Rodger wrote about leaving one's garden, What I can imagine is wifey turning to hubby and saying, "dear, why don't you >bring in the backhoe and level all that mess so we can have a nice >paddock for >the horses?" [PS: I am not implying that Jane's place is a mess of any sort.] It is a worse mess than it was, because I already partially leveled the rock garden thinking it would be a liability in selling the place. I intend to recommend either total leveling of the remaining disrocked berms, or using them for a fruit orchard as the area is well protected from quick morning thaw in winter. There is, however, a great deal of space elsewhere for a paddock, barn, greenhouses, or whatever else anybody would want in addition to a garden, the property being 10 acres. Around here, that probably means a Christmas tree farm -- groan. I don't really expect the garden to stay the same but it would be nice if some of the trees could be preserved, as they are not only beautiful but valuable. However, even this element of a garden always changes. A few days ago a large Laburnum x watereri 'Vossii' keeled over in a storm, in full bloom. Its roots are still in the ground but as soon as it finishes flowering and I get over a dire case of viral bronchitis, I will saw it up and haul it off. It wouldn't have fallen had it not become crowded by adjacent trees and started leaning toward the light. I've taken out several trees in recent years to alleviate crowding or just because they were not as successful as some of the others. On the other hand having the trees grow up lets one learn how to grow bulbs under them! I spread a lot of discarded bulb potting soil under a large red oak (Quercus rubra) a couple of years ago, then mulched it, and it's delightful to see what actually can come up and thrive in deciduous shade with a heavy leaf drop in autumn. I took a lot of little Arum tubers of various species and planted them on a steep slope in the shade of this tree, and most of them seem to be flourishing there, as one sometimes sees them in nature. Rodger complained about people buying houses and cutting down the big rhododendrons. I confess that that's part of my plan for my new house: it has every kind of cheap rhododendron/azalea you can imagine, especially those awful magenta Kurume azaleas that infest Portland. Goodbye Hardy Hybrids, hello Rhododendron yakusimanum! And does anybody want a whole row of little ball-shaped boxwoods? You dig the little stinkers. Jane McGary Northwestern Oregon, USA