Well, its been two nights since I put up the solar electric fence and all is well. The unit was $99(3 mile - smallest TSC had) plus about $20 for wire and plastic insulators. Hoped it would have been cheaper but was in a rush and very determined...I already had some rebar for posts which I cut into 1/3's and had to buy a few more lengths. Pretty easy. As Grandad suggested, I put the wires at 6" and 12" off the ground and one foot away from the base of the existing fence. I made the gate swing in. The unit is mounted to a 4x4 post and has an on off switch. Still wishing I did this a while ago. Not much corn left...I'm noticing a few late ears trying to form. I may have to hand pollenate these. Every stalk had at least two ears, some have had 3 ears and apparently a couple that may end up with 4 if you include the sucker. I'm curious about watering the garden while/if the fence is on. Any need to be concerned - precautions???lol I have one grounding rod - 3/8 rebar 4' in the ground. Was told rebar would be suffice for this application vs. the more expensive copper grounding rod. I kinda gathered that more/multiple grounding rods made for a stronger shock. Is this true or necessary for this small of a fence? We both tried the fence and felt it...

Jeff, Congrats on all your Monarchs. I found 26 eggs yesterday so the cycle begins again. I have quite a bit of A tuberosa planted in my garden. It has never gotten as big as yours. I like it because it's a good nectar plant and good food plant for Monarchs, if you run out of other plants. They don't prefer it but will eat it and thrive. The Great Spangled Fritillaries love it for nectaring. The issue of transplanting is the long tap root. Also, it's best not to dig up any kind of native plant. It's better to do like you did and plant from seed. Harvesting of native plants depletes natural habitats. I have a "Hello Yellow" that formed a seed pod this year. It is a true yellow and quite pretty if you are interested in growing it. Sandy

Thank you Derick! Just today morning, I found my only one left plant has started shooting 2-3 buds on the top of caudex. So I watered with some fungicide and moved it to get more sunlight . As I was told from my Madagascar friend that the plant came from an Island in north Madagascar. The plant found on limestone mountain with tropical climate, so he stated I could keep this one, but !!! anyways I'll try my best. PS. After beginning of our rainy season, which quite late this year, my Impatiens mirabilis are now set some seed pot. Strange, I found that some seedlings from the white-pink flower, they appear to be yellow flower!!

BKay, is that Squash Casserole? I don't think it looks too bad myself. Mine is still clinging to its color, and now we have some warmer nights again. However, with the sun lower in the sky and only a few weeks before first day of winter, I'm thinking the sun won't have the effect it had during its high-in-the-sky days. I figured out during the summer that my problem was not keeping the hosta away from sunlight IN THE SUMMER. No, it was KEEPING THEM IN THE SHADE in the WINTER. So now is the time I'm supposed to be raising the shadecloth over them. The hosta garden is over ankle deep in dead pecan leaves, which I must blow away before I get crowded in with shade cloth. My cloth is the 90% shadecloth, so it is very effective. Babka, the fact you get no frost and have to contrive a dormancy for your hosta is amazing to me. Have you tried a ceiling fan to circulate air in your atrium? A tub of ice, a fan blowing cold air over them, I mean, any old port in a storm. Note: I am ringing the bark of my smallest pecan tree to kill it. I plan to do something similar to the next pecan tree as well. But it will have to be taken out in pieces, hopefully by the young man who did the 25 fioot pine stump earlier this summer. He did not harm a single hosta. Dormancy is a good time to do the dirty work in the garden. The house is all to pieces, the rest of the lawn is too with lumber and construction crew compressing the ground, and the hosta garden is all brown looking, so why not do ALL the messy stuff and be done with it.