Senting an email.

We have a black walnut tree, and I absolutely cannot stand that thing! LOL! It is the last thing to leaf out in spring, the first to drop them in fall, and we were picking up walnuts daily for at least two months last fall! Blech! That tree's days are numbered, I tell you!! One of my dogs once got a black walnut stuck between his back teeth. It was lodged in such a way that it propped his jaw open and he couldn't close his mouth. :( I saw him walking around the backyard, drooling and holding his mouth open, and thought he must be having a seizure or something. Scared me to death! Toxic plant reports can be very confusing. I have run into a lot of what you mentioned with the hosta: One site says OK, the other says no way. :( I've really been pulling my hair out over it! I finally broke down and bought a super-expensive, but well-regarded, book about toxic plants, in an attempt to get to the bottom of it all. One thing I have gleaned is, there are all ranges of "toxic," from upset stomachs to death. There are a few plants that I can say with certainty I would never, ever, under any circumstances have in my yard. Then there is the category of plants for which I have not been able to find one report of toxicity. Like the highly toxic category, it's pretty small, too. These are the ones I'm sticking with in my yard. Most plants, it seems, fall somewhere in between. Toxic properties, but varying reports on the graveness of the toxicity. It is extremely difficult sometimes to determine to what degree they are toxic. Anyway...I think it's awesome that you are such a great dog owner, to be concerned for their safety. :) They are lucky dogs to have you!

Kiki - I have 1 pink and about 9 shades of purple - I'd be happy to provide an assorted lot, but I also have terra cotta, rusty orange, plicata white and purple, black, maroon, ruffled whites, yellow and white, and so on. If you've never had Iris I am here to tell you that they are just about carefree. You can "groom" them if you wish (of dried or dying outer leaves) or ignore them depending on how close up they are viewed. Most need very good drainage (western slopes for TB's and Liliput's, any spot for border/German, but soggy lowland for Siberians - or some shade from the West, bog/pond for Flags), light waterings, hardly any food, and only get one pest that I know of - of which I have never had. You plant them with their body (rhizome) half out of the ground and most like to be baked in the sun so need no mulching but do like the Fall leaves to be removed around them if there is a wet Winter but definetly in Spring. They are wonderful as cut flowers and some are fragrant. They stay green all winter and give the best flower display in April - May. Deer will eat them - pull them out of the ground - only if there is nothing else green for them to eat - but not normally chew on them. They need to be divided and replanted every 3 to 5 yrs - in October in Z7 - you will know WHEN because they will have very few flowers in the Spring. Division is just a matter of breaking off the rhizomes without roots and planting the "fans" with fat roots. Way too easy. Nancy the nancedar

Wanted: 'Rustler" Iris. White and Red Tiger Lilies Have these to trade: Egyptian 'walking' Onion Honeyo Strawberry plants Perennials: Iris/ Calif. Gold, Christabel, Butterfly Wings, I. Pallida Ribbon Grass Daylily 'Little Grapette' Tansy Perennial Hardy Geranium (noid pink) Bee Balm (noid red) Orange Tiger Lily Asiatic lily 'White Carpet' HOSTA: Honey Bells(solid green leaf) and Undula 'albomarginata(large green leaves edged in bands of white)