Thank you Dave and Trish!

I remember when we planted our fruit trees in OH, our neighbor told us to prune them -

so a crow can fly through but a cow can't follow

Have you ever heard that?

Never heard of braiding trees Dave - what a cool idea and I would love to see a photo of one of your trunks.

Trish, I love maples too but more so the ones up north. I'm in love with their autumn colors. We don't get those beautiful scarlet colors down here EXCEPT for the maples we brought down with us

I tried something on my own with pruning this year and I'm so excited about it. Rose of Sharon get so very tall down here and I wanted short little shrubs. So I pruned them and the ones I pruned have lots of beautiful blooms and are only about 2 feet tall. Perfect for where I want the "short" color. The tall ones are further from the house.

I was in the health food store this morning and they have no local honey right now

I've never heard that phrase about the crow, Vic, but it makes good sense! I'll get pics of the braided crepe myrtles this winter when the foliage is gone. Good luck with your search for honey!

I listened to the podcast yesterday...great info!
Ya'll covered a lot of bases, too.

It was nice to hear how baby trees can easily catch up to the older ones once planted in the ground; there's a big savings on your dollar.

Vic, there was a news brief about how the local bee keepers were running short of honey this year due to our extremely wet summer. I can't remember the exact reason behind it but they warned about other honey and honey products being shipped in to replace theirs, mentioning beware of "packed by" on the label, meaning it most likely wasn't local unless it gives the honey source and beware of mixes...some "honey" is a mix of fructose corn syrup/honey. Oh well...all the more reason to get our own bees, eh?

Thanks again, Dave and Trish!

Shoe, lady at the health food store said the same thing.

She also said that she had read cell phone towers are affecting the bee's flight pattern.

Horseshoe said:some "honey" is a mix of fructose corn syrup/honey. Oh well...all the more reason to get our own bees, eh?

This is very common. This is one reason why some honey sellers will sell honey in the comb. By doing it that way you are ensured to get a product of pure honey since you can't fake honeycomb.

dave said:

This is very common. This is one reason why some honey sellers will sell honey in the comb. By doing it that way you are ensured to get a product of pure honey since you can't fake honeycomb.

Sadly, that's tip is not a guarantee. You (they) can just buy honeycomb to put in the jar

Yes but if the honey is still capped in the comb...

I grew up eating honey comb. Yummy! I just wish true honey wasn't so expensive but yet I sure understand the effort involved in 'making honey', both for the bee as well as for the bee keeper.

On a good note, a friend of mine had such a good bee year she was able to split several of her hives twice. I understand that's a good thing!

And maybe now back to "all things trees" so we stay on topic. Whoops, sorry!