The pictures are so lovely! Speedy recovery Joyce. You are incredible. So this site is not only about lotus, also about survival-? The lotus seems so full of life maybe there is a connection-?:)) I am looking for advice and tips too - being a novice lotus grower or wannabe. The lotus out on my balcony, which are all in containers, are struggling but haven't given up yet. I planted them in regular potting soil, so perhaps not enough nutrients, and they are getting half a days worth of sun? Should I replant them in early spring with compost? I have six from seeds, but I haven't seen an aerial yet... still they are trying but the leaf browns out of water... one grown from root has a few floating ones... which is probably Momo Botan, the seedlings I don't know. So they are not dormant yet, with Mediterranean climate. I really don't need seven lotuses, but who knows if they make it! Other question... the seedlings are in jugs, like big juice jugs, should they go into bigger pots packed with compost even now they are struggling? Thanks... Tarja

I think hard pruning will be just as temporary as any pruning. It will come back the same way. The best way to get the back to grow is to remove some of the front. That is what is shading the back. If you want a more uniform looking plant, you need to open it up. This results in a healthier plant with good air flow and light getting to all parts. Another trick is to paint the fence (at least that part) white so more light gets to the back. Also, heavy doses of nitrogen will weaken the plant and may prevent it from blooming. A good balanced rhododendron fertilizer is a much better choice. Rhododendrons are easy to move. They have very shallow roots. If you could just move it out from the fence, things would improve.

You don't say where you are from so I can only deal in generalities. I assume you want something that will block the view of the fence rather than provide shade over the top of it. You have several options. Columnar conifer shrubs would be ideal to block the fence all year long. I would use a variety of different shrubs that each has its own personality. Skyrocket juniper grows to 15 feet tall with a narrow 3-foot spread and has silver-blue foliage. A sculptural conifer is Hinoki cypress (Chamaecyparis obtusa 'Gracilis).' It will reach 15 feet tall and up to 4 feet wide. Gray Gleam Juniper (Juniperus scopulorum 'Gray Gleam') grows to 15 feet tall and 5 feet wide. The other option is a deciduous planting that would not only block it in the summer. 'Meadowlark' forsythia grows 8-10 feet tall and 8 feet wide and has a profusion of yellow blooms in the spring. Winter berry holly (Ilex serrata x Ilex verticillata) 'Sparkleberry' has bright red fruits that are borne in profusion and are very Winter persistent and grow to 12' tall . You need a male to pollinate the female holies which produce the berries. Witch hazel (Hamamelis virginiana )is good because it blooms in the winter and grows 10 to 15 feet tall. Remember no plant grows to it mature height quickly nor stops when it get there. That is why I picked plants on the taller side. They will take a while to get there. A kousa dogwood would look good at the end. It is a disease resistant dogwood that blooms after the rhododendrons.

I like bulbs,but around here,I can't grow them. Oh,I can plant as many as I want,but then the critters dig them up and eat them,or carry them off and plant them somewhere else. I continually find tulips coming up in places where I know I didn't plant them. All my Crocuses have disappeared,and I had some really nice ones! Nice gardens as usual Myrle! I find,as I look at your pics,that I don't really have much of a garden,just a few hostas planted in the woods. Phil