Thanks for all the compliments on the home, everyone! And thanks for all the great suggestions too. It won't be me putting them up... It'll be my SO. LOL He just doesn't know it yet. Mwoods, we live in Oklahoma City. We actually live just down the street from my parents and our house is one that I've always loved. And I agree with you about the people in Oklahoma... I can't imagine living anywhere else. Firstkim, I thought about your suggestion yesterday, actually. I will be starting out with all new lights and am now kicking myself that we discarded a bunch of old ones during our last move (not to this house, but the one before it). It's a brilliant idea though and I might ask around to see if anyone has any old burnt out bulbs. Someone also suggested electrical tape over the ones that I don't want to show. BTW, the house picture that I've posted is actually one from before we purchased the house. Everything's the same, but we did take the ivy off the front by the porch. It was already growing into the window and getting up under the siding under the porch!!! I was sad to see it go, but it was just too much potential for too much damage.

Many plants seem to be blooming about 2-3 weeks early. The Miss Kim lilac, peonies and Irises are definitely early as they don't usually start blooming until the first week of June. I gave a lot of the perennials a haircut yesterday, including all the Asters, all the Solidago, Helianthus, a lot of the Phlox, Agastache, Monarda, etc. Sometimes trim off just half the tops, thinking this will extend the bloom season by staggering the blooms. I try to trim the perennials before they are starting to make flower buds. I usually don't do this until June but they were getting big already!

Jstropic, my DH used 1/2" conduit(sp?)Pipe and PVC for sprinklers that we bought at H.Depot, and cut it with a hacksaw. I cleared all the mulch off during the day to catch as much sun on the soil, I wrapped the lights on the highest part of the trunk, and laid the rest of the Xmas lights on the ground, covered it up around 5-6 pm and turned the lights on around 7 pm and didn't turn it off till the outside temps got above 40 degrees. I was also lucky enough to get some of these plastic Xmas light stakes that were clearanced at Wmart, that I used to tack down the frost cloth, since it was windy that night. Main thing was to keep the heat from the lights inside. Make sure the cover goes all the way to the ground to retain the heat. I ordered my frost cloth online, since the stores here only carried the very light weight ones. I bought the medium grade, I think it is 1.5 Oz. It came in 12'x50', you can cut to size. I'm sure there are others out there that are just as good, and come in different sizes. You are lucky though since you are in zone 10, you should be a little warmer than me. I live 2 hours south of Orlando. It is a lot of work, but for me I love Mangos and lychees, so I really wanted these trees to survive so it was well worth the extra work...

Hi jessew, Assuming you mean Ipomoea alba, I would just take a wait and see attitude and see if any of the pods advance to a stage like the pods in the pics at the link below. If they do, you could then try planting a few or test for viability before the time when you actually want to plant them, or maybe trade them. Sue...chemocurl Here is a link that might be useful: Ipomoea alba aka White Moonflower; Moon Vine; Evening Glory