Cactus Joe...what a shame you lost that Japanese Maple...it was perfect there. I imagine the Black Bamboo also looks great too. Amazing story about the rock under the foundation. I agree with you, having such a solid foundation under the house is reassuring. You did a great job picking out all the rocks and pebbles. Artistic arrangement. Woody...I just went back to your post of garden photos trying to see where you have the metal/brick edging and couldn't see it peeking out in any of your photos. I see mulch and leaves and rocks...lol. You are right, if you only have to do the metal/brick edge once instead of edging every year, then it is worth it. I will have to consider that and maybe try it in a small area to see how it does first. Thanks for the link. We did some work in the Veggie garden this morning, trying to finish up on our low maintenance strategies there. We created four 4x4 beds that are working out well so far. We planted a cover crop in them in the fall because I wasn't satisfied with the condition of the soil. We just got around to turning one of them in. It had gotten really high so it made more work for us, having to cut it down into smaller lengths to make it break down faster. But in a 4x4 space, it's not so bad. Then we took a couple of 5 gallon buckets of chopped leaves and mixed that in, we saved 4 buckets of straight soil to pour over the top of that when we were done turning it in and planted pole beans at the base of a 4 pole tripod and I had some asparagus seedlings that I am trying and those were planted in the center in a grid, since it will be a couple of years, before they will produce anything. Then added Nasturtiums and Basil around the sides, laid down one soaker hose in a circular pattern. One whole 50ft hose coiled around, just about covered the whole surface of the ground...lol. covered the whole thing with hay and that should do it for the season basically. We will also not have to do the cover crop again for at least 5 years or longer if we want. I plan on just mulching the top thickly with grass/chopped leaves/hay every year and that should keep the soil in good condition. At least that's the plan. We have learned to expect surprises though. [g] Have two more beds to turn under and plant but we work slowly here too. :-) Maybe we will get one more done later today. It always feels so good when you finish a project that has the potential for saving time and effort. :-)

Trish, let's hope you're right about it being a great spot. What I really love about this rose is its reported BS resistance. That's what I hope turns out great. Coincidentally, FMR is a sport of Polka which I had admired more than a year ago. Polka claims to have fragrant foliage as well as blooms - pine, I think. I wonder if this one does. bboy, I don't have room for mounding up, and I really don't want the effect shown in Jeri's photo above. A massive mound would not be acceptable. And so far, everything about roses has been slow. :)) Juliet, thank you for liking my fence. I really don't like the wood-stained look. I prefer matchy-matchy between house and fence. The stain color could have turned out a little darker, but I like it, too. My DH built it board by board after I stained the cedar board by board. Ann, no, I don't own a cat, but I get you. I've noticed those right-angle laterals. At this stage would it help to clip most (some?) of them off? I've been simply bundling them upwards and waiting for the laterals to have laterals. It seems to me that that's what will eventually get up into the tree. What do I do at those times when the rose is vigorously putting on growth? Those canes in the photos that aren't lashed to the tree have grown in the last couple of months after I tied it again. I've been 'tucking' them in, hooking them here and there. Bulk is not what I want so I'm wondering if maybe next time some judicious pruning would be warranted and useful. Of course, I don't know how I'd get the pruned canes out of the bundle. Sherry

The most simplistic answer is to restrict the amount of aluminum the plant has access to - it is the aluminum in the soil that influences the flower color. Acidic soils allow greater availability of aluminum; neutral to more alklaline soils bind the aluminum, making it less accessible to the plants. Having said that, let me go further to develop all the issues involved :-) 1) Not all bigleaf hydrangeas (H. macrophylla and closely related H. serrata) will respond to soil chemistry the same way. Some are much more stable in their coloring and are less influenced by the availability of aluminum. IOW, some pink varieties will hold their color very well regardless of soil pH or at most, turn a mauvey-purple color in more acidic soil. And whites will always be white :-) 2) Changing soil pH is not always an easy process. And it tends to be rather temporary, as most soils have a buffering capacity that will resist change and bring the soil back to its normal pH level. Your hydrangeas bloom blue now because you have acidic soil (as does much of the eastern portion of the US). You will need to add lime to effect a change to a more neutral pH and this will need to be repeated periodically, at least several times a year. Typically the recommendations are to add 2.5-5 pounds of dolomitic lime per 100 square feet or 3-4 tablespoons per plant. The exact amount can vary depending on soil conditions. For existing plants, work it into the soil well around the root zone. It takes time for this work, so it is suggested to do this in fall, again in early spring as the plants resume growth and you may need to apply again during the growing season. Be careful not to overapply - too alkaline a soil will result in iron deficiencies or chlorosis. You want to hit right around 7.0. Irrigation and rain water can also influence coloring. Generally, areas that have naturally acidic soils tend also to "acid" rain water and this will often carry through to well or tap water as well. You may need to adjust this too. As the hydrangeashydrangeas site suggests, it may be easier for you to grow your hydrangeas in containers to achieve truly "pink" flowers, as container soils are much easier to control with regards to pH and aluminum concentrations. FWIW, some cultivars that are known to maintain a very pink to purple coloring (and that's always subjective) regardless of pH are 'Alpenglow' (aka Glowing Embers), 'Pia' (aka Pink Elf), 'Kardinal', 'Fasan', 'Mowe' (aka Geoffrey Chadbund), 'Harlequin' (aka Buttons & Bows) and 'Hornli'. You may have better success starting with one of these rather than trying, often unsuccessfully, to turn a true blue pink in your not very suitable soils. Good luck!

Oh my, do you have all day??? This sort of thing happens to me or people I know all the time. That's because there are Newfoundlanders everywhere! I wouldn't be surprised if the Noel family that cherryfizz mentioned had NL connections - it's a common name here. My mom's cousin who lived in Nova Scotia left her husband and children and ran off with another man. We had a baby sitter when I was young who married a Mountie and, in the course of his career, they were posted somewhere in rural Manitoba. Guess who their neighbours were? Yup, my mom's cousin and her man. It was sort of "Where are you from?", "I'm from St. John's, Newfoundland", "Oh, I have a cousin who lives there, Maybe you know her.", etc. I was in London, England, one July years ago and was walking down Oxford Street like thousands of others and I heard someone shout, "Barbara!".. I kep walking because it couldn't possibly be me she was shouting at - I didn't know anyone in London. She shouted again, using my full name, so I turned around and here was a woman who used to play bridge with my mom on a regular basis. I was in San Fransisco and went into a Wells Fargo bank to change a traveller's cheque. The young lady behind the desk asked where I was from. I told her St. John's and she said, "So am I". It turned out that her aunt and I went to school together. I was in Washington, DC, visiting my cousin and her DH and I was outside the Lord and Taylor's store and heard a man with a very unmistakable St. John's accent speaking to two nuns. I sort of sidled up to him and said, "What part of St. John's are you from?" He laughed and said "Coronation Street". (Yes, there really is a Coronation Street in St. John's!). Then he ran to help the two nuns into a taxi and I went into the store. The next evening my cousin had a get-together and who should walk in to the party but this fellow who worked with my cousin's DH at the Pentagon. He had lived in Washington for over 40 years and sounded like he just left home! I had lunch at a nice little restaurant in Halifax in October and at three of the other tables were people I knew from home. As I said, there are Newfoundlanders everywhere. Tens of thousands of Newfoundland girls married US servicemen who were stationed here during WWll and afterwards, thousands left to find work in the "Boston States", and so on. I'll bet that there are people on this forum who know Newfoundlanders, or people who are descended from Newfoundlanders, and don't realize it.