafe where we encountered other neighbors, and the local fire chief. So we thanked him personally. I think he was celebrating with a few drinks... CORI ANN -- you have been a generous and creative and fabulous hostess. And thank you for my virtual Christmas present. I will leave that level of pie baking to you and the experts, however. The potting bench you gifted LG is the same one my Dad gave me last Christmas! And I really want my own garden dinosaur. It reminds me of a great wedding photo -- the photographer set this scene: On the beach -- the ocean in the background, and the entire bridal party running away from the water screaming in terror. Then the photographer photo-shopped in godzilla coming out of the water toward the beach. hilarious! I also love the t-shirt you picked for Jim! LavenderLace -- I hope your trip goes really well. I still highly recommend the stretching and seeing a roadside attraction each day. Fragrance - we had a pond when I was in high school that my dad stocked with fish so he could fish off the dock. I used to take a little floating spa chair out on the pond to get tan (can you believe I just used baby oil? no wonder I have age spots now). One day I kept feeling things on my thighs, and kept swatting. Finally kept eyes open so I could see what was bothering me -- and there were a gazillion little fishes trying to nibble on my hairs!!! I shrieked, paddled back to the dock, and never went in again. Diane - you have such a talented family! I love illustrations. My favorite piece of art is a painting I bought in Prague that looks like an illustration from a book. I also have a Quinton Buchholz (sp?) picture that I blew up because I love it. It's a man floating away on an open book. Your quail bother you? I keep drreaming up ways to see them more often! Maybe your quail are different from the cute little CA quail with the doohickey on their heads? I want to catch up with all of you, but I still have to walk the dog and get the last of my christmas cards stamped and in the mail. I have loved checking in here when times were stressful. Your wit and wisdom and encouragement and advice and friendship have been priceless. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU. Finally -- my Christmas present to all of you is this crazy little story about beetles...or parts of beetles anyway: https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/12/20/571934373/beetle-penises-may-hold-clues-for-better-medical-devices?sc=17&f=1001&utm_source=iosnewsapp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=app (see what happens when you're evacuated, under stress, and sitting around in a motel reading too much news?) HAPPY HOLIDAYS to you all.