Hi All Again. Newbie, your stories really brought back memories of my childhood as well, only I lived in northern lower Michigan. That was before I-75 was built and the only way to get there was a 2-lane road, so basically you didn't go unless you lived there or were visiting someone who lived there. It was a wonderful childhood. Like you, the woods were my playground. My mother would send us out the door, sometimes with lunches packed, and we wouldn't come home until suppertime. We explored the woods, climbed trees, swam in the river, went to a place we called "The Enchanted Forest" (it was actually a bit of a swamp, but it had that "enchanted" feel to a bunch of kids). We hardly ever watched TV, didn't even have one until I was 5, and even then, we could only get 3 stations. We did family things. Our parents read to us, we played games -- monopoly and cards were our favorites. And for the card games, we played Euchre, Bridge, "Hand and Foot" -- I was quite the card shark, even as a teenager! In fact, I can recall many, many evenings, as a teenager, sitting around playing cards (and thus talking) with my parents and siblings. I wonder how many families have done that lately? I wonder if you could even drag today's kids away from their computers or phones long enough to play cards. We couldn't talk long on the phone. We had a party line (remember those?) -- 3 families shared the same line. As a teenager, I had a 5 minute limit to my phone calls, and the phone was in the living room, so it wasn't private. But it didn't matter, because my parents knew everything I did anyway. What a loss of a way of life. I'm sure that today, parents do not allow their children to run around in those woods unsupervised (I wouldn't!) I do resist the urge to make "buddies" out of the squirrels. My father has done so, (he's 83) and I have photos of him giving squirrels whole peanuts - they take it right out his hand! And they never bother his garden, so maybe he's on to something! But Dad doesn't have all of the critters I have -- just the squirrels. If I tried to feed my outdoor neighbors, where would I start or stop? I do remember, at the last house we were in (suburb), I had a vegetable garden. I had tried tulips there too, but they just kept disappearing. Then one day, as I was working in the vegetable garden, I looked up in surprise to see a red tulip blooming right in front of me! Little critters had transplanted for me! So I just enjoyed it there. I try very hard to have a "live and let live" attitude here. I don't like harming animals. I do carry a gun with me on my walks around the property, but that is only because I have once been attacked by a rabid raccoon (which I did have to kill - it was him or me and my dog), and I've been confronted by a badger. Fortunately in that case, I was able to scare him off rather than hurt him. (I grew up with guns, and can handle them expertly -- actually enjoy shooting -- but not hunting. I haven't done any hunting since I was a teenager.) We have trapped 5 raccoons using Have-a-Heart traps. They were living too close to the house and causing all kinds of damage. They are now living in a Forest Preserve about 20 miles from here (although getting them there and letting them loose is a story all it's own!) As for my gardens, I will continue to plant what most critters don't like, and when I put in my vegetable garden (I'm putting in the structure for it this year) I'm putting up adequate fencing to keep the critters out -- which means going below ground AND covering the top. But better that than poisons or traps or any other harmful thing. We have enough Hawks, Owls and other predators here to handle keeping the critters under control. They don't need any help from me. I guess you could say I'm a pacifist at heart, and will fight only if cornered. Sorry for the long post. Best Regards to all of you and your gardens. MacThayer

Thanks everyone for your support and suggestions. I did manage to remove the broken vase and replace it. It's all back together now. I have a concrete birdbath that I was using as a platform. The totem fits perfectly inside of it. My husband and I decided that we will fill it with sand and perhaps place some river rocks on top of the sand. Hopefully this will keep it stable. It has now become a challenge to outsmart those pesty squirrels. My only objection is that the birdseed has gotten quite expensive and the squirrels are little piggies.

Hi everyone, I'm new here and would like some advice on growing clivias from seed. I was given a beautiful yellow clivia plant which had seed capsules on it. I have never grown clivias from seed but I would like to try. I removed the seeds and am now ready to plant them. Please tell me do I need wait until they have completely dried out, will they be the same colour as the mother plant and do I need to plant them in a special mix? Thanks for any help in advance

This is mean but I sprinkle cayenne pepper when I plant bulbs they do not dig. The lawn people they work for me they break it they buy it. Once they have to pay me they no longer break, cut, damage anything in my garden. I wish I could give those same rules to the deer and groundhogs. I stomped my feet at the deer the other day and she stomped her feet back at me and kept eating. Hit her with a rock she left and came back with her friends.