Cedar rust requires two hosts - anything in the apple family and the cedar family. After the gall from the cedar tree releases it spores, it grows on the apple trees which release their spores to form new cedar galls. I planted three crabapple trees which are supposed to be cedar-rust resistant, they still get a little fungus on them but not enough to really hurt them. CT - I was thinking blue-eyed grass! I don't know what I was thinking but we call that the century plant. I have some too and yes they do reseed easily although I would not call them invasive. I found one growing in our unmowed area with the wild grass. I took them to a plant swap last year at work and one of the swappers brought plants in this year that had seeded from the plant I gave her. Mine are planted on a hot, dry hill and do fine. I have moles too, lots of them! And I love wildlife too but I draw the line at moles and voles. I don't do anything to repel them though, they are just a fact of life for me. A couple of years before the brood X cicada emergence they got huge! The size of large baking potatoes! Which apparently is not unusual, they start eating the nymphs in the last couple of years before the emergence as they work their way to the top. What I hate is when I am working in the garden and all of a sudden earthworms come up out of the ground by the dozens and I can hear the mole digging his tunnel. Luckily as the soil dries out they tend to go deeper and the tunnels aren't as bad. Back to the garden!

Lou, you crack me up! I had an old neighbor once in the country who shot a red-tailed hawk who came after his chickens. Wildlife had just released them a year earlier in a repopulation project. I told the wildlife guy at the time he was releasing them in the wrong area, that they would all be dead soon. He said that a lot of people would be in jail if they were. Nobody ever went to jail. The hawks caught on and moved elsewhere. I heard they were seen in Aiken, about 30 miles down the road, where they raise horses, not chickens, and love hawks because they eat the barn mice. Birds are smarter than we think they are. It's sad that we can't protect our crops from migratory marauders, but rich people can breed doves and foxes by the hundreds and shoot them on a yearly basis for "sport". FWIW, I've done some borderline illegal stuff to protect my garden when I lived in the country, and I purposely put net on my chicken coops to kill the snakes. I like snakes...in their place...but chickens are not as cheap to raise as some people think.

LOL Jo, my wife is already worried when I received couple of kidnap threats and another one is a relative of my colleagues at office asked whether I quit university job and work with him for gardening business. Not only my wife worried, but my boss at office is also worried after hearing so he promoted me to the manager position so that I will not leave my regular job! But gardening is fun and thrilling. James, I did notice any pests and disease in last two years expect some tomato horn worms eating some loves. I never used any chemicals, but I was using water misting system under the pergola to cool the sitting area in summer. I was also using tirki citronella torches on regular basis after the dark to repel insects and give wild look to backyard. We also cook outside (spicy food), so patio/pergola become our main living area from Spring to Fall. May be all these effects might have help grapes grow nice and healthy. But only time will tell how long they will grow like that... lets see how they will do this year - Chandra

I was very surprised to find the Cotton Candy grapes in the store here. I guess I would never have noticed them if it hadn't been for this thread. Of course I had to try one, even though I dislike cotton candy intensely. And sure enough, it was all I could do to keep from spitting it out! If I'd had a napkin or anything handy I would have spit it out! It left the most gosh-awful taste in my mouth! But I can see where kids, or anyone who likes cotton candy, might like them. It was a pretty weird flavor, to me, but taste is subjective. We had the Grapples here a few years ago, too. Personally I didn't much care for them, but I could have eaten them if I had to. Guess no one else liked them either, haven't seen them since. I wish Concord grapes would be available more here. Once in awhile, every few years, the stores might have them for a day or two. A rare threat, indeed! Rusty