Evergreen magnolias are also a thought - 'Brackens Brown Beauty' flowers about now, as does 'Little Gem', which is smaller - it also grows slowly. Their drawback would be the thick fleshy roots - they are close to the surface and resent disturbance, plus any shade will be HEAVY, so planting under them is not an option. Their large leaves would fit into the "tropical" look. A Parrotia persica might be good - to 30', great fall color, scaling bark with maturity. It's deciduous, and flowers early, before the leaves. Later flowering possibilities - all deciduous - include chitalpa (pink or white flowers, spring to fall), sourwood (white, fragrant flowers, summer, good fall color) and yellow wood (white, spring to summer, good fall color). Finding them might be a problem, but not insumountable, esp. as the last 2 are natives. Franklinia, while deciduous as well, does flower later (July to Sept.), and has good fall foliage. Chionanthus (fringe tree) will have just finished flowering now, white, scented on the Chinese, less so on the native blooms, has yellow fall foliage. They are both findable, as I have a Franklinia and saw several of the fringe trees in Asheville Farmers Market a few weeks ago. Paper bark maple, as well as a couple of other maples (Amur, trident, 'Bloodgood' [red leaved, tall Japanes maple]), will stay small. They won't have the late flowers, and they are deciduous, but will have good fall foliage, and winter bark interest. A gold leaved, taller JM, say 'Aureum' (?), might be good too.

Sorry to joke about it but I did not really plant Lima beans in my garden this year! I did plant Blue lake pole beans, and some other variety I don't remember! I have not checked the bean plants for any butterfly activity- thanks for the reminder. I have many, many,many, monarch eggs. I have up to 4 adults in the yard all day long as soon as the air temps warm up in the morning. And have had at least three visits from a Queen mama judging front the different sets of caterpillars I have run across.

Gorgeous animals. You scored dude. Be sure to leave 1/3 of the broom on the tree so you can come back, again. Resinosa is of the most-difficult to propagate, hence, leaving a portion. Congratulations man. Wait for a warm period before you collect. That enhances the chances of success 10-fold. A week is great, if at all possible. I won't be grafting until the third week of Feb. this coming year. Just a fyi. Of course scions last two weeks in the crisper in the fridge, w/o much harm. Even six weeks, they'll stay alive. It's a good day!! Dax

I want to preface what I am about to say with that it is coming from a place of heartfelt concern. I know sometimes messages can read rudely so know that that is not my intent. I feel like if as a child someone made negative remarks about your appearance in any capacity and you are still carrying that, you should consider getting counseling. It would allow you to release that and move on. I was in counseling at age 19 (not for remarks about my appearance) and it was a major turning point in my life. I would highly recommend it. I got jokes about being short my whole life and it hasn't affected me in any capacity. It is what it is. I'm short, so what? It doesn't change my life, I am responsible for how I feel not anyone else. Life has serious moments, but life as a whole isn't serious. Love, laugh and realize that nobody is perfect, everyone has something. I have an unsymmetrical nose, it's far from perfect, but I'm not self conscious about it. I wouldn't dare "fix" it. While you all are entitled to an opinion on how people raise their children, just know that so am I. I don't believe we should shield our children in bubbles. If my son had real anxiety about his height that's one thing, but he doesn't. He's annoyed because he's the oldest and he's a very driven kid. He doesn't think he's going to stay 5'6" forever. He also knows that his paternal grandfather grew 12" just a few years before adulthood. He's the oldest, he just want to feel like the oldest. Perhaps it's that we aren't people who get hurt by little things. We've had big issues to deal with in our family. My children aren't shielded from those big issues, like having an uncle who has schizophrenia and is un-medicated. They get to actually learn about the illness and develop empathy for people who are in the same position as their uncle. Learning to have a sense of humor about things we can not change is a huge positive life skill. If you dwell on the negative you're only harming yourself. Editing to add that I'd like to make it clear that we don't go out of our way to say comments to him and all we've said is when he comments on his brother's height is about the protein. I've never said anything in a disparaging way to my children and want to make that clear.