Just went to wal-mart to see if they have any better water trays. Nothing there... but I did end up getting some distilled water, a sprayer, and a venus fly trap :O. I found one there that had a lot of growth and was looking healthy. It's a typical flytrap, I got too excited when I saw it and grabbed it. Only $4 anyways :). I soaked it really good in distilled water, let it flood the tray then dumped it out (to get rid of the bad stuff in there already), then soaked it again and filled its tray. It's outside now in my backyard. I'm still on a quest for a better water tray. I wanted to find a deeper water tray that would support an 6 inch pot, but all I can find are deep huge 14inch trays. Maybe lowes or home depot will have a better selection. Also I was wondering do any of you guys place your pots/water trays in something to give it more support/protection outside (from the elements knocking it over or from animals)? Or do you just put the pot/tray outside by itself? I know rainwater is good for these plants but isn't there a limit to how much rain they should get? Like if it's raining bad outside do you bring them in after awhile? Can't too much rain be a bad thing? Thanks again.

I'd be a happy girl if my trees came out looking anything like that (on a smaller scale, of course!) I've ordered 30 Norway Spruce, 20 Colorado Spruce and one Crabapple to help with the kitchen window situation. I changed the plan a little, and will now be doing a large "L" of trees along the north and west sides of the lot, instead of just the north side. I am going to keep looking for a third variety that the road salt won't kill, but with just these 2 kinds, would you mix them up somehow or put all the Norways on the outside, or all the CBS on the outside? I have never planted anything more than one of those Christmas "plant in a box" things and really appreciate all the tips. Thanks!

Thank you! Well, I repotted it, and the one that is half dead, to at least give it the chance to come back! :0) I will pray and try not to water it too much!!! Thank you so much for all of your help, all of you!!! Any more advice I'll take, otherwise, thank you, I have learned a lot!!! God Bless!

Just thought I'd post the results I had in one garden bed that's clay-loam. Last year I had amended this bed with home-made compost. Everything did well last year as first year plantings. This year they suffered from too little light. (I just put the roses there to get them through the winter and hoping they might like the eastern exposure. Heathcliff, Sugar Moon and Falstaff like sun in my neck of the woods, it seems. I'll probably be moving the viking Queen next Spring as she's a fraction of the size of her sister in full sun, and hasn't bloomed since Spring while her sister would be non-stop if not for the midge.) Anyway, the soil was very dry even with rain. I thought the heavy leaf layer prevented water. I stuffed the empty holes with alfalfa hay, compost and leaf mold until I decided what to plant. I also put the alfalfa under the leaves in the rest of the bed and gave it additional compost. Wow, when I went to plant Lavender Lassie and two hydrangeas, all the soil was so soft and fluffy and moist, even though we had less rain that earlier. I'm now prepping my holes in advance of next Spring and filling them with the same and covering the entire bed with alfalfa hay, etc. The new plantings have taken off even in the reduced light of late summer. I repeated this in another new bed and Mme Alfred Carriere and Awakening seem to love it even in their NE exposure. (Of course, they could just be responding to being in the ground vs. in pots. : ) ) Lesson learned. : ) I'm also trying gypsum on some new beds I'm prepping since they're on an incline. I'll report back.