Hi everyone. I have a problem similar to Ty's, but until I got here and read this thread, I didn't know I'd done anything wrong. I was in fact roaming around the site trying to figure out what to do about the aphids on my honeysuckle, and why a small, thorny, rose?-bush was yellowing insanely. I came to this thread just to make sure I hadn't done anything Ty did, but I think I have. I'm a total Newbie (just signed up last night), I'm doing this alone with no actual from-scratch gardening experience except sowing seeds indoors, and a bit of pruning under my belt. My house plants are all quite healthy, and I've been known to be a recovery center for the ailing plants of friends and family members. Tackling an entire garden seemed slightly insane to me, but I thought it would be a rewarding challenge. I'm going to start a new thread with my specific issues, but I thought it best to begin here since this is where my panic began. I live in zip 11354/11357. What was once a lush lawn of kentucky blue, cared for by my parents and their hired landscapers, became overrun with weeds and zero grass over the 2 years since they moved to another home. They planned on selling this house quickly, so we weren't putting any money or time into landscaping here, but things have changed and now I'm trying to make it beautiful and my own, as I will probably be here for a few more years. I have virtually no garden tools (I know you'll yell at me for this) but I put down some weed-killer with a hose, then borrowed a garden claw from a family friend, and have spent the last 3 weeks tearing up the ground and manually pulling out roots of weeds, digging deep into the dirt with my hands to get as much root out as possible. I finally finished the area I'd like to use as a lawn, but have noticed little green sprouts popping up in the areas I'd tackled weeks ago. Do I go over it again with weedkiller? I've not planted anything new as I only finished tearing up the area last night. I will attempt to post pics of my before and after. There are far more issues happening around the yard right now, but I'll stick to this to keep it relevant to this post. Before mid-way through: current: HELPPPPPP

Welcome to the world of the evil spreadsheet!! Years ago I was blissfully ignorant of the real number of roses that I had, and then I put them into a spread sheet. One hundred and twenty give or take turned into 250 in a big hurry! Same with the daylilies... I have found that the best way to buy them is to keep a hand written list to order from, and not put them in to the spreadsheet until they ARRIVE. Then it is too lake to reconsider and you have to plant them. You can pick up quite a few more each planting season that way without feeling guilt until afterwards! :) Julie

The orchid is gorgeous, Ginny, and the sunflower looks to be helianthus angustifolia, or narrow-leafed sunflower. It is also called swamp sunflower, as Laura suggested. (Thought the other name might help you find info on it, if you need it.) I'd love to find a surprise like that in my Bali hut! Marcia

It never occurred to me that there were people who had never heard of banana pudding. I'm shocked!!! LOL! I make mine from scratch. About 20 or so years ago someone brought some to a Christmas party at work and it was called Easy Banana Pudding. It was made with French Vanilla instant pudding and called for Eagle Brand milk. It was definitely different from the other pudding, but it was mighty tasty. I have made it a few times, but haven't done so in a long time. I still prefer the original recipe pudding. Here's my recipes: Banana Pudding ¾ c sugar 3Tbsp. all purpose flour dash of salt 4 eggs 2c milk ½ tsp. vanilla extract 5 to 6 ripe bananas, sliced Vanilla Wafers Combine ½ c sugar, flour and salt in top of a double boiler. Mix in 1 whole egg and 3 egg yolks; stir in milk. Cook, uncovered, over boiling water, stirring constantly until thickened. Remove from heat; add vanilla. Spread small amount on bottom of 1½ qt. casserole. Cover with a layer of vanilla wafers. Top with a layer of sliced bananas. Pour about 1/3 of custard over bananas. Continue to layer wafers, bananas and custard to make three layers of each, ending with custard. Beat remaining 3 egg whites til stiff, but not dry. Gradually add remaining ¼c. sugar and beat til mixture forms stiff peaks. Pile on top of pudding covering entire surface. Bake in preheated 425°F oven for 5 minutes or until lightly browned. Serve warm or chilled. ** note** Sometimes I don't put the meringue on; I just crumble a few vanilla wafers to make crumbs and put across the top. **another note** I almost always double the recipe because it doesn't last long either around the house or any pot luck I take it to. Here's the recipe I have that uses sweetened condensed milk: 1 lg. box French Vanilla instant pudding 1 can Eagle Brand milk 1 (9oz) carton Cool Whip 1 box Nabisco vanilla wafers 6 large bananas, sliced Mix pudding according to pkg. directions and let stand for a few minutes to set. Add Eagle Brand milk and Cool Whip. Mix well and pour half of mixture over a layer of vanilla wafers and bananas. Make another layer of vanilla wafers and bananas and pour remaining pudding mixture over this. Crumble wafers on top or top with additional Cool Whip. **note** On this pudding I put both Cool Whip and crumbled vanilla wafers on top. **another note** I don't necessarily use the brands mentioned in the above recipes. They were just the ones mentioned when I got the recipes.