WOW!! what a list!! Thanks EVERYONE. I will be spending the next week or so researching all these great ideas. Thanks to those who mentioned Midas Touch. I had him in Okla. and really liked that rose. You've mentioned numerous ones that are new to me--haven't kept up with the roses lately. If I can remember, I'll try to post my selections to let you know which ones we decide to try. It is going to be a challenge: only about 8 - 10 inches of soil on top of a solid rock hill. I will bring in compost and get dirt from her horse lot to try to build up a decent bed. Wish us luck. Weldon

Ahhh....the taste of sweet revenge! Thanks for the tip Jeri. I got two black box traps, doused them with carrot juice (that no one in MY house was going to drink), set the traps up end to end and caught a gopher in about an hour. As we were dousing with carrot juice we saw the earth moving. My DH jumped back about a foot....which was pretty funny. The gopher was trying to poke through the dirt before we even got the trap covered. The gophers seem to be tunneling under my neighboors sod lawn that they installed last year. They had some sort of special screening put in under the lawn to avoid seeing the gopher holes. It cost them thousands of dollars for their small front lawn. My neighboors are serious about their front lawn. They have no other plants to speak of so as long as the lawn looks pretty they are happy. In the meantime the gophers travel merrily over to my garden to feast. I have two golden retreivers that are very sweet but not much for catchin' gophers. They'd much rather catch a nap or two instead. I cleaned the trap and had DH reset it in the ground. There may be more, but tonight I will have sweet dreams. Thanks everyone! ~Melissa

I have two stinging nettle plants but they aren't growing hardly at all. I guess I made the mistake of planting the well rooted cuttings in 3 gallon pots instead of 1 gallons to start. The tea is very sweet. Such a joy to drink it. I made the mistake of trying to eat the leaves after I made the tea. Big mistake. Nothing like stinging tongue. Thank God it only lasted a few minutes. I hope I will have some to share next year. I don't know how to make it grow any faster in pots.

I have the yellow-flowering Lamium. It is or used to be Yellow Archangel (Lamium galeobdolon). I have decided it is too invasive and am trying to get rid of it. It won't be easy. I have a lot of stinging nettle but don't try hard enough to use it. I blend it and strain it for a green drink with other herbs. Does anyone harvest and use the root? Dry the tops?