Are you still looking for the 'Color Guard' yucca? My pups are two years old or older. I will also have jewelweed in the spring. I am interested in your Japanese Red Maple Atropurpureum Seedlings 1" tall, River Birch Seedlings, or Corkscrew Willow cuttings. plantbug

oh.. dont get me wrong.. whatever works.. WORKS ... i just got to hatin' yucca... green or var'd .... so i would NOT waste too much time WORRYING .... that was my point ... one thing i have found though.. in my z5 ... cut the whole top off the cone ... but for roses ... it minimizes wind.. and direct sun.. but avoids heat build up ... the real key.. to any perennial.. IMHO .. here in the great white north ... is summed up thusly: GET THEM DORMANT.. AND KEEP THEM DORMANT ... it the back and forth freeze/thaw.. that kills things.. either they heave out of the ground .. or .. in this case.. the black soil.. warms every winter day in the sun .. and the repeated freezing and thawing of tender stuff.. kills roots ... so once the ground is frozen.. and the plant is fully dormant.. either cone it.. or dump some mulch around it.. just to blanket the surrounding soil .... so that it STAYS DORMANT .... i found.. over the years.. that when i have full and complete snow cover.. of the soil.. my losses are much less.. than those mild winter.. where the soil keeps getting exposed ... and the heating/cooling issue becomes a problem .... so cone.. or whatever.. good luck ken

It might be getting ready to bloom.

Scale most often has a hard outer surface.......sort of like a barnacle :-) Insecticidal soap has very little effect on it - can't penetrate that hard shell - unless you spray at the correct life stage of the insect. Usually that is the first instar, which is long gone this late in the season. The rubbing alcohol is effective at pretty much any stage in the life cycle and is an easy way to get rid of adults on smallish, manageable plants. But you do want to keep an eye on it. Depending on the specific type of scale, there may be eggs overwintering.