purple, in other photos from EU countries, I saw prices which didn't use the Euro symbol. I linked to that particular photo to show that the same model of yellow price tag is used in Italy. Some of the tags in the other photos had a comma where we use the decimal point (the comma is European usage); I'm not sure if there's a comma in the photo above. At least one photo showed the last two numbers underlined (as Americans underline the cents). I think there were others with the entire price underlined. Many years ago, my parents lived in Belgium. Prices of everything were much higher than in the U.S. Food, gas, everything in stores. (I think the same was true the last time I was in Britain.) So I'm not surprised by the price of the mum. And maybe it's a high-end store where all the prices are high just to make you think they're ultra exclusive mums.... As for the gradient coloring, ombre (shaded; variegated) yarn has been sold for many decades. I know how low-tech crafters make it, though I have no idea what the big yarn-producers do. So the gradient-dyed fiber is the easy part. Then, maybe, chunks of dyed fiber are clamped together and glued to a piece of something-or-other. Then the piece is attached to the top of the "trunk". (I'm sure there are other ways to do it.)

Before I gave away my bonsai collection, I had a dwarf ulmus parvifolia-Chinese elm!! Maybe they have a smaller version of the typical one for use in your garden? I was also thinking about trees with weeping habits that might work for you, but I have no idea if they are small or if they are even appropriate for this zone. Besides the Mayten, I was thinking of all the different trees in the Myrtaceae family (myrtle, melaleuca, eucalyptus...) and maybe even the dwarf weeping willow-- Salix caprea pendula. Then I decided that there must be a ton of good choices out there, so I did a quick google image search and look at what there was!!! http://images.google.com/images?um=1&tab=wi&client=firefox-a&hl=en&hs=ONr&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&q=weeping%20tree%20small you'll probably have to copy and paste the link, but it is worth it :)

"Simply the fact is hybrids do not come true from seed!!" The simple fact is you have refused, so far, to consider the ample proof. _______________________________ "A plant genus does not come from a hybrid but it is the exact opposite!!" This one is well documented in any college freshman level biology book. But here's one random example (there are also many many more with known parentage in the Quercus genus), but, as I stated earlier, the phenomenon can also be seen throughout higher-level species of plants and animals. Quercus alba x Quercus bicolor = Quercus jackiana _______________________________ "If you actually could provide 1 thing to back you up..." More general evidence can be found in any college freshman level biology book, but here's one from Wikipedia's article on oaks (and before you start on it, evolution in this context has nothing to do with humans, so no need to even go there). This same thing occurs throughout higher life forms, but is more easily seen in oaks than in some other life forms because of the speed and frequency with which it occurs. "Frequent hybridisation among oaks has consequences for oak populations around the world; most notably, hybridization has produced large populations of hybrids with copious amounts of introgression, and the evolution of new species." Most modern day species have not been around for very long. They came from somewhere and that somewhere was through processes like mutation and hybridization of extinct and older extant species.

I have a neighbor who is similar to this guy, but my neighbor is about 75 years old. Creepy, nonetheless. When we first moved in as we got to know our neighbors, we invited some to our wedding. This neighbor, I will call him Joe, was telling guests at my wedding that he is disappointed that I purchased blinds and how my husband and I like to kiss and hug a lot. Tell me that wouldn't creep you out. My blinds on his side of the house are never opened, and he even comments on it. Whenever we go out in the yard, we feel like we are being watched. You might think, ok, this is just some old lonely guy, but it's far more than that. I had contractors at my house replacing the roof and doing exterior work. I came home one day and they told me that "Joe" went on for about 15 minutes telling them everything he knows about my personal life from where we work, what time we get home, what we do for a living, that we bought the house when we weren't married, etc. I was so upset, but as always, my husband thinks it's more important to keep the peace with the neighbors. I am a private person, and I do not like people sharing personal details with strangers without my consent. He would also brag to us repeatedly that he has a key to our house because the prior owner would have him watch their dog sometimes. Of course, we ignore his comments because the day we closed on the house we changed the locks. One day I'm at home sick and I'm sitting in my t.v. room in my pajamas. He didn't know I was home. I hear this commotion at my back door, and my dogs are barking like crazy. I look, and the door knob is being jiggled. I look through the blinds (they were closed at the time), and he was actually trying his old key in our lock!!!! I was so freaked out, I called my husband at work and told him enough is enough. I don't think the guy was trying to be malicious, but I do think that he's controlling and his curiosity got the best of him. But who knows. From that point, my husband asked him if he ever needs anything (his excuse for being at the back door was to drop off a neighborhood flyer - which he did, but that was his excuse for being there), in the future to drop it off in our front mailbox. Again in the wintertime he would come to our back door, so I told him we don't want people back there because if he fell on the ice we don't want to be liable. The guy is very persistant, and I can't stand it. The next thing going up is an electric gate in our driveway. He will no longer have access. Another time we had people over for a cookout in our backyard. He sat in his breakfast nook directly across from us and watched us the entire time. It made all my guests uncomfortable. We started planting trees along the perimeter of the property. Finally, as I started working from home, he noticed that I wasn't leaving for work every morning. So I'm heading for the garage one afternoon and he says, "hey, I notice that you don't leave in the mornings anymore. Are you still working?" My response was, "Yeah, but you don't need to worry about it. It doesn't concern you." He looked shocked, but has backed off somewhat. My life is not an open book, and I don't appreciate people prying into my personal business. It really annoys me. Most recently, he has been making comments because we have some old paneling that we've been replacing in our basement, and the old stuff is sitting out by the garbage in our back yard up against the garage. My husband hasn't broken it down yet because it still has nails in it. Something we just haven't gotten to yet. So now that he's making comments, I'm not in any rush to get it out of there. It's my property, and I don't see how what is on my own property should concern him. Our home was a major eye sore when we purchased it, and it's like night and day now. So a piece of paneling in my backyard is not his business, and it is going to stay there for another couple of weeks before I decide to do anything with it. Just because I can!