Waterlilies can not handle waterfowl. The ducks will obliterate them down to the pots. I have 4 ponds and last year had 7 ducks and by the end of the summer there were no lillies left. They will leave the grassy banks, to eat the waterplants. The only thing that they didn't bother were the iris and cattails. This year I have kept the ducks out of the ponds and all of the lillies have came back except in one pond.

Mike, I hope they're right. I still don't feel like the cold nights are really over yet. Last year, I felt they were over this early, and they were...but this year I'm just not feelin' it. Reed, Would I trust 39 degrees as my forecast low and would I go ahead and put plants in the ground with that forecast several days out there in the forecast? No way. I regularly see frost or even freeze damage on tomato plants even though our low temperature stayed above freezing. There are technical reasons for why this happens, but it is not all that rare. A particular set of circumstances has to come together for it to happen, but based on my experiences here, I'd say it happens at our house fairly often. Keep in mind that we are talking about your forecast temperature, but your plants will have to deal with the actual temperature that is recorded. Forecasts can be wrong. Official temperatures are recorded 5' above the ground, but plants grow in the ground and the foliage is above the ground but below that 5' level. Since cold air sinks, your temperature at ground level where the plants are can be significantly cooler than your official low temperature. I assume when they forecast a low temperature, the forecast is for 5' above ground since that is the level at which the NWS records actual temperatures. Also, objects cool off faster than air does and their temperatures can drop lower than the air temperature, so plants can have frost form on them even when the air temperature stays above freezing. At our house, which I know is in a low-lying microclimate, we often have plant damage even when our own thermometer just a few yards away from the plants (posted 5' above ground) records overnight low temperatures between 33 and 38 degrees. So, I've learned to wait until it feels safe to me to transplant tomatoes, and I don't feel like it is safe if my forecast lows still are in the 30s or even the very low 40s. I try not to let one warm week trick me into going ahead and transplanting....but if a pattern change holds for 2 whole weeks, in my head I declare winter over and go ahead and start transplanting if my 7-day forecast looks good after 2 weeks of nice weather. I also know that the temperature forecasts change from day to day, so just because your forecast has a 39 for a night next week, that doesn't mean the forecast might not drop lower before that night gets here. I have low confidence in NWS temperature forecasts. Last week our point forecast for our specific part of our county was 29, and we went to 23 degrees and had a hard frost. That's pretty common. It is part of the reason I base planting decisions more on recent observed temperatures and trends than on forecast temperatures. Dawn

....and if the eggs are infertile they'll figure it out on their own. They know when to abandon the nest if the eggs don't hatch.

I find most deer here that are in parks very tame. A friend of mine lives on Vancouver Island and she hand feeds them. These ones didn't get too close to people, we couldn't touch them, but they were close. There's a national park on the Canada/US border. In Canada it's called Waterton National Park. There is a small village and the deer almost out number the people. They are all over the place. Glad you all enjoyed the video. I may start making more of them. I keep forgetting my P&S camera does video.