Kirkus, that is just so wonderful a mama bird chose your wreath for her nest. Those pics are great. Years ago I was cutting the hedges straight across like you're supposed to and didn't realize there was a new bird's nest just about to the top of the hedge with eggs in it. After my trimming, the nest was too exposed to the elements and the hot sun and (you're gonna laugh), but I actually constructed this little canapy out of sticks and a dishtowel so they would have some protection. That mama bird was going nuts up on our roof watching me do this. She returned to the nest though. I would sneek over to the nest when she wasn't around and peek in to see what was going on. One day they had hatched and the babies looked like little wet worms with fuzz. My son got a real kick out of that. A little bit later when I peeked, there were four sets of eyes and beaks staring right back at me. Soon after they left the nest and I felt good that I had helped save them after I had destroyed their protection. Kudz - I'm another one going to say OMG, what a horrible thing to have gone through. I can just see you yelling at your son to "take care of that thing!!" My roommate from the Navy and I went up North of Gulfport for a summer ride one day and ended up at a huge lake where we went swimming and had a picnic. She was walking around the area when all of a sudden she came running back towards me screaming - Snake, Snake! I jumped up of course and was frantic from her screaming thinking the worse had happened to her. She made me hurry up and get everything packed up in the car cause she wanted to leave immediately. She told me to drive slowly down the road because the snake was still there. In the middle of the road was the most largest snake I had ever seen. I mean that thing was "huge" - I kid you not when I say it was around four feet long and had a girth of about 15 inches. We never went back to that pond area again.

Shellva, I just found this thread and after seeing the photo of your "sick" tomato of a couple years ago scanned down through to see if you reported on the results of your soil test. To my eye that tomato showed nutrient deficencies. There seemed to be a purplish cast to the stem--not enough phosphorous maybe. The growing tip was pale green--not enough nitrogen. The dried leaf margin so early in the season may have been a potassium lack. And those cupped leaves are indicative of a nutrient lack too but I don't remember what. And as some have said, pH is critical. Here in eastern Okla our soils are too acid to grow many crops well, beans and peas especially, also asparagus. So we amend our soils with woodashes as well as lots of organic stuff. And I am in total agreement with those who say it takes 3-5 years to get good results. Aeration is also critical. Our first garden at this location--on heavy clay--was built by hand, because we didn't own a tiller. My husband and I turned the soil with shovels, our two oldest children beat it up with rakes and hoes. That was 24 years ago. Then we got a soil test and for a couple years used a bit of chemical fertilizer while we built up the soil. Have been organic now for 20 years. We still till twice a year--the garden is 5000 sq ft, too big not to, although we tried one year. Once in the late fall we turn under the chickenmanure/woodchip litter from the chicken house and again in late winter we have to till to get rid of the darn winter weeds. We don't till to "cultivate", but use a hoe early in the season. Then we mulch with oak leaves that have decomposed some over the winter and grass clippings and rotten sawdust from a sawmill when we can get it. And we provide veggies for 4 familes all summer and a good part of the winter. So I hope you come back and let us know what that soil test showed. It is a very handy tool to use. Knowledge is power. It is also very handy to study the photos of nutrient deficiency in plants. Wish I could remember the name of the book that I first saw them in but I gave the thing away to a neophyte gardener. Maybe someone knows of a link that shows them. I would like to refresh my memory.

My other topic and the end of the World at War DVD got me thinking and posting. Does anyone have pictures of a large tree which has had all the soil washed or blown off its roots? You would think someplace in front of some subdivision the University of XXX would have paid a construction crew to remove the soil from around a soon to be felled white oak or something and taken some pics. Oh, the link below is where that pic comes from. Guess these guys would know. Their quote "1. Pagoda dogwood (2-2.5" trunk diameter) late May, in leaf and flowering-before transplant. 2. Same tree bare root, ready for transport. Conventional methods would require a 20-24" root ball, removing 75% of the root mass. 3. The root mass is 8ft across." Wow, these root balled fellas folks transplant recover after losing 75% of their root mass. Amazing. Here is a link that might be useful: Bare root transplanters This post was edited by toronado3800 on Sat, Jul 27, 13 at 2:05

Floridabear, I don't know the name of the plant you described, but I too love those great big blossoms. I have several in my collection you may want to check out. Lyon's Party dress, hot pink double with white edge, blooms are about 3 1/2" across. Super Duper, paler pink semidouble, same size. Beachcomber, white with random blue, about 2" across. These are available on e-bay or AV vendors listed on the AVSA website and not expensive. I'm sure others will add to the list. Barbara Here is a link that might be useful: AVSA website