Will, I was extra careful with my walking trough this garden, I didn't harm non of his plants. There was only one lady we would like to see that day, Will's girl friend but unfortunately she didn't show up. Mybe she red the day 1 journal and she didn't like me to make her famous in the conifer world ;0) Indeed, the white needled Picea abies is 'Elegantissima'. Dave, I can't remember the amound of tequilas we had but we decided to continue share our information about conifers with eachother. Somebody has to do this when the older generation isn't around no more... Mike, thanks for showing us your beautiful garden pictures. All colours together will make it look like a living painting! Garen59, do you've Dutch blood in you? Garen is Dutch for tread... For sure we are not Conifer Gods, but we felt like we were in heaven :0) Nate, the Picea shirasawae 'Mt. Yatugatake' is a special and very rare conifer indeed. Till now it's the only cultivar I know of this species. Some background info of the one's at the pictures: Abies procera 'Danish Column': Found by Jason Hupp from seed he bought from Danmark. This cultivar was first named as 'Hupp's Fastigiate' but in that time it wasn't availlable on the market yet. Picea shirasawae 'Mt. Yatugatake' The species Picea shirasawae is native in Japan and was first named as Picea bicolor var. shirasawae. Picea pungens 'Victor' Found by Jerry Morris as a flat growing specimen which arose as a seedling. He also named a Picea pungens 'Victor II' but this one is found as a witches' broom. Picea abies 'Catharine's Golden Heart' This is one of Bob Fincham's seedling selctions which arose as a cross between Picea abies 'Gold Drift' and Picea abies 'Acrocona'. Bob sold this one to Will including the rights to gave it a cultivar name. Will named it 'Catharine's Golden Heart' after his mother. This conifer does have a shape which is in between it's parents, also it produces cones at an early age. Will, thanks you for having us at your beautiful gardens and we hope that you'll continue your great topics at this forum!

Jasdip, I thought that would bother me too. We did try and avoid rush hour in train stations in the early morning and late afternoons. We only ended up riding a couple of packed trains where we had to stand. Most Japanese are extremely polite and quiet. Trains, amusement parks...so quiet. I got a rude reminder on our return to LAX. It was so jarring, the rudeness and loudness that I turned to Lauren in the airport and asked her why are Americans so d@mn loud and rude?!!! Even Japanese car horns are politely quiet. Extremely muted beeps. Even with the packed streets in touristy market places, it wasn't bad.

DawninCal, it was so hot and humid when we were in Tokyo that it made us sick. All the walking and sightseeing in the heat made us all lose our appetite and Rachelle really got sick, making us leave early on our first day out with family. I was surprised when we got to Kyoto, for some reason I thought it would be warmer but it was nice and cool. I think it only rained one or two days when we were there. By-the-way, got on the scale today and found that I had lost about 6 pounds during the trip!

Sashimi/sushi is usually both artfully presented and very delicious but not exotic compared to many things that are commonly eaten in Japan. I was an adventurous eater during my first trip there. Two things I remember eating in particular were grasshoppers and tadpoles. Both tasted fine if you didn't think about what you were eating nor look too closely at what you were putting into your mouth. There were some other things I questioned myself about and decided to just eat them and not ask what they were. I like octopus and it's a common seafood in the big European Mediterranean seafood eating areas like in Iberia, Italy and Greece. Whether eaten cooked or raw (sashimi) Japanese style, the flavor isn't that different from squid (calamari).