Hi Shawn, I just added Stitch in Time last year, seemed to settle in ok, by fall it looked like it had been there for the summer.I'll waiting for it to arrive this spring. Hollywood Lights, Hanky Panky and Stained Glass are the other ones I have had for a while, I can't say enough about them! I have moved Stained Glass in the heat of the summer and "he" has been so forgiving. Hanky Panky is amazing, I love the leaf and Hollywood Lights does just that, it lights up my garden. Can't help you with the others ! Vicky

You did say 18 FEET, not 18 INCHES? That plan, then is shot, now I don't know what to do. I've only been feeding there since last fall, and I do like to feed all year, but maintaining 2 bird feeding stations gets expensive, especially when I buy unsalted dry-roasted peanuts for the squirrels and English walnuts (and other nuts if I can afford them for a treat). I hammer the Brazil nuts so they won't ruin their teeth :-). The nuts got to be too expensive, so I just threw one a day out there, lucky the squirrel that got there first. Squirrels will eat corn, but they just take the inner kernel and leave the rest, and I'm here to tell you they like nuts and sunflower seeds better, especially the striped ones over the oil ones. I've hardly any place to grow anything RIGHT. In desperation, I was going to plant some tomatoes along my brick porch and protruding stoops facing west (maybe not a good idea) and I have been feeding birds on that stoop for YEARS. There are sunflower hulls all OVER the ground in that spot. It doesn't seem to faze a forsythia I planted last spring just a few feet back. Morning glory volunteers sprang up there last year and went nuts climbing all over my new porch rail and a bunch of other stuff. I'm going to have to think about this. I could move where I feed them someplace where I never will plant flowers. Hmmm. Just had my yard mapped with a bunch of spray paint and flags. I could feed right over the phone box, why it's buried there is a mystery (but I probably shouldn't sink a post there). Then I could scoop out all that bad dirt and fill with topsoil, another gruelling task I'm just not up to with everything else I have going. I am having rotten luck with a lot of things lately. But thanks for tipping me off. I can quit the sunflower seeds in back, I buy extra striped ones for in front for the squirrels and chipmunks, and maybe find bags of just safflower seeds for the cardinals and get a regular mix with no sunflower seeds in it. Maybe that is the answer to the back bird feeder. That is right outside the back door in the lawn. The Patriot hostas are out behind the garage becaue I didn't have a place for them either, didn't want to look at them. Now I have them mulched. Since it's pretty weed-free behind the garage now, and part shade, I was thinking of black raspberries, partial shade mix or Knockout roses or something. I just can't seem to get it together. I'm usually on the old garden rose forum, and you should see what a mess I've made with my latest planting scheme :-(. But I keep planting more stuff as fast as I can. Sorry it's so long, I read the article, and it's kind of a shock, but better before I bought a bunch more expensive plants for some of those places. Here is the area I am talking about, I must say you have been so patient with me, I feel like a complete ditz, and it's not as if I've never grown things before, just not hostas and heirloom roses and some of the new things I'm trying to grow:

OK - that sounds good esther opal - I hope you didn't think I was belittling your information - if you did, I apologize. What is your zone? Do you get a lot of snow/frost heaving in your winter? I have lost quite a few plants, not just hosta which seem to weather the winter a little better than other, to frost heave. Sometimes almost all my hosta roots are above ground when I get to them in the spring. This year because of my back and not getting out to the garden, the deer and rabbits have been feasting! I am hoping the green stalks will provide enough green for the plants to gather a little strength. One other thread I have read suggests that I might be lucky! Thanks again for your help - and again I hope you didn't feel that I was just disregarding your information. There is so much knowledge out there - I sometimes get overwhelmed trying to sort out what could be the most beneficial path for me to take! Mind you, I understand that nothing is guaranteed. Jakki

Slowmedown, I remember last Christmas , a group was purchasing items from us at a flea market and said they were putting them in shoe boxes. I guess I should have ask then, I just thought it was for kids at their church. Is there any particular item that you are looking for ? If I can help you out in any way, please let me know. Spiderwoman, I checked out a magazine at our local bookstore and didnt see anything in it, but I just kinda thumbed thru it. Thanks for the info, I will check again and see what I come up with. Ladyronnie, Man .. am I ever glad that you posted for Jerrysartrama, I looked at this one this morning and bookmarked it to go back and order from it, it has been a busy day and I completely forgot about going back to it. I just went and ordered some of the brushes that he can use. It looked like good prices to me, I really do appreciate all of your help and if there is anything out there I can do for anyone just let me know. By the way........ a bowling center not to far from us, told me that any of the bowling balls that are on the racks, that does NOT have the bowling centers initials on them, have been left by customers, and they are free for the taking. You might check with your local bowling center and see if the same applies there. Some of them are so pretty that you dont want to mosaic over them ! But... they are FREE ! Just a heads up and its worth checking out. Thank you so much for all of your help, and still just one post on the painting board ! Sandra