First of all, according to various people, you may want to reconsider keeping your catfish and pond fish together. I posted a link below - or you can do a search yourself on the subject. In our pond in Upstate NY (similar in zone to you), I remove all my tropical plants in early October. We cut back our hardy water lilies which are planted directly in the pond and drop to the bottom the other hardy plants. Our pond is 3 feet deep and approx. 3,000 gallons so the fish overwinter in the pond. I don't know what you should do with a pond that small. We purchased a plastic 100 gallon tub at Country Max for our tropical plants, and I think that would work well for your fish if you decide to bring them indoors. You would have to add a pump or air stone for aeration and something for filtration. My husband altered the "plug" with a faucet and we can drain it pretty easily with a garden hose into our basement sewer come spring. Here is a link that might be useful: catfish in a pond

Hi Toni I'm sorry to hear about the bad news on flooded basements and about your lost in the basement. I hope everything gets better soon for everyone and that everyone gets their electric back soon. I will say a prayer so that god helps everyone and things get better soon I'm just looking for a book that has info on gardenias as well as other plants like roses, palm trees and basil. Toni: how do you take care of your gardenias? I see that your gardenias look good. I want to know what care do you give them to see if It helps me with this gardenia thats giving me a headace May be you can spray the garden safe 3 and 1 fungicide it controls spiders and mites. LOL about the rabbit. may be it's a cat that might be eatting the leaves of your plant. all my gardenias expect one is doing great. I have 7 gardenias one is in between and the other 6 are doing great. I do have a rose that looks sick. can you give me some advice on how to take care of rose plants please? I think you still could feed your gardenia until november. I water the gardenias with de-still water since I have hard tap water and I hear that is bad for them and makes their leaves go yellow. Take Care Richie

Richie, I started a post called, 'Richie, where are you?' Can we continue on the new thread..this one is a tad long, and takes forever to download. I'll never remember the questions you asked, so I might as well answer here..lol First, how are YOU doing? I hope your're well. And your mom? G/f? About my new Gardenias, I'm very upset. I guess the weather did more harm than I thought..I doubt any gardenias will make it..the temps were just too cold. I dont know if I should notify the owner or not, since he waited a long time before shipping. All the leaves are frosted, every last one. I dont know what to do. They turned black and crisp. I didn't mention it because I was in denial, hoping I was wrong, but they've pretty much had it. BTW, the nursery ships wonderful plants, it's not his fault. It's my fault for not asking him to hold them longer. Sounds like you got a bunch of new plants too..it must be the season, or maybe we can blame it on a full moon..lol For us in Il it's the season..tonight rain AND snow! I dont want to see snow until next year..lol Foxtail, Ming, Spreng and Plumosia Ferns are well, but need new, big pots..they are huge. In fact, you know those huge square pots to plant outdoor plants? The pots I'm talking about are orange, square. I might end up potting ferns inside each planter..the problem is I need 4 and they've gone up in cost. If they're 7.00, I can afford it, but if they're over 10.00 I'll have to devise another plan. Dividing! Variegated Ginger needs a huge pot too..gotta find a place that 'gives away' free pots..lol.. You're lucky you finished gardening..family helps..my family have no interest in gardening, so I don't ask. A lot of digging and planting..sigh..I feel like spraying weed killer, but won't..can't because of the dogs for one. Our little dog would be rolling in it..lol.. We had to give him an emergency bath a few mins ago..dh took them to the woods, and that little brat found a mud area..of course he came home with 4" of mud on his little body. He ran up to me, telling me he needed a bath which he got. The sink was filthy..he had enough dirt to fill up a plant pot..lol.. Richie, dont forget..I started the thread here on GW looking for you. Please answer on that thread..my puter takes too long to dl long threads..thanks, and I know I can speak for others, we're glad you're back..hugs, Toni

You've pretty much asked people on a forum to do some extensive research for you... without providing any input yourself. Being in zone 4 and purple in zone 8, we're probably not too familiar with what's easily available for zone 6. If you want annuals, they "generally" bloom continuously from the minute you put them in the ground until frost knocks them down. If it's perennials your looking for - you'll have to research names of plants for your zone that you like and note their usual bloom time - which is pretty much once a season with a little give and take according to weather and the other usual conditions. Then you buy X because it blooms in May, Y because it blooms in June, Z because it blooms in August... well, you get the picture. Head for the library or surf the net for things like zone 6 garden calendar bloom times, etc. I have quite a few garden areas - I've never bothered with spread sheets and rely on reading the plant tags when I'm looking at new aquisitions.