As I read the article, there is no intention of treating steaks, chops and roasts with the bacteria eating virus. Cooking kills lysteria and salmonella. The intended use for the stuff is pre-sliced luncheon meats and sausages, things not usually heated nor cooked. A little more than 30 years ago, the neighborhood grocery store here went out of business. The reasons were many, the age of the owner/butcher, new regulations and a strike by the factory workers and the union's demands for free food for the out of work strikers. The new regulations stated that every so often ( seems like it was every 2 hours, but perhaps it was every 4 hours) the grinder had to be shut down and cleaned, the wooden chopping block had to be cleaned, scraped and doused with chlorine, all counters and knives and saws washed and disinfected, and then meat cutting could begin again. There wasn't a lot of meat packaged in the case. You ordered it cut or ground on the spot. I remember the butcher holding up a loin of beef and his knife and asking "how thick"? ham was shaved to order, balogna came in a chunk and you ordered it sliced thick or thin and only what you bought was sliced. Meat probably cost a larger proportion of a days wages then, but I don't remember worries about food poisioning but for long picnics in the park on a hot day. No talk of "food bourn illnesses" nor irridating food and certainly not bacteriophage viruses! Times have changed, our ways that food is distributed has changed and the time between the chunk of sausage and the slices in your refrigerator is a lot longer now. New ways to keep that pre sliced, pre processed, injected with "solution" meat need to be welcomed. As I said earlier...it is really of no concern to me, personally as I don't eat that stuff! Back to old methods of canning foods. Before the time of the Civil War, when glass canning jars with screw on lids were invented, people preserved food in quart stone ware jars. The early ones had a groove and a tin lid that fit into the groove, and I have heard it told that melted tallow was used to pour into the groove to seal the jar, and others have said wax was used. Some recommended paper between the food and the tin lid, others said oiled cloth. Also there were crockery jars with crockery lids that fastened with wire bales. I don't know if they sealed with a rubber ring, or with a wax seal. Somewhere, packed in a box, I have examples of these types of jars. These were not the "crock" things that were used to preserve kraut, pickles, salted meat and corned beef, these were canning jars made of stoneware. Well I remember a few years ago all the hype about irridiated foods! "you mean radiation? Like in the atom bomb? Not me!!" Don't be too quick to knock something that will make our food supply safer. Linda C

I have kept close track of the rust in my garden this year. I plan to do as Ed suggests and cut back all of the foliage this winter, even the youngest seedlings. I have gotten rid of the daylilies that were most prone to rust. They were, IMO, rust magnets and not worth the trouble they were causing. The worst cultivars were: ABSOLUTE TREASURE (child of CHANCE ENCOUNTER) ALAKAZAM CHANCE ENCOUNTER (child of BARBARA MITCHELL) CHERRYSTONE (child of CREATIVE EDGE -->child of ADMIRAL's BRAID) DAVID KIRCHHOFF DESTINED TO SEE (child of CREATE YOUR DREAM --> child of ADMIRAL'S BRAID) DIXIELAND MEMORIES MAGIC CARPET RIDE (child of STUDY IN SCARLET) PEARLFISHER PINK (child of ADMIRAL'S BRAID) PRETTY GAUDY SHIMMERING ELEGANCE (child of SEMINOLE WIND --> child of BARBARA MITCHELL) SPACECOAST SURPRISE PURPLE SPACECOAST STARBURST STORM OF THE CENTURY (child of THUNDER AND LIGHTENING --> child of STUDY IN SCARLET) VOLUSIAN SPIDER (child of MOONLIT MASQUERADE) I have had some daylilies for over 4 years that have never had rust. And I have some that have have had very little rust. The little bit of rust I have found on the following DL's (if any) has been confined to the bottom leaves closest to the ground. When these leaves are removed, the clump has stayed rust free for an entire growing season. I consider the following to be rust resistant: BEAUTIFUL EDGINGS BELA LUGOSI BETTY WARREN WOODS BIG KISS CATHERINE WOODBERY CHARLIE PIERCE MEMORIAL HEARTS OF FIRE KWANSO VARIEGATA LADY NEVA LONG STOCKING MR LUCKY PEACOCK MAIDEN RED VOLUNTEER RUBY SPIDER SILOAM DOUBLE CLASSIC SILOAM PLUM TREE SPIDER MIRACLE SO MANY STARS WISEST OF WIZARDS ZONA ROSA There are an additional 70+ registered daylilies in my garden that I haven't listed. They aren't listed because they've been here less than 1 year ... or I have found them to be somewhere in the middle (they aren't good enough to call rust resistant nor bad enough to call rust magnets). Kathy

