You guys are going to hate me for suggesting this, but i would say russian olive. Now, take away the fact that down south it is horribly invasive. You can pollard them and use the branches and laves as mulch, the flowers attract all kinds of pollinators (and smell wicked). They dont get massively tall, yet still can provide some good shade, dappled light, or even trimmed for maximum light on the ground. They add nitrogen to the soil, and can take some crazy abuse, therefore making able to "nurse" less tough trees until they get large enough to be able to handle harsh conditions, The wood is also very dense and is amazing firewood. Personally, as long as the trees are functional in some way (aside from the obvious) I welcome them. The only tree that I have that wouldnt be thought of as "usefull" is a Ginkgo. I love history, and had a facination with dinosaurs as a kid, so this living fossil is perfect for me. The other thing is, you can get a flowering/ornamental pear, ornamental cherries and crab apple trees, and graft edible branches on them, making "useless" trees functional. To be fair, shade trees would be useful in some places, making you able to grow some plants that wouldnt be able to grow in full sun (climates like arizona). I couldnt imagine growing tomatoes in full sun all day in australia for instance, without lots of water. Some other double duty plants I can think of are grapes, nausturium, linden (edible new leaves), ostrich ferns (fiddleheads), mushrooms (break down wood, builds soil, and you can eat them if you cultivate the right ones), roses, alder, locusts, redbuds, acacia, any legume family tree, walnuts (ive seen people use them in spots to discourage almost all plant growth where they didnt want any, almost like using the problem of jugalans to their advantage), maxamillion sunflower, passiflora.....

It has been unseasonably cool the past couple days on and off. They seemed to come out sporadically, but few in numbers. I havn't seen over 10 total so far this year. The rain came about and it probably hatched some of the larvae, but the cooler weather bouts ultimately probably killed a lot of them off. I thought they were completely gone, but I saw one on my mini yesterday, but we dropped down to about 55 last night, so I'm sure the few remaining ones are not feeling too comfortable. Fine by me...they can fly back to Japan for all I care.

We have a local pediatrician that does di-chro jewelry. He wears pins and stuff everyday at work and has given lots of it to his nurses and receptionists, who also wear it frequently. He gets lots of questions about the jewelry, and people always want to know where he gets it (most of what he wears is very whimsical). Several years ago he began to have an open house at his own home in early December to sell his jewelry (he and his daughter make it all). They invited their co-workers and friends and just served cookies, crackers, cheese, and punch. They told everyone to bring friends. Every year it has grown and last year they probably had a few hundred people go through their doors. I love his stuff and do lots of gift buying there every year, buying about 20 pieces per year. They now have picture frames, serving utensils, sculptures, and lots of jewelry priced mostly from $10-100, but some a little more. People get there early, waiting outside, to get first pick of everything. Most everyone there purchases at least $100 or more. I get compliments on his jewelry all year long and tell people where it comes from and they ask how they can get invited to this "exclusive" party. I just tell them to call his clinic and they will give them the date and time.

I picked up my order from GVR yesterday. Their bareroot roses are Star roses in the paper pot with a plastic sleeve, you may have seen at nurseries like Summerwinds. I believe their bareroot roses are all grade 1 roses. All the roses are still dormant and I can only imagine how gorgeous the gardens are in the spring! They have rows of dreamy roses I’ve not been able to find anywhere else, Kathryn Morley and Classic Woman (cream Yves Piaget) in their field grown for cut flowers for florists. I asked if they’ll offer Classic Woman as a nursery plant and the owner, Jessica, told me not currently but to check back from time to time. Anyway, had a very positive experience! Met Jessica and Robert, who were both very friendly and helpful.