Ernie wrote, "got rid of the lawn mower folks who blew the seeds of grasses and other weeds all over after mowing the grass and weed wacking the patios." If you grow winter geophytes such as Cyclamen coum, the leaf-blower fellows have to be trained. Being old enough to give up mowing my own lawns, I hired an assiduous crew who blew the leaves off the driveway onto the "bare" spaces where cyclamen and galanthus, etc. were emerging. They're trained now to blow the leaves into a pile on the driveway, where I can scoop them up for the compost bins (where pulled cress is banned!). I also had to explain the bulb lawn, which can't be mowed during the autumn crocus and colchicum season, and later from February until mid-June. This is leaf as well as weed season around here, and though I have only one big deciduous tree, my immediate neighbors rejoice in survivors from the original oak savanna community, with 60-foot-tall oak trees -- upwind of my lot. Jane McGary Portland, Oregon, USA