opus flower- if the trumpets faced down, they are angel trumpets(brugmnasia), if the faced up, they were devil trumpets (datura) Both have large pods, and I think both have species w/ thorny pods. And yes, both are poisonous. Personally, I prick myself all the time checking my datura pods, nothing's happened to me, but that doesn't excuse not being careful handling any part of the plant. (The whole plant, both brugmansia and datura, is poisionous, not just the seeds/pods) So wear gloves while handling, or wash your hands afterwards really well. You don't want to get it in your eyes or mouth. roland-grow- Just as jroot said, moonplant is very vague. Typically you hear the moonflower vine (impomeda?) that jroot mentioned, that's related to the morning glory. Mine has very large white flowers that bloom at night. And they don't have the deep throat of the Brugs and Dats. Or I've heard of moonflower bush or plant, which is usually a datura. A lot of different varieties of white datura's are referred to that way, they open at night too. Every datura I've bought from a nursery was called a moon plant. And when I tell them it's a datura they give me a funny look, like what's that? lenlands orange trumpet bush/tree, definantly sounds like Orange Trumpet Vine. In my area, there are a lot of those grown to look like trees. I want one, starting seeds this winter ;) And the "white angel's trumpet" you have, could go either way. My first datura I bought was called a white angel's trumpet on the sign, the nurserie's employee referred to it as a moon plant, but fortuantly there was a tag burried in the dirt that revealed it's true name, Datura "Belle Blanche". Did the tag say what zone or annual or perennial? A lot of the datura's in our area are grown as annuals. Though I've heard many people say their's overwinters. I think it depends on the species.

Linda, The white things on the side is wood framing. We don't have a gutter on the garage eaves as our contractor feels it cases ice damming and advised against it. We do have a gutter (at my insistance) over the porch and in the back over the patio. I was thinking of having him put one over the front of the garage to get the water to drain off but the way the house is sited the runoff would go towards the stone walkway. So that's an issue. Why cut down the yews near the porch? They aren't in the way of anything. Is there a reason? I'm not following that. I plan to get rid of most of the grass between the walkway and the house. Problem is, if I plant flowers there is no one to maintain them. I'm there only on weekends right now and not every weekend. There are tons of weeds. I thought a few big hydrangeas would fill in nicely and the empty spaces could have simple things like the purple salvia. Forgot to mention that I'm horribly allergic to bug bites and get sick from them so the woods are not my favorite place to be. I don't go outside all that much, at least not there or in New England. I got bitten in Nantucket and had to go to the hospital. Not a natural born gardner, moi. Also, if there are 200 people I will be bitten and no one else. And on the one spot I missed with the spray. I know it sounds like an exaggeration but, pathetically, it's not. Thanks for the info on the mulch. I can get tree guy to leave me a ton and gather up leaves in the fall off the lawn. The red maple has been attacked by something. The leaves look lacy and eaten and it's thinning out in certain areas. Other trees across the driveway also have lacy leaves. They've been eaten by something. Should the tree guy look at those and tell me what it is? Then, say it is gypsy moths -- would I spray against those in Spring and Fall? Or just Spring when they build their nest. There were nests of some kind 2 years running in the maple. Contractor said gypsy moths and that it had to be torched to be destroyed but he never did that. I had that branch cut away. I felt the drip system would help the plants grow and fill in. Otherwise, they're only watered when it rains or I'm there and they get full sun (west expo) in the front. Blueheron -- I like big, lush planting. I don't like small plantings of lots of different things. Hydrangeas would be planted forwards so they wouldn't cover the windows but say they grew 3 feet tall what's the problem? I wouldn't put a 6-foot high rhodo in front of the window, however. Why do you consider it a mistake? The houses I see that I like are very simply done with one or two colors at the most. If we had a cottage style house I could see small plantings. But with a colonial shingled house, I guess I see hydrangeas and rhodos and hedges. Especially since I can't maintain things and it's very costly to have someone else do it. Thanks for your patience in explaining such basic stuff to me. I know a good deal about a lot of things, just not gardens. If anyone is redoing a kitchen or bath, buying antique furniture or art or tile or fixtures I'm happy to help in exchange.