Sorry for your loss jjdbike. How frustrating. Wow, oilpainter, A buck a piece! And they have lasted a year. That's great. It is good to hear that these can be affordable. I have seen lovely ones that are $$. Especially considering that you might need a bunch of them. I had been thinking of making my own with something like pieces of rebar. With something over the metal (maybe piece of pvc or copper pipe?) And somethiing for the top for decoration and to not poke ones eye out when deep into weeding or communing with the earth. I have a few of those glass electrical insulators I thought might look cool. Anyone have any homemade ones or is store-bought the way to go? (sounds like it is.)

Thanks to all you wonderful GW friends, and your kind comments...and thank you Tom for posting that set of pics from last year, I see I still had the roofing-plastic covering part of the yard, well, I did get 20 roses from FSC and planted them there right after that, a year ago now... and boy did they ever GROW! It's good to have 'before and after' pics, I can see how Julia Child has grown, also the Don Juans, my what a difference a year makes! and I had lost so many roses when we had that spell of constant rain, last Fall, and got canker in so many roses... and now I realize what I did wrong then to enable it.. I pruned w/infected pruners... now I carry a can of alcohol and dip after each cut, I don't want to ever see that happen again.... this joy of having a garden grow is accompanied with a lot of anxiety and learning-on-the-job....Thanks again folks, sally

It could be a hornworm. The picture - though small - looks like the pupa (stage between caterpillar and moth). That it is below the soil, and about 3" down, also sounds like them. The "hook"-like thing might also be a clue. Though I've never seen this stage personally, I've seen lots of pictures, and the hook loops around at one end. If it is a hornworm, then it would be an intermediate stage of one of the various sphinx moths. You might do a Google image search, and search on "hornworm pupa". That might determine if we are talking about the same thing.

Your photos are gorgeous! Certainly looks like the tropics - especially LOVE the Amaranthus.