Take heart, Doug. The intent of a bulb is to grow, and to flower. You didn't say if the upside down bulbs were daffodils, which have contractile roots that will pull themselves around to pointy side up. Tulips will just grow a longer stem; they know which way to the surface. Planting bulbs right side up saves their energy, but upside down is not usually fatal. As owlette said, for little bulbs like ranunculus and anemones where you can't tell, sideways is good. Lilies on their side are okay. In theory, it keeps the centers from rotting. Lilies tend to not grow straight up, anyway. the point at which the stem emmerges may be as much as a foot from the actual bulb. All those little bulbs will make a blooming size in a year or two. Can you just dig a trench along the edge of a bed and tuck them in? They need some rich compost or fertilizer. So do the bigger bulbs that haven't been blooming. Nell

I knew the node rule. I've rooted one or two of these guys before, just not so many from such a messy plant (every time the vines kinked it looked like the leaves changed growth direction, but that's impossible-right?). I think they're going to be okay since none of them withered over night and they're actually starting to look a little happier than they were yesterday morning when I picked the plant up. I'll put up a picture when I have something to show you besides a big jar of leaf spaghetti (like, I don't know, a jar of leaf spaghetti with roots and maybe some token new growing shoots). I hope these guys make it-I have a little heart leaf philodendron I rooted a little less than a year ago that's maybe a foot tall with pretty big leaves and lots of fast growth that I'm growing up a curtain string. That level of health is what I'm going for. Right now...well, these cuttings have got a long way to go before they compare, and as long as those leaves on the cuttings are staying green and turgid for now I'm happy. These little guys seem amazingly tough (though they don't seem to like cold homes, oddly enough).

I agree with Ken. You should look into the measures necessary to protect the roots of trees from construction damage. Something as seemingly innocuous as the contractors and workers habitually parking in an area can do permanent damage to a tree's roots. As Ken said, the tree won't die immediately, but may well die a couple of years down the road. There are things you can do to mitigate and limit damage, but you HAVE to institute them from the beginning, AND make it vary clear to your contractor that you insist on them. Setting up fences, laying down a HEAVY layer of mulch, these and other measures can help. It the fence isn't really sturdy, and doesn't include enough area around the trees, the ground can be compacted, to the detriment of the trees. Workers are easily able to say to themselves "it's only once, it doesn't count this time if I park my truck here", which may be true. The problem is, doing something once doesn't always stay with the once. It can become a habitual thing, and the damage is done. You do need to look at what is required to protect your trees, decide which trees you absolutely want to protect and act to protect them. I know from experience that 20' from a building site means nothing when the heavy machinery gets in. And, unless you are building your house on pillars and will have only one machine in there once to auger the holes, plus the concrete truck(s), there will be a LOT of earth moving done, and heavy machinery moving around. I just had a 24 x 36' garage built, on a slab. The footprint of the earth that was actually moved and graded is around 60 x 120', maybe more. Some parts got moved more than once, as the foundation was done and backfilling needed. Between the grading, 10 truckloads of fill, and 6 trucks of gravel and 3 loads of cement, there were a lot of heavy machines in and out. If you plan on a basement, there will be a LOT more earth moving involved, including the dirt that was dug out of the basement and put in a pile somewhere - or, it was piled into dumptrucks and taken away. Plan ahead.

Christoper, on thinking about this poor plant even further, it is obvious it's been struggling for its first fifteen years, as we said, that was the reason it got in such a bad way to cause if to give up and flop over around its sixteenth birthday....only to struggle for its second fifteen years in its current depressing state! It doesn't stand a chance of recovery in its current form, it needs drastic action with the secateurs, new mix, better light, food and general care, plus a securing stake as you rightly mention Christopher, something I missed, oops. It's new pot needs drainage holes and a saucer where you can observe any run off and dispose of it after watering, I doubt if the current pot allows adequate drainage? Whilst on drainage talk, the rootball will need to be checked, it could well be damaged...... soft smelly roots are rotted and need to be pruned off as do dry thin brown papery dead ones while white firm roots are healthy. I hope the OP returns with some insight as to what to do with it as I fear I will either pull itself in two under the strain of its own weight, or fall off its perch, literally : / Gill UK