grandma, I'm not trying to be argumentative, either. Probably ought to do this as a PM or in a different thread, but I don't know where it would fit - certainly not here in the Trees Forum. As a pathologist at a state university-affiliated veterinary diagnostic lab, I'm in a public service position; I don't sell any service or product, I don't receive any profit from selling Science Diet, Iams, or any other dog food, and I'm not really recommending any. I don't see many issues related to pets consuming commercially-available pet foods - though the Chinese melamine thing, back in 2007 was very interesting, and we did see lots of dogs back in the late '80s that presented with the complaint of 'eating dirt' - and they were invariably being fed JOY dogfood; it was 'missing' something. Folks are occasionally taken aback at this, but I did not grow up in a family where we had 'pets' - yes, we had hunting dogs, but no real pets - I guess my horses met that qualification moreso than any dog or cat. It's a DOG. It's not my child. You're probably saying, "God, I'm glad HE's not MY vet!" - and I'm probably saying, at the same time, "God, I'm glad I'm not HER vet!" But if you were my client, you'd have loved me, 'cause I'm fun, and I can be very empathetic, even though I don't get those warm, fuzzy feelings about a dog, cat, rat, etc. If you need a diagnosis, I'm your man. I'm much more satisfied doing necropsies and reading biopsies, and letting my colleagues deal with the owners. We currently have a couple of dogs and a cat at home, but my world would be just fine if they were all gone tomorrow. I'm principally a large/food animal practitioner at heart, and while I learned all the general stuff about dog and cat diseases - and worked on my share of them for years, when I was in practice, I'm just not into the whole 'human-animal bond' thing with small animals. But I do like my cows, and enjoyed my goats, when I had 'em. Purina's fine for most dogs; heck, Ol' Roy is fine for most dogs. Any of the name-brand dog foods will do just fine for most average dogs, as they all meet the NRC recommendations for dietary requirements and balance. What else is in there? Ingredients: Whole grain corn, poultry by-product meal, corn gluten meal, animal fat preserved with mixed-tocopherols (form of Vitamin E), meat and bone meal, brewers rice, soybean meal, whole grain wheat, egg and chicken flavor, animal digest, salt, calcium carbonate, potassium chloride, calcium phosphate, L-Lysine monohydrochloride, choline chloride, zinc sulfate, added color (Yellow 6, Yellow 5, Red 40, Blue 2), DL-Methionine, Vitamin E supplement, zinc proteinate, ferrous sulfate, manganese sulfate, manganese proteinate, niacin, Vitamin A supplement, brewers dried yeast, copper sulfate, calcium pantothenate, copper proteinate, garlic oil, pyridoxine hydrochloride, Vitamin B-12 supplement, thiamine mononitrate, Vitamin D-3 supplement, riboflavin supplement, calcium iodate, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of Vitamin K activity), folic acid, biotin, sodium selenite. You mentioned euthanized animals and cow hooves; no, euthanized animals are not allowed into the rendering chain, and renderers have not accepted dog/cat/wildlife/goat/sheep carcasses for nearly 25 years or more - and since Apr 2009, no materials from cattle 30 months of age or older have been allowed for ANY animal feed, regardless of species - what a huge waste of a useful resource. But, 'meat & bone meal' and 'animal digest' are, indeed, byproducts of the rendering process. If your dog has an issue - allergy, renal disease, etc., then by all means, feed something different, and I'll readily admit that Hill's/Science Diet has some of the best foods on the market for those animals with various ailments, and they've spent many years and millions of $$ making sure that they meet the needs of those health-challenged pets. And yes, Hill's has had a close working relationship with most of the American veterinary colleges and veterinary practitioners for decades; they've trumpeted that fact; it doesn't mean the Science Diet foods are not good, or that there's anything sinister about the association they have with veterinarians. Purple-leaved trees. OK, Forest Pansy redbud is not too bad. I've seen a few nice purple European beeches. I like Loropetalum - and I've seen some nice big, old ones that approach small tree stature. Some of the rosybloom crabs have a lot going for them, and some stay some shade of green-purple pretty far into the season. There are even purple-leafed Nyssa sylvatica and Juglans regia selections out there, if you can find it. The purple-leaf plums and the purple Norway maples(is that Crimson King?) just look like a black thumb in the landscape to me; even the purple beeches don't look right in some settings. But, if you like 'em, go for it; that's my list - probably forgot one or two - like that god-forsaken 'chocolate' Albizia(dang, why'd I put that in there?) I'm done.

Wow I feel stupid. So I guess all cherries have the same bark except when they age it peels off and those consistent line patterns and smoothness disappears like this in the photo. I thought weeping cherry was the only cherry with a distinctive bark and even embothrium stated that they have their own bark in my thread here: https://www.houzz.com/discussions/question-on-anatomy-of-weeping-cherry-tree-dsvw-vd~4574199 

Oh! Yeah, I think so...fingers crossed. I haven't stared too closely at the leaves lately, but I don't see any glaring yellow splotches like I did with that first group -- it was on the P. incarnata. The plant(s) is/are thriving right now; and if I had to start plucking leaves off, it'd be an overwhelming task. I'm certain the Turk's Cap plant I received from my neighborhood friend's yard was affected by this same virus, as it had the telltale splotchiness AND horribly deformed, crinkled leaves -- and it just got worse and worse, so I yanked it.

I sowed the Sisyrinchium this past december, still waiting to see if they germinate. They should come up this spring right? I dont expect them to flower this year but at least I can get 30 of them, a small colony, in the ground growing and preparing to flower next year. I wintersowed them in a flat last year too, but my row cover ripped and made like a chute that directed water straight into the tray, and a lot of the soil, and presumably seeds too, washed away. No germination from that tray.