From my spring orders, the most unusual: Errinerung an Brod (rambler) Inermis Morletii (rambler) Umbra (gallica hybridized by Paul Barden) Incantation (small shrub rose, also by Barden) Geschwind's Orden (shrub) Norland Rose (climber) Break o'Day (Brownell HT) Andrewsii (spinossisima) Alika (gallica) Prairie Flower (Buck) Sweet Fragrance (Grandiflora by Ping Lim) Omphale (gallica) Daphne' (gallica) Heinrich Karsch (polyantha) And for every one of these (plus the other seven I haven't listed because I see them talked about all the time) I must find a rose already in the garden to remove, pot up and give away. No expansion, that's my self-imposed new rule and that will make planting twice the work, I think! Oh well, a good number of these will be small bands that may not go in the ground yet this year. We'll see how they do in pots for a while. :-) Anne

Phyl, had to google "sluggo" to find out what it was. Really charming web site to view while having morning coffee...LOL. Do people have a problem with slugs traveling toward containers only if the problem already exists in lawn OR do slugs actually develop in container medium? If sterile medium is used is it still a problem as slugs go for roots? Are your containers placed on soil instead of on patio or deck and that lends itself to slug problem? As if I weren't already overwhelmed with all possible problems and pests to look out for in my first year of WS you just hit a new one...LOL. Since I saw raised mole tracks at very front of property earlier this year assume they were going after slugs at one part of front yard. My father applies milky spore every year to deal with them but I'm more than amenable to overkill, literally and figuratively, if this is problem I might need to deal with. Read on Sluggo web site that they can collect in trenches. I left a definition trench around new butterfly garden just because I was rushing to get it in before it got too late in season and had dug the entire garden up to 1 1/2 feet deep to amend and aerate soil (also probably allowing weed seeds in without knowing it at the time) as well as chopping out vine roots. Was going to refine trench come spring when it was pointed out to me that any trench would fill with water. Thought I might dig little further down and fill it with gravel for drainage and place graduated chicken wire fence under gravel to try and keep out groundhogs and bunnies so there's something left for butterflies. Now I'm torn because I think any fencing will be barrier to butterflies and may just take my chances with bunnies and groundhogs. Most plants are supposedly deer resistant but that's almost an oxymoron in this area. Sorry for the rant'n'ramble but got set off by thought of having to deal with slugs! I'm trying to avoid the mental image of those icky pests slinking off to die after consuming Sluggo. Googled "slugs grubs" and even came across "beer bait" method. For some reason little buggers are attracted to beer aroma. Little set-up comes from some inventor in England. Guess they wanted to put leftover Guinness to good use...or guy came up with idea after imbibing a little too much of it.

Lookin good, Bonnie! You have some really cool things. I think if your peony was going to bloom this year, youÂd be seeing buds by now, so maybe not. Is it buried so the "eyes" are just an inch or two below the surface? If the root is buried too deeply you might have trouble getting it to bloom. If you got it in a pot and you buried it the same depth it was in the pot, that doesnÂt necessarily mean itÂs right since the people who plant those things donÂt really care if theyÂre planted "right" or not. So check the depth, and if it seems to be ok, just give it time to settle in and look for flowers next springÂand remember, itÂs going to take a couple years before itÂs a big, beautiful plant like you see in pictures. IÂm sorry to say I donÂt think the ÂOverdam is going to make it! But thank you for trying! I thought it would be ok, but I guess there just werenÂt enough roots on it. As you found out, the ornamental grasses are really hard to get a little viable piece off of. I still have it in the pot, but itÂs pretty much completely brown, and IÂll be very, very surprised if it starts growing. I had my first couple baby spinach and lettuce leaf salads last week. Yum! Having a friend over for dinner on Wednesday, and IÂll be able to add some baby beet greens to the salad this time. Yum, yum! IÂve said it before, and IÂll say it again. It is SO cool to eat things youÂve grown yourself! Thanks for the pics. Have a GREAT summer, HiAlt! Skybird

As for the earthtainers, I did see some recs for fertilizer on one of raybo's pages, but i remember them being the "dig-in" kind like the tomato tone, so I wanted another opinion. My local nursery didn't have the Dynagrow, so I guess I will have to keep looking. Any other recs for liquid fertilizers? When you fertilize plants in a SWC there are 2 general ways to go about it. One way would be the 'Earthbox' way. I call it the Earthbox way because they are the ones who came up with and tested the idea. You would use a granular fertilizer (not water soluble) just under the surface of the mix. Typically you would then also use a plastic cover over the top. This cover limits the top layer (where the fertilizer is) from drying out due to evaporation and also protects the fertilizer from getting rained on where it could release too fast for the plants. The idea is this fertilizer will release it's nutrients gradually over the season providing a fairly consistent level of nutrients in the mix. The other way is to add a water soluble fertilizer to the reservoir. This method requires repeated applications instead of a one time thing before each season. It also offers more control over what the plants are getting. It can thus be adjusted for lower nutrient dilutions early in the season when growth is slower and more concentrated dilutions when the plant's growth speeds up. Both ways work, it's individual preference really. You can use any water soluble fert instead of DynaGrow in the reservoir, BUT I prefer the DynaGrow to all others because it includes all plant nutrients and very few others do. They are also all water soluble. Miracle Grow can be used, but it doesn't supply Calcium. If you follow recommended liming rates for SWC this will provide it. You may wish for a fert that includes calcium though especially for tomatos, peppers and other plants whose fruit often suffers from calcium or calcium uptake problems. If you go the 'Earthbox' way you generally do not want to add anything to the reservoir unless your eyes tell you your plants aren't getting their nutritional needs met. You risk giving too much fertilizer which actually induces nutrient problems. So, please pick the method you wish and just use one (per container). Hope this helps clarify a bit.