Now I carefully cut a dozen 1/2-1" diameter 18" cuttings. ===>>>> you are trying to root one inch wide cuttings??? i doubt it will work ... you are expecting too much instant gratification ... i would try something smaller than a pencil ... to 1/8 inch ... willow is used for rooting other things.. seems like using a rooting hormone would be redundant ... i would take a one gallon pot ... with damp media ... insert about 6 cuttings.. and tent it with a one gallon baggie.. and put it in shade on the north side of a building ... and come back in 2 or 3 months ... and plant them next fall .. ken PS: my gut tells me... that you can not produce.. enough roots .. fast enough.. to support all the leaves that will pop out early.. and then the stick will just dry out too much ...

Did you trim the flowers after they finished blooming? If not now is a good time. Below is an exerpt from a newsletter I receive from a local lavender farm...dated 12/4/08 3. Garden Note: Prune Your Lavender Now Pruning lavender is essential to good plant growth and flowering. As a general rule, lavender should be pruned to shape at the end of the first growing season. After the second and following years, plants should be cut back by one-quarter to one-third. It is important to remember not to cut the plants too short. Leave at least one inch of leafy stem on each branch, as there is little assurance that bare stems will sprout new growth. We encourage fall pruning for several reasons. First, fall pruning allows the gardener an opportunity to identify and cut out dead wood. Second, fall pruning will minimize the chances of branches being broken under a heavy snowfall. Finally, fall pruning eliminates the possibility of accidentally cutting off new growth -- on which blossoms are formed -- in the spring. ----------------------------- 4. Winter Care of Herbs (Indoor Plants) Some professional growers claim that more indoor plants are killed by over-watering than under-watering. This is often the case with herbs; they simply do not like wet feet. So water them when they are dry -- usually not more than once a week. And -- this is important -- don't let the pots sit in saucers full of water. About an hour after you water your plants, empty those saucers and let the roots breath. Fertilization requirements vary by plant. Generally, plants that are largely dormant in the winter, e.g., lemon verbena, rosemary, and scented geraniums, should be fertilized no more than once a month. Actively growing plants such as that basil you treasure should be fertilized every 2-3 weeks. Basil requires lots of light (14-16 hours a day) and warm temperatures (at least 60 degrees at night). It loves a sun-filled room, but don't place it too close to windows where night-time temperatures may drop down to 45-50 degrees. Rosemary is an impressive indoor plant, but it can sometimes be difficult. Start by thinning out the plant to allow good air circulation. Rosemary wants all the light it can get and prefers cooler temperatures in winter. A drafty south window is a perfect spot for it. Do not over water! And remember that most rosemary is hardy down to 15 or 20 degrees; don't bring it in too early. Bertha Reppert of The Rosemary House once said that rosemary should be brought in after Thanksgiving, moved back to the garden in March, and taken for a walk on nice days in winter. If you're still bringing plants inside, remember to properly prepare them. Plants that have been in the ground need to be dug up and potted. Plants already in pots need to be checked to see if they are root bound. Repot any that are. Wash the soil off the roots and prune any broken or oversized ones. You should also prune the branches taking special care to open up the middle of the plant to allow good air circulation and let in light. As a rule of thumb, both the roots and branches should be cut back by about one third. Give your plant a serious shower to wash off as many insects, larvae, and eggs as possible. And remember that most insecticides kill only adult insects -- not larva or eggs. In order to insure that you've gotten them all, spray your plants with insecticidal soap every 5 days for two weeks before bringing them indoors.

I've been trying to keep on top of removing the dying foliage on the iris. It seems they mat down around the roots and collect debris, and I'm paranoid about getting any kind of rhizome fungus. I'll wait till it's a bit colder to cut the foliage into fans, but I definitnely want to remember to do it this year. I haven't in years past, and the leaves have trapped every tree leaf in a block radius -- leaving a soggy mess on the iris rhizomes all winter long! I've never really been much for cutting the herbs, Bill, but plants have stretched out and grown over the others, like waves on the beach. Unfortunately (especially with the lavender) these leads to long, grey, dead looking stems, with a fringe of green at the top. I'm experimenting; cutting some back severely, some just a little, some not at all. Advice and experiments are all we have to go one as gardeners, isn't it? Thanls for the advice!

"What did they use on the walls? Maybe concrete board is an option." In Europe we plaster all walls in and out and then paint. Room dividing walls as well. Outside walls are between 1 ft. thick to 4 ft. thick and dividing walls are 5" to 6" thick, but some dividing walls in many older houses in Europe are up to 2-3 ft. thick, all made of concrete, blocks, stones and plaster, as well as re-bar (armatura). If there's an earthquake or a hurricane., the house just laughs it off. They should build like that in Oklahoma and the rest of the tornado valley, Florida etc. Those boards in my photo, that are above the ceiling studs are 1 1/2" x 8" for scale. I will still be doing the plywood thing, but not so sure if vinyl ceiling ok, but it sure should look good. When I asked for something to make my kitchen ceiling from at the construction materials store, they immediately showed me the vinyl "stripes" (joiners?) and told me they got enough of those, but when I came back to buy them they told me they need to be ordered and now its been a month and every time they would just say "next week". Thanks god its summer. Although winter in its 50s is not too bad either. Yes, if the roof leaks repeatedly I will be adding the sheathing and insulation under the tiles, which is quite expensive to do. Usually we just replace the cracked clay tiles, but sometimes the leak comes from... rain with high winds from an unusual angle. Big leak that rarely happens again. So I have a many little and not so little plastic "baths" to place in the attic to catch any leaks and to move them around as the geograohy of leaks changes with wind and rain direction. This is a mistake they did when they built this house without adding sheathing and insulation first and then the clay tiles. So as you can see such a clay roof is not easy to fix the leak as very often the leak changes location and sometimes the problem is power-washing the clay tiles from above as all the moss and dirt attracts water and then it leaks in unexpected places. In Azores or Portugal most roofs use clay tiles and each tile usually costs about 1€, so the entire medium sized house roof, the tile alone may cost just about 2000-3000€ or less than 1000€ if a house is small and has vertical stories instead. Wood part with installation for my garage 4x9 m (12 x 27 ft.) cost 2000€, then insulation and sheathing cost and the tiles cost about 700€. Unfortunately the kitchen is in the part of the house where the roof was done maybe 30 or 50 years ago, maybe some parts even a 100 years ago, so it's just wood studs, some concrete blocks, some stone and plaster and clay tiles on top of wood boards and the wood boards have gaps between them and so I can see the light through the clay tiles, but its not leaking in the kitchen area. As you can see construction buck here goes 5 to 10 times farther than in North America. Electrician 8€ to 10€ per hour. Help, (including skilled carpenter, brick layer, plumber) is 4€ to 7€ per hour, or a fixed amount sometimes. Regarding plywood getting wet, I will consider just using vinyl in case of a leak and its cheaper, but the vinyl will not feel very much like a solid ceiling, especially from within the attic, but it probably is a better solution for now than using plywood "under" the vinyl.