The masonry bit probably won't work, except on terra cotta. As glazing contractors we regularly drill all sizes of holes in glass/mirrors, granite (shower door installations) and other vitrified materials (the objects people bring to us to drill holes in). Most containers you'll encounter can best be drilled with a "spear-point" drill. I'll link you to a picture from one of our suppliers. The drill is also called a 3-point drill. Highly vitreous containers (glass, or glass-like - ceramic - clay fired at high temperatures) may even require a diamond impregnated "core drill", but it's very uncommon to find containers like this, especially at the dollar store. These inexpensive drills can be found at big box home improvement stores. They should be cooled with water or a 50/50 mix of water/antifreeze as you drill. An excellent strategy is to immerse the container upside down in a tub and add enough water to just cover the drilling surface as you drill. Rotating the drill clockwise at a slight angle while drilling will greatly increase ease of operation. Alternately (I use this method), fill a squeeze container (contact lens solution bottle is stellar) with water or 50/50 water/antifreeze & squirt it at the drill/material interface as you drill. If you can't find the drill you need, you can contact me off forum & I'll be glad to help you. Al Here is a link that might be useful: Here is a link that might be useful: See a spear-point drill here.

Hi, Batya, welcome to the Vegetable forum. My climate here in Michigan is very different from yours, and I'm envious of your ability to grow all of the things you mention outdoors, I have some of them, like rosemary, bay, and citrus, as houseplants. I can grow certain types of lavender outdoors very successfully. (Sorry, just a digression). At any rate, the principles of what will grow in partial shade should be the same, though. I have a lot of success growing any type of salad green in those conditions, such as lettuce, mache, arugula, endive, escarole, many brassicas like collards and kale. Garlic and leeks do well, although the garlic won't make as large of bulbs as it will in sun. Celery does well in quite a bit of shade as well. As for other things, it may be a question of trial and error, since shade is sort of variable -- it depends so much on the source of the shade, how dense, etc. I planted some tomato plants this year in partial shade from cherry trees, and they did as well, if not better, than those in full sun, which really surprised me. I had run out of space, and just threw them in the spot, thinking that I might get a few tomatos from them, and they had a bumper crop of really nice tomatos. Who knew? I've also had pretty good luck with green beans, peppers, summer squash, and cucumbers. I can mention a few things that I know WON'T be happy in conditions -- sweet potatoes and okra -- both of these sulk unless in full sun. The sweet potato vines grow well in semi-shade, but they make no roots of any size. The other issue is your climate/weather over the upcoming months. Am I safe in assuming that your winter temperatures are cool, as well as wet as you mention above ? -- you may have trouble growing certain warm weather crops, such as melons. I hope someone from a comparable climate, such as California, will chime in here and offer more advise. I hope this helps. My winter gardening here is pretty much confined to looking at catalogs and growing a few things in the house under lights. Dennis SE Michigan

The invasiveness is because birds deposit the seeds, so are you saying the birds don't like silverberries? OK, well alligators and crocodiles are quite different, but they are amphibious reptiles, and all three berry plants fix nitrogen. Obviously extremely closely related. So what I'm saying is 6 of 1 or 1/2 dozen of the other. They are so closely related they are all the same genus! So my analogy with the reptiles is way off as they are not the same genus. So sure cherries and peaches are different, but they are so closely related it is possible to cross breed them. So no doubt hybrids of the three Elaeagnus species is very possible. Much like the Rubus species of blackberries and raspberries. Is there really much difference? No obviously. That's what I'm saying. I would be willing to bet all three can be invasive under the right conditions. I have heard many gardeners joke about Goumi, saying it's really just a fancy name for some autumn olives. Autumn Olives are also called Japanese silverberries Goumi is also called the cherry silverberry. At least according to wiki. Goumi, autumn olive or silverberry are common names, and have no basis in what they actually are. And all are Elaeagnus species. Invasiveness is a matter of opinion. Some states do not consider any of them invasive. No restrictions at all in my state. They are not considered invasive here. "in most areas where AO is invasive, goumi is definitely not" The USDA found goumi growing wild in 12 states Some consider goumi as invasive, I would say for sure it is. I can always back up what i say. See link in attached article as to what states have been invaded by this Asian species. Here is a link that might be useful: The invasive goumi This post was edited by Drew51 on Tue, Oct 29, 13 at 17:18

Hi! I don't have any of the cultivars, but we have wild persimmons growing on our property. I know that if you have only one persimmon that you will get fruit, only no seeds. Ours get some shade, but mostly sun.