Is there a way to check for holes in the liner, other than draining the whole thing and taking it out??? It's half full of water right now! I don't think it's a fold acting as a siphon because I added water to it this morning until I had to leave for my son's baseball games and it was only about 2/3 of the way full but when we came home the water level had dropped to about 1/2...just rough estimates! If there's a hole, would there be bubbles or anything?? I'm about ready to just give up!!

I haven't read all the responses but after reading Marian/Lovelyiris' post and ending up with tears in my eyes, I had to respond. I want to Ditto practically everything Marian/LovelyIris said. Especially the part about being older than the norm for a newbie who got bitten by the Brug Bug much later in life. Also the part about memory not being as good as it once was. But mostly I want to Ditto her feelings about the people here, on the Brug Forum. The people who post here on a regular or semi-regular basis, who give of their time freely, give of their very sound advice freely and offer cuttings for the mere cost of postage, really warms my heart. Ya see, at my age I've seen some pretty ugly things that humanity does to humanity, pretty much on a daily basis. Then while looking for information on my precious Brug I find this site and wow.....talk about reinstilling my faith in humanity, you've all done it ten-fold! I just want to make sure that all you regulars/semi-regulars know how much you are appreciated. Your love of Brugs, of Mother Nature in general ie: other plants, pets, the outdoors, etc. tells me I'm getting to know a spectacular group here....the pinnacle of great people here. As I told Marian in an email earlier today, I wish I had more than my white-to-yellowish Brug (I still haven't found out it's name) to offer cuttings to all of you, if just to thank you all for the wonderful information re; Brugs that you have shared with me through all your posts/responses. Although I told myself no more Ebay unless it was holiday gift related, I won 3 thick rooted stalks of Versicolor Peach and I'm proud to report they are all doing wonderfully! It's not a unique Brug for all you Brug pros but I had to start somewhere. LOL I am hoping that by this time next year I can come here and offer all of you who have been so kind a cutting or two...that's my hope. And to all you enablers out there...yes, you. You know who you are! For the last 9 days straight, practically my whole back yard has been uprooted! Yes, mud, rocks, trunks, empty clay pots, roots, pruning pieces, bags and bags of opened and unopened planting soils and amendments and you name it is all over my back yard...hardly can take a step without stepping into or onto one of the above mines. Why? I wanted to condense what I had in the way of plants to make room for what else? More Brugs, of course! I won't order any more Brugs until I have the areas perfectly cleared out and my other plants in new homes around the grounds but let it be known, after the holidays I'm going to be a Brug-Buyin' Fool! And it's all your fault...You know who you are! *evil grin* Anyway, speaking of ramblin on (Mike? LOL I do it too!), I just wanted to say a Big Thank You to all of you who have posted your links, pictures, advice and your daily antics and funnies of life. My days are much nicer now because of all of you. Amity What once was an 12 ft. Nandina in the ground is now an 8 ft. Nandina uprooted and put in it's own pot. Why? So that the area where the Nandina was, can be used for.... More brugs! LOL

Here's my update from the not used and not yet blooming lists. Four o'Clocks--Are blooming nicely now, but whenever I look inside, there's no nectar. None at all! I haven't seen the hummers at them, and this is probably why. They look great, but how disappointing! Blue Lobelias (Lobelia "Fan Blue")--I just saw a bird visit these this afternoon. I'm not sure if she got anything, but she dipped into a couple flowers before zipping over to the feeder. Interestingly, this summer I've been experimenting with making feeders out of Sculpey clay which closely imitate the hummingbird flowers in my garden. I made a blue Lobelia last week that is very realistic looking. I'm hoping that my feeders are habituating them to new colors and forms. It's hard to say because I'm not doing a round the clock study, but it seems like they didn't touch the lobelias until I put that feeder up. I put the feeder up a few nights ago, and when I got up the next day they were already using it without hesitation. I wonder what their reaction was when they first arrived in the early morning and saw a purple flower, instead of the usual red ones I've been making! I'm sorry to say I wasn't up early enough to see their astonishment. All of this probably deserves its own separate post, because it's pretty neat trying out all these different shapes and colors of flowers. I'm going to try making a nasturtium next. Cardinal Climber and Cypress vine--They're blooming sparsely on bushy, 20 foot vines. I just started fertilizing them with some "Bloom Booster," but they still aren't getting as many flowers as I would like. Maybe they don't like this ridiculous heat wave. Thank God it's finally cooling off. This afternoon, a hummer flew very near the vines, which made me think they might be getting used early in the morning. It seems I'm never up early enough to witness this, and then the blooms are kaput by the afternoon. I've still seen no action at my annual verbenas, my red petunias, mixed color snapdragons, Pelargonium geranium, Dianthus chinensis (although they might be sneaking into these), Impatiens, pompom or cactus zinnias, or my Oriental lilies. Bummer! I'm still waiting on the hardy Hibiscus (bunches of buds), and the Lobelia cardinalis is just beginning to bloom. They will be my last new flowers of the season. I'll let you know!

I am envious of those crape myrtles, though I'm not sure that I really want to go to the trouble of creating a spot to store them in the winter. I'm right now working in Alabama and they are everywhere. They bloom longer than I've been rotating through here (most of the summer), the bark on the trunks is lovely (and I noticed one yesterday with a trunk diameter of over a foot), and if they haven't been hacked off (an unfortunate occurance in many of them) they have a nice shape. From a distance they read a bit like lilacs, but up close the non-flowering parts are much nicer than lilacs. I notice that in both this set of images and the other set, you have lots of shrubs and small trees to give structure, flowers and interesting foliage to the garden, along with perennials. I really like the mixed border approach, both for the structure and color it adds to our new England winter landscape (as well as year-round) and also for how much easier it is to maintain than borders with just perennials, especially as I get older .