Since this was my first summer as a bonsai hobbyist in the new place, I expected it to be a summer of new experiences, and I was absolutely right!

First of all, that whole Hurricane threat proved to be quite the labor of love. It took lots of work to get my trees, orchids and herbs indoors before the storm was scheduled to hit! And then, of course, they all have to get back outdoors again just as quickly as possible. This is something one really needs to consider before accumulating a number of trees!

Secondly, earlier this summer I found two rather large white bugs on my hackberry. They were on a leaf/branch that I was trimming, and I never thought about them again... until about two days later when the hackberry lost every leaf! The tree looked dead. Did those two bugs kill the tree? Did I trim too much? I don't know. All I know is that for several weeks I had a rather sad looking tree on the bench, totall naked while all her friends were in summer outfits. I am pleased to be able to report that whatever caused the sudden and complete leaf drop, the tree is apparently healthy, as it has come back and is growing new leaves and branches everywhere.

Thirdly, I am saddened to report that the remaining Ilex has gone to the great forest in the sky. It appeared to be doing very well, it's in a location where it gets ample sun, we've had daily rain for weeks... and the other day I went to look, and the whole thing is crunchy brown. While I'd like to think it's an early hibernation, I think the reality is that it just didn't like being out back instead of out front with all the other bonsai. We'll leave it in place and keep watering it, in hopes that it comes back from the dead, but I think it's gone.