I always understood decorations should come down on Epiphany (6 Jan). I still have a couple of things to put away today. I love the decorations and the decorating but also really like that clean tidy feeling in January when you pack it all away. We took our LED icicle lights camping (we have a battery pack thing) when our teenage twin girls wanted a camping birthday sleep over with their friends, made for a very pretty birthday camp site and did not attract insects which was a definite bonus

I'll also add that possums and parrots love eating them (and making a big mess underneath them). Used to drive every member of my family who had one mad. You wait months for the buds to form, then one pillage from the critters and that's it. So if you are in an area with those issues, maybe go for something else or be prepared to put in place lots of protection. Don't remember if anyone mentioned that magnolias come in dwarf varieties, as well as different colour and fragrance strengths. I believe that dark pink one is called 'port Wine' magnolia. Due to their sculptural shape, they go well with Art Deco and modern house designs.

@ alchemy, I can see you've put allot of effort into your beautiful yard and pool and whist I agree that you will probably regret a deciduous tree, irrespective of it losing most of its leaves in a short period, it would be allot of work clearing that debris from your pool but I agree that you need to complete your yard with greenery. I think the ficafolia suggested by bigreader could look stunning but I have one in my yard (no pool) and the gumnuts this little tree of mine drops must be seen to be believed albeit they dont blow. A palm of course is one of the best trees due to its lack of debris and the tropical look it provides is always a winner, however, getting one fairly established would be the way as they don't grow super fast but the expense of such a tree could be quite prohibitive. I would seriously listen to advice offered by people with an outdoor pool as experience is the best teacher, so you must decide just how much work you want to give yourself over and above the normal workload simply having an outdoor pool and I'd strongly consider the suggestion Mel N offered of putting up a sun shade or sail initially and see how that works for you. Best of luck. Cheers, Barbara

Thanks Julie. I will follow your advise. I was not familiar with white oil, but have looked it up on the internet and will try to treat the tree to kill the fungus. I believe the almost endless rain this spring may have contributed to this problem, based upon what I have recently read. I appreciate your comment and will report my findings if able to save the tree. This summer has tested the will of folks around her in central Indiana. Yellow Nutsedge has also become a huge problem. I doubt that most folks understand that the common weed killers do not work well for this problem, even though some of the week killers claim treatment success. It seems to be a growing problem here in this area. From what I've read, this is a nasty sedge to get rid of and I too am finding that out. My order for SedgeHammer and Sedge Ender arrived today since I was not able to find treatment chemicals locally. Hopefully the Nutsedge will get whacked and the tree will survive. Thanks again for your help.