I got my angel trumpet from Terry, the super nice gardener who gave it to me a couple of years ago at one of the spring plant swaps at Oak Mtn. State park. (Thanks Terry!) It is in a big pot and i keep it in the garage over winter. Last winter I cut it down so only about a foot of the stalk was showing, but I have heard that it is not necessary to trim back that much...it just makes the regrowth and bloom in the spring take longer to start. Currently my plant only gets about three hours of direct sun, but it has bloomed three times as you see in this picture here. I had it in more full-sun last year, and it may have bloomed a little more, but I also had to water more. Here is a link that might be useful: Ecuador pink angel trumpet (brug)

BEAUTIFUL 'Earth Angel' specimens, everyone! I'm getting mine in the earth tomorrow, where it gets about 3 hours total sun per day. We'll see how we do. I've realized that even though I'm in Zone 6a, the altitude here (about 5,384 ft.) makes the strength of direct sun seem like we're in a higher zone. Interesting, eh? Thanks for all the pics, and for all the good info. Don B.

Hi everyone, Well, as promised, here I am posting about what in the world I've been doing all summer while traveling to & fro Wisconsin. As some of you already know, I work with fish-eating birds: cormorants, pelicans, herons, egrets, gulls, wood storks, etc. My husband and I have been working in Wisconsin for the past 3 years, but we also regularly work in Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, Michigan, Ontario, and a few other places. Yes, we are a husband + wife team, working together out of the same office. Many people are surprised that we work together, but it is great. We make a fantastic team, and are often at our best under challenging field conditions. Great minds think alike, and being dear friends & in love sure helps too. (ok, enough with the mushy stuff). So now for a few photos from the vegetation surveys we did this month. Background: We are working on remote islands in Lake Michigan, around the Door Co. Peninsula area. All the islands have nesting double-crested cormorants and herring gulls. Some also have nesting Am. white pelicans and Canada geese. Back in April, we put up some 6 ft x 6 ft pens (we call them exclosures) to exclude the cormorants because they damage vegetation with their nesting activities (too much POOP!). So then we went back in August to catalog everything that grew in the pens, by plant species, and weighed it to also determine biomass. That meant breaking out the field guides, studying up on botany and the flora of Wisconsin, and bringing the plant presses for species we couldn't identify on the island. We compareed the exclosure plots to some "control" plots, which had nothing but 4 wooden stakes at the corners. We had 45 plots to do on 3 islands, plus another 3 islands down by the city of Green Bay that we did simple vegetation surveys on (no pens). It was alot of work, but very interesting. The bottom line: there are lots of nonnative species on those islands, like motherwort, catnip, pigweed, common mallow, stinging nettle and sow thistle. The native vegetation was primarily lambsquarter and smartweed species. Almost done clipping this 1-meter plot: Looking for small plants beneath the lambsquarter The finished, sampled 1-meter subplot Who would even know what this was?!?! I saved seeds to winter sow and see if I can't figure it out. The very last veg plot to measure. You can tell, because we look so happy! A friend found crawling across the plant press The stinging nettle I hacked through to make us a nice trail to get to the center of the island. At least its not poison ivy! Ok, that's all for now. Have a great evening. Katie (heh - I've been working on this post for days!)

The angel is very securely perched upon my tree!! Thanks for all the great advice. I actually brought in the duct tape, but luckily didnÂt have to use it. And Jim, I never even thought of using a Styrofoam cone. I think placing that on the tree and putting the angel over it will be my plan for next year. IÂll pick one up, and store it with the angel when I take the tree down. I think the biggest problem was my lack of height, and trying to maneuver around the already decorated tree while standing on a chair. Also, I was trying to place her on the one center branch which was neither tall enough, nor wide enough to support her. Once my husband came home, (and brought in a ladder) I was able to pull up a few branches, bunch them together, and hold them while my husband put the angel on a dowel and lowered it down onto the branches. Once I let go the smaller branches fluffed out a bit to fill the cone and hold it steady. I was then able to steady her and fix her dress over the branches, and make she was standing straight. Then I had a nice big glass of wine. I will post a picture as soon as my camera is charged. Thanks again for all the help, Patti