I completely understand and totally respect where your coming from. My tree planting philosophy for my city plot is fairly selfish from a long term perspective. If I had more property / space here, I'd be planting, oak, black cherry & walnut, ginko, sugar maples, dawn redwood, etc. - trees that are fairly to quite long lived. I very much value and appreciate the long lived "legacy" trees. My Green ash is 48 years old and in exceptional condition, (ISA certified arborist was very impressed with it, and it is even looking better now - he said I had the dead limbs so well pruned out it wouldn't even be worth it for him to do anything to it and this tree is a good 60' tall) I am taking very good care of that tree, through it's not as long lived as many, at least it has the potential to make it another 100 years. Unfortunately, no matter what you plant, as you know, city conditions are often extremely hard on trees, and they live much much shorter life spans than they should. I'm convinced that PROPER mulching (meaning as close to going out to the drip line as possible, even with large trees) with good mulch with organic material mixed in plays a huge role in tree health. Unfortunately, this is extremely unpopular for some reason (people love that dang nutrient water sucking weed...Grass), and people want to grow the grass right up to the tree, and when that doesn't work, they just dump more and more soil on top of the roots then throw down some more seed. Remember that tree I showed here a couple weeks ago that had the funny color edges and was diagnosed as having chlorsis, that tree hangs well over my property and provides valuable shade, but it is my neighbors tree, it's buried too deep and has grass growing right up to the tree. My mature maple, about the same age as my neighbors, is growing like a weed and looks very healthy, but it is mulched out to the drip line with nice mulch with organic matter mixed in. My drive to plant very fast growing trees is multifaceted; 1. Like so many of us, I am driven by instant gratification, something most long lived hard wood trees don't give you. I thoroughly enjoy watching how fast my plants and trees grow. In fact, growing my plants and trees (along with my dogs) are about the most exciting, engaging and meaningful activities in my life. 2. I love Hosta. While I am finding some are more sun tolerant with lots of water, there are many that need a more shaded environment. In under 2 years, the weeping willow has gotten large enough that I was able to plant Halycon under it, and it is looking great. I want to keep packing my yard full of hosta and need at least partial shade for many of them to do well. I've added almost 80 hosta to my front yard in the last 3 weeks. Fire & Ice, Christmas Tree & August moon are in a large amount of sun currently, and they are doing surprising well, but the sun is moderately hard on them and I am having to remove burnt leaves, as well as giving them copious amounts of water. I have Amoroni Gold, Sum and Subtle and Halycon under the weeping willow, and they are loving the location so far. I've seen some weeping willows aggressively cut back in a really creative way that made them look great, I'd guess it is a form of coppicing. When I get to the size where I need that aggressive of pruning, I'll likely have the ISA certified arborist come out to discuss. When I look at the silver maples that are out growing their terrace space, it seems they are mainly shifting the sidewalk and not so much the curb, not sure why exactly, maybe the curbs are poured deeper. There was a fairly nice looking weeping willow about 2 blocks from here, they cut it down last year for some reason, I thought it looked like it was in good condition. Then about 3 blocks from here, there is an amazing weeping willow that must be 50+ years old. Overall here in the city, there are not very many of them, beside the one I just mentioned, I can only thing of others that are on the waters edge. I'd bet the trees in the city go something like 50%+ Maples (mostly silver) and a portion of that being Locust, 10%-20% pine / spruce, 20% mixed hardwoods, birches, oaks, ash. The rest being a variety of different trees, many softwood, cottonwood, poplars, aspen, etc. We defiantly have a overwhelming abundance of Maples here, and I'd guess that Locust comes in second. So in this area, the willow stands out pretty well. It's unfortunate, but the vast majority of this city is filled with fairly short lived trees. Jamie

Kat's right, that IS a great box, gals! But....I'm envious over the Amaryllis! :O) I've been eyeballing them for a few weeks now. I found a gorgeous striped one, and a double red that I am hankering for. Just haven't gotten around to buying any plants for myself lately, it's all going for the swaps & Christmas gifts! LOL Kat, just what DID you put in Dan's box to make you so excited??? You've got ME excited, now! Well, with you, I KNOW it will be something awesome. You ALWAYS pack a great box! :O)

Well, I make a WeeWilly Warmer - I take a glove and cut off the fingers to make the warmer. I sew on a small bell on the end of the finger and two 36" pieces of cold cord attached to each side of the top of the finger... The poem I attach to the box is Wee Willy Warmer When you are getting older, and the nights are getting colder... Nothing could be sweeter, than this cute wee peter heater!

I have sent photo cards since my oldest was a baby. I love receiving photo cards...I had no idea that there are people who don't like them! In my demographic, which is families in the midst of raising children...photo cards are the norm. People do some amazing layouts and really creative cards... It is so fun to see what everyone has come up with. I love them all. Makes getting the mail so much more exciting in December. One of my best friends and her husband are incredibly funny and creative and come up with the most amazing cards each year. Last year they did a Downton Abbey theme, but changed the name to Downton "Their street name." They and each child dressed as a character (photo shop was involved) and the whole group was photoshopped in front of the real Downton Abbey house! It was awesome! i have another friend who is so smart and wickedly funny, besides being an incredible writer. Her Christmas letter has had me literally laughing out loud with tears streaming down my face it was so funny! Who wouldn't love getting that in the mail? I love Christmas letters, even the ones that might be construed as a bit braggy....who cares? It it interesting to hear what everyone is up to! last thing...I try to put a little note on most of my friends' cards that live far away, but I never judge people who don't! We are all busy and who knows what might be going on right then. Getting a Christmas greeting in the mail is just a fun tradition, and I hope it never goes away entirely!