So long story short: here I am, ready to get my trees next week and still no holes dug yet. Winter in Colorado was unusually awful and I was buried from December through 3rd week in March. Had a couple weeks to dig holes in nice weather -- didn't, wife said too early ... and it's been crap weather since (rain all day, or snow). So this weekend the weather MIGHT cooperate ... being 50's on Sat and 60's on Sun ... so I'm thinking about getting a ditch witch with a 36" hydraulic auger on it and doing the following for each hole I dig. I have a bad back -- yeah, it's been repaired -- but I'm using the machine mainly to make things easier on myself and yes, faster. The hole locations have been determined on my plans, which have changed a bit since I last posted the plans here ... and I still need to mark them in the yard and make sure they avoid the utilites [ which have been marked ]. THe buried utilities should be 19" down (or more). When I trench my entire back yard for sprinklers, I never had a thing and was working with a 10-14" deep trench. The utility company said a minimum of 17", but that was done before my builder back-filled and additional 6-18" on top of the original grade. So I'll rake back the mulch in a 4' (or 5') wide circle around each hole location, then auger out the 3' diameter hole, only down 12-15" max. This is for the dirt to have somewhere to go without ruining too much mulch in the process. [Q: should I even worry about my 4-5" of mulch?] The plan would be to rake the mulch back around the tree (not too close) after the trees are planted. Then I'll back fill the outer 10-12" of the 3' hole by hand (shovelling) the edges to create a bowl shape hole which is full depth in the center 12-15" and then tapered to the edges with the back fill. Do I need to rake the mulch back, or could I just auger into the mulch and all? Any ideas or comments appreciated. THe local "colorado experts" still say amending is normal around here, but I'm tempted to skip it and let the trees finds happiness in what I have. I could mix some mulch in if that would help. My mulch is about 2 years old and nice and black (soil-like) on the bottom. Planting about 15 bare root trees and 15 balled and bulapped. I'm having to kind of guess on the actual size of the trees since I really don't know till next week when I go to pick them up. They are advertised as 1.25" caliper. Thanks, Scott

I've learned (the hard way)that it's best to take a new plant, intended to go outside, and allow it to acclimate inside first. Whn it shows new growth, then I know it's in decent enough shape to tolerate being outside. And even then I would start it off in "bright shade". But taking a plant from a garden center or hobbyist or online store and tossing it outside right away is very risky. Hey Tommy: Why don't you show her the flowering adelaes!?

Yarn would be nice and pretty weather-proof; but IÂd need to buy a lot of rolls of yarn to get one for each color! Plus I have 4 different kinds of white lilies. I was thinking about colored pipe cleaners but would still have that same problem. I actually bought knives to mark perennials, having read that on another forum post, but was too afraid of spearing bulbs to use them on the lilies. Probably a lot of mine are not planted all that far down. I know they are supposed to pull themselves down, but I have no experience of just how far down they can do that. When I dug some asiatics last fall I found they had made new bulbs all along the stem going right up to soil level. The knives would certainly be easy.

well linda.. there is the safe way .. and there is winging it.. i thought we were discussing the safest way ... i mean really .. [its been a while] .. but they are hosta... odds are.. you can throw them on the driveway for the summer.. and then replant.. and all but the foo foo ones will recover ... they may not be pretty ... but they will live ... so it doesnt surprise me that you 'got away with it' .... i just wouldnt recommend it as the favored procedure.. lol ... but you cant use them to make tea in tepid water.. maybe the rain kept them in cool water .. who knows ... mel.. back in the day .... if i was going to pay $50 for shipping .... i was going to amortize that cost over 50 plants ... lose 4 or 5 tags.. and your head is ready to explode... when i started... shipping was up to 25% of the cost of the order .... that was the quoted rate ... so on a 200 dollar order.. you do the math .. the local stores had the usual suspects [undulata and the blue one] .. there were no options ... ken