Re: the rototiller, it was (well he didn't say, but I think it was $325 or so)...cheaper than renting, if you think about it, we have spent at least $75 a year renting the big beast from the rental place, and had to hork it into and out of our van, and use it ALL DAY LONG in order to 'get our money worth' and of course, he didn't do something quite right and I had to live with it (and it was too big for me to use)...this one is about 1/2 the size (but still much bigger than a mini-tiller). I told him, "this is something we will use for the rest of our lives, don't skimp!" He seemed pleased with himself, he's probably the only man in the world who doesn't like grass, doesn't like to mow, so he's perfectly happy to tear out as much of the lawn as I can fill up with WS stuff!

Thanks for all the input so far gals! I have placed my order..like I really NEEDED anymore..yet I NEED so many more, lol. Brenda Country Gardens has Cypress Gardens on sale for $6 plus $5 shipping... if your new Cypress needs a sister, lol. That is a gorgeous pic!! thank you so much for sharing it..I'm sorry you lost your original CG. The offspring of CG in that pic..how old is the plant? GG, lol..I dont know how many I have.. I think about 30 right now, (DH is NOT happy about me needing some of "his" space in the basement this winter) but they are mostly NOID's..and the named ones that havent bloomed yet, well they may become NOID's as well with the luck I have been having! O BTW, I'm actually dressed at the moment, lol. We took the kids to see the fireworks our town was doing..they were awesome. Our town never scrimps on them..they get better every time! Amazing shows. They always kick butt over every other towns' shows I've been to. I wish I video taped it, so many cool new fireworks. But I was in my pj's & barefoot all day out in the garden & ponds.. Karyn, how old is your WM? Does it usually take a few years to bloom? I paid $19.95 for Wretched Mess..seems like a really good price to me, is it? Don't lie, lol. JT said the plants are all at least 14" tall and they say they are rooted for at least 3 months before they are ready to be sold. I didnt compare anywhere, I wanted it so bad. Did I do OK?

Suebot - don't think i'm going to tell you anything that somebody else hasn't said, but since i've had too much experience with deer & rabbits, i figured i'd concur with the remedies that worked for me. i used to live/learned to garden on nantucket and martha's vineyard, where the deer are at least as unreasonably tame and probably more abundant than they are in ct. i've heard stories of people standing 10 ft away from them yelling at them while they chomp on their hydrangea flower buds. one woman i was talking to claimed she saw the deer attacking her dalmation!! anyway, my first thought about your original message was are you sure all damage is due to deer and not rabbits? - when they stand on their hind legs, they can eat quite high - on a couple of my client's properties on the islands, i had more problems with bunnies than deer, especially with my daylilies & echinacea. so, i also found success with the deer away spray products; i can't remember which one i used, but i believe it had garlic & mint in it and i actually liked the way it smelled. the directions said to spray every couple of weeks (??), but i found that i had to spray every couple of days or so & definitely after a rain. it was pretty time consuming. unfortunately, my other success was fencing in the gardens. i just tried to be decorative about it - i used nice cedar posts with caps, bird netting @ 4' high (you can't really see it, so the garden still looks nice), i hung rope along the top of the netting (for a nautical look...). I did throw netting on top of the gardens in the spring until things grew too tall, but i have to admit, the deer hopped in a couple of times (- that would've been a mess i kind of would have liked to see). i now live in maine and have a large cutting garden in my back yard, a good distance from my house and i use the bird netting as the fencing (simply because it was the only fencing i could find that would be high enough in one piece) and it works (doesn't handle snow load, though). i see deer in the back and they walk right around the garden. chipmunks are now my problem. unfortunately, my true feeling is that if the deer want to get to something, they will. sorry to be so lengthy, good luck. just out of curiosity, do you have phlox and is it being eaten - that always gets destroyed the worst for me. -mara

Well, I am still here, I spent the day at the doctors offices, and hospital with my son. I did not get home until 6pm, and I was too tried to drive to the coast. I am so glad I was off so that I could be there for my son. I have my car packed and ready to go, I am leaving as soon as I wake up. I have left instructions with my hubby to do a porch check every day when he gets home. He has been given instructions, and he knows what to do in case Santa comes. Barbra,