Thank you everyone. All things considered I feel pretty good for a week post op and I'm behaving quite well. doing only what I'm supposed to do. Drippy, those chipmunks are not funny and they sure aren't "chip and dale" either. Never mind the garden bed destruction that they create, the holes that they dig can be dangerous if you get your shoe or foot caught in one of them and go down. A year ago I did just that and tore ligaments in my ankle. The little boy that used to live next door got his foot in one when he was 4 and broke his leg. Now if that isn't enough insult here's more to add insult to injury. An article in the newspaper a few weeks ago said that chipmunks are a major carrier of deer tick now, more so than even deer and that could be the cause of a massive increase in the number of Lyme Disease cases being reported. Not that i needed an incentive to do everything I can to get rid of them, but that sure added a whole new layer to doing it. Then a friend called me last week the day before I went to the hospital to warn me that she was working in the gardens a month ago and she unknowingly disturbed a chipmunk that jumped on her arm and ran off. She didn't notice that she had a tick on her arm till the next day because it had attached right on top of a birthmark. 2 weeks later, bingo she has the classic bulls eye rash on her arm and has lyme disease. Chipmunks are not very smart. They can't swim, but will be more than happy to dive into water to get sunflower seeds and drown in the process and that's fine with me, right along with eating my datura as well. e-mail me if you want some info on chipmunks that like to dive for sunflower seeds. Bonny, the livingston daisy was WS by a friend of mine. There are 3 of us that share the WS for 3 gardens. We cane up with the idea to share it all after a couple of years of all of us sowing the same seeds then coming to my spring plant swap and all having the same extra seedlings. Didn't make sense so we split it up now. We end up with the same number of containers, more of each kind sowed, but the total variety is split between the homes and we end up with an even bigger variety of plants for the beds. Vera the color of that viola is beautiful. If you have any seeds for trade in the fall, I'd love some and will send you some of mine. PV, sow those seeds for next year. No matter how many of them you have, sow all of them cause they are a funny seed to germinate. My experience with them has been strange to say the least. My first seeds where from valueseeds.com. got 3 packets, 30 seeds in each packet and sowed them in early March. just sprinkled on the top of the soil cause they are small and tannish in color. Out of those 70 seeds we got 6 seedlings. Not a very happy camper that there, but I collected every single one of the seeds I could get my hands on from the plants and it was a ton of seeds, more than 1/4 tsp. Next year we sowed every one of those seeds, and I kept thinking OMG, what will I do if thousands of these seeds germinate. Well, no such luck, we got 20 seedlings last year. Figured ok, better than the year before and we will always have to sow every single seed we get. So this past year I had more than 1/2 teaspoon of seeds. We sowed 4 mushroom containers of seeds, the 10 ounce size container, put each one in a ziplock baggie and put them out in mid April this year. just an experiment to see if a later sowing would make any difference in the germination rate. They began to germinate on 4/29 the exact same day as the prior to years, and they where slow. But this year we saw how the seeds germinate. they swell to at least twice their original size and all but germinate 1 seed at a time. honest. But there was a huge difference in this years germination. We had mushroom containers totally covered in seedlings. so many that we couldn't separate seedlings and planted hunks of them every where. My neighbor across the street still hasn't planted hers out yet and the entire container is covered in flowers and seedlings covering the container. We have to have thousands of seedlings this year. On top of that, we have seedlings of the viola popping up all over the place in the lawn and my neighbor has several popping up in her yard as well. Doesn't make any sense to me why on the third year with the seeds, second year of collecting seeds we have mass germination and the prior 2 years including the first year from commercial purchase the germination was very poor. Fran

Thanks :D Bakemom, I believe this just may be my last year growing Max Sunflower where other plants grow. I have found several plants this year that were growing near them that were doing very poorly all year. I believe the allopathic properties are finally starting to build up enough in the soil to cause problems. I have already replaced a few with Heliposis helianthoides. I'm going to move the rest to a place all to themselves I think. Vera

Sluice, the rocks are moved with a hand truck (dolly) and some muscle. Occasionally I'll use a 2X4 as a lever to get the heavier ones in place. I can handle rocks up to a little over 500 lbs. this way. Thanks Sprucebud and Gary. Sprucebud the Picea glauca 'Pendula' is definately one of my favorites even though its pretty common. I got this one 5 years ago at 4 feet and it now tops 12 without this years full growth. Keith you're right the Pinus aristata 'Blue Bear', Pinus edulis 'Trinidad' and 'Farmy', and Abies concolor 'Charming Chub' all came from High Country Gardens this year. That mini bed with the Acer palmatum 'Sharp's Pygmy' in it is new. I was debating about switching out the small rocks because I found some I like better but it will probably be a moot point in a year as the ground covers will have it mostly covered by then. Thanks. Hi Dave, Thanks for the nice comments. As far as new garden projects go. This past week I moved 2.75 tons of weathered limestone outcroppings and made a new island bed that I ended up using all Spruces in. I used all existing plants moved from other areas of the yard and added another Picea glauca 'Pendula'. Here's a pic that shows the type of rock I used. I'll try to get some more soon. Also moving a couple of plants freed up some additional space to add to that new mini conifer garden which I'm excited about because I still have an order coming from Bethlehem nursery. Thanks again!

lpink: DON'T DO IT!!! The "cherries" were supposed to taste like black cherries............they don't. They are bitter, astringent little suckers with large pits. You can't pit them like regular cherries, they're more like olives. They are invasive. The roots creep underground a pop up a short distance away creating another plant. I did order them online. If you just wanted a hedge and food for the birds, I guess they'd be OK, but if space is at a premium, I wouldn't recommend them. They produced sporadically. One year not much, next year loaded. I am tearing out all six bushes....with NO hard feelings! (grin) Deanna