Plumhill, I agree with your basic premise, but I don't think a comparison of Cu vs. Sevin is a very good example to make your point. Sevin is more dangerous than Cu. I am certainly not a syntheti-phobe and many times grow weary of the public perception of organic vs. synthetic pesticides. Namely, the unfortunate public opinion that organic is always better than synthetic. Certainly the LD50 value is dependent upon the particular formulation of Copper and the particular formulation of Sevin. I have both Copper and Sevin in my lockers and their LD50 values are as follows: Kocide 3000 has an LD50 of 1847 mg/kg and Sevin 4F has an LD50 of 590 mg/kg. A little bit more Kocide is required for a full dilute spray vs. a full dilute of Sevin but even in full dilute, Sevin is more acutely toxic. There are other health considerations besides acute toxicity as well. This in my opinion is where Sevin loses the race. It is a cholinesterase inhibitor and listed as a carcinogen and developmental/reproductive toxin for mammals. Cholinesterase inhibition is the big deal here. I've read some applicators who routinely spray carbamates (i.e. Sevin) or organophosphates periodically have their cholinesterase levels checked because of the risk associated with these compounds. Again these risks are for applicators who are spraying these compounds all the time, not for a homeowner occasionally spraying their fruit trees, or applying a little Sevin dust to their vegetables. I'm not trying to make anyone paranoid about Sevin or copper. I'm not afraid to use either one, but from a health standpoint, I'd rather have repeated exposure of Cu vs. Sevin. From an environmental standpoint, I'd rather spray Sevin because, as you point out, it breaks down quickly. There are plenty examples of synthetics out there that are safer than Cu. Many of them have LD50 values of greater than 5000 mg/kg. Scott mentioned MFF. I see it has an ld50 of 4340 mg/kg. That means the concentrate of MFF is less acutely toxic than table salt. Quite safe.

A casual glance outdoors reveals a much more winter-like scene now, as we're 90% defoliated overall. Some color still remains though. A lot of the street trees are Acer rubrum 'October Glory' & various Pyrus calleryana, both of which mostly still have leaves, but past-peak in color. There are also some Scarlet Oaks that still look outstanding - one in particular I'll try to get a picture of tomorrow morning (I go into work at 10:30 so should have good lighting for a pic) - it's a youngish tree, still pyramidal shaped & branched to the ground, but has a very intense, and late developing color every year. From the car I'd guess it's about 10" caliper, so it's no sapling, but not big enough to develop the spreading, mature form yet. Some of the later-coloring Acer rubrum cultivars (some Red Sunset but mostly October Glory) still look great, but the seedling rubrums (wild or planted) are long bare at this point. A few sweetgums are holding on, but mostly drying out and dropping. The white oaks have some leaves, but mostly the browned, dried up ones that hang on most of the winter. Same for the pins. The N. Red oaks are mostly bare or nearly so. Beeches are bare. Liriodendrons are bare. The deciduous conifers are peaking or a bit past now - I'll try to snap some pics of a couple nice Metasequoia tomorrow as well. The Callery pears are average this year. Sugar Maples pretty much defoliated. Some of the Sawtooth Oaks have a nice yellow that is just now developing - these typically stay green until sometime between Nov. 15 & December 1, then normally just turn a weak chartreuse & drop, but this year some actually seem to be turning a good yellow. We'll see what happens -they're my least favorite oak (invasive, not particuarly attractive) but this might redeem them for me temporarily.

Courtney, You know, I just had to pass on the USO story to you after I read it in Sunday's paper because positive media coverage on any military issue is so rare anymore! We have turtles everywhere this year, much more so than in past years. Even in a year where I rarely see a turtle, there is always one or two plodding around the yard and garden, eating whatever strikes their fancy. This year, there's more than one or two! They are even digging up bermuda grass and laying their eggs right in the yard. Hmmm? An animal that digs up bermuda grass? I need more of those! Cutworms are sneaky. I can have 50 bush bean plants and they'll take out only 1 or 2 here or there, some years. Other years, they go right down the row and saw them all down. Some of them eat everything they cut. Some don't. Sometimes what I think is cutworm damage is actually plants being gnawed in two and then devoured by pillbugs/sowbugs (Slug-go snail and slug killer takes care of those bugs). Sometimes birds will nip young plants in half and it resembles cutworms. So, a lot of times, if you can't see the pest while it is active, it is hard (impossible!) to be sure what the pest is. Congratulations on the harvest! I love fresh chives. For a few years I had huge rows of chives as a edging on both sides of a raised bed that was 4' wide by 30' long. Last year, they mostly died when I gave up and quit watering the garden in June. However, a few came back and I transplanted them into my cottage border. Your Veggie Garden 'lessons learned' are priceless. I am here to tell you that learning these things 'the hard way' is the most fun! I agree that some weeds are good in the garden. By being smart and observing what bugs like what weeds, you will learn which weeds to allow as a 'trap crop' for pests. The main reason I interplant herbs and flowers in my veggie garden is because they attract beneficial insects OR trap harmful insects making them easy to catch/kill, OR improve the flower of a veggie (like borage and basil improve tomato flavor). It doesn't hurt that they are pretty or that they smell good too! This is also the reason I plant a mixed cottage border around my veggie bed. For what it is worth, I ALWAYS plant too many pumpkins and winter squash and ornamental gourds and I ALWAYS plant them too close together. Some years, disease and pests will wipe out some of them, but since I overplanted, I always have plenty. In a good year, I will have wheelbarrow loads and they make GREAT late summer to late autumn displays around the yard, garden and barn. After that, I give them to the dogs to play with and to the compost pile to feed it. Often, the pumpkins/witer squash/gourds reseed in the dog yard where they climb the fence, and in the compost pile, where they cover it up and hide it pretty well. Oh, if you have a fairly cool space to store them, some pumpkins and winter squash can be stored for MONTHS and then eaten, too. I have kept fall-harvest pumpkins in my tornado shelter until as late as February and March some years, and they were just fine for cooking/eating. I have also kept fall-harvested winter squash in my garage through the spring without a serious loss of quality. I am glad you are having a wonderful June in the garden. Now, if it would only stop raining! Dawn

why, with the enormous range of fabulous small trees available for our delight, would anyone choose to grow one species only? Lack of imagination or interest - most property owners are not hobbyist gardeners - and a belief that formal effects like shearing of trees and shrubs, planting rows of one kind are sophisticated. Also some are wary of plants they haven't already seen having been proven to be able to grow and persist in their area. I can see some basis for this as both warehouse store plant departments and independent garden centers in my area do stock a lot of marginally hardy or outright tender plants which are often displayed among more cold tolerant kinds, thereby seeming to imply that they are all suitable for year around outdoor use of indefinite duration. And speaking of warehouse store plant departments, with their tiny range of plant varieties - those operations now have a large percentage of the US nursery stock sales. I have seen post after post on the internet referring to these as "the nursery". Plus in the current market trees are moving so slowly I wonder why any of the large independent outlets here are bothering to stock any kind of a range or quantity of them. And in fact one of the bigger operations in the area did apparently cut way back on these, so that for at least a few years now their "tree line" has been this little area like is routinely seen at warehouse stores.