My experience is with growing blueberry shrubs, and I have tried different spacing at various times. The recommended spacing for highbush blueberry shrubs is 8 feet, & I agree with this number, to get the most growth and the greatest fruit yield. However, I have planted these shrubs two feet apart, to get a hedge established, as part of the landscaping. The shrubs are healthy, but they don't grow as wide or high as a properly spaced shrub. Fruit yield is reasonable for the size of the shrub. So my experience with "too close" spacing has been good, so far. It does not cause disease or any abnormality, it simply results in smaller shrubs.

Thanks for all the replies everyone. A little more info. Each clump is currently about five inches in diameter. The edges of the leaves are completely smooth (no toothed margins - that's just leaf hair that the rain has bunched together in places), and are hairy on both sides. The leaves in the center of the clump now seem to be becoming more erect, but are still soft and almost completely lacking any rigidity. As to this plant's status as a native, I have my doubts because of the leaf hairs. The only reason I can think of for a plant to have these hairs is to protect the leaf from excess moisture loss due to high heat, low humidity and wind. The area I live in is typically quite humid and receives abundant rain year-round, so (assuming I am correct in my assumptions about the evolutionary origins of this adaptation) there is no reason for plants native to this region to have hairy leaves.

Dear fairuse: I had this weird plant growing in an abandoned container on my patio but not doing much for over a year not sure if it was a weed (too interesting!) so I left it alone, when suddenly last spring/summer it shot up 6 feet! A friend from the country came by and asked where the heck a Giant Mullein had come from. First time I learned what it was. It came from a bag of wild bird seed I had purchased, I think, because it is not a plant often seen where I live, wet west coast Canada. That year it produced a four-foot stalk of yellow flowers and thousands of seeds as fine as black pepper. I shook the flower stalk over a newspaper and kept them. I have since learned that these seeds can remain viable for 100 years! So if you can bear to leave it for one last chance to bloom (it will re-seed itself and die off) you will be rewarded with seeds enough for a city block! The abandoned container is FULL of tiny mullein plants, and I am going to attempt to transplant them into a deep barrel, about 4 per. I am hoping for a continuous summer of mullein by staggering the plantings (they only bloom every 2 years). I have also planted a few seeds in another long deep container and am hoping for the best. It is a very interesting and ancient herbal plant that bears reading up on. Wishing you success and all the best!

Hi Shaun, Why can't the existing mtg company send the money we've paid in for our property taxes to the new mtg company and then *they* can pay them when they are due? I just dont understand this. Can someone explain it to me? I can explain... but unfortunately, the answer's not going to be very satisfying. The reason is beacuse the servicing company (the place you send your loan payments to, who manages the distribution of the cash, and subsequent bookkeeping of where it all goes, and when) is not your mortgage company. It may be a subsidiary of them, or a 3rd party contractor... but its not the actual mortgage company (even if it has a very similar name.) The servicing companies business model is to have as many loans managed per month, by the least number of clerical administrative staff, at the lowest possible hourly rate. In order to accomplish this, their processes are *EXTREMELY* dumbed-down and stretched out. *NOTHING* happens quickly on any out-of-the-ordinary request, and all standard changes (like the turnover of escrowed funds for taxes & insurance when a refinance occurs) is handled in a batched-out manner once a month during a special shift. In short; It COULD be done the way you logically just described... but the rate/fee driven public doesn't want to pay the higher servicing costs for that kind of service. Hope that clarifies (if not exactly creating the warm & fuzzies.) Cheers, Dave Donhoff Leverage Planner