Rain2Fall, my apologies, I am so sorry you misunderstood what I meant. I have no idea how many friends you have and I was not trying to imply anything. I was just using my own experience as a guide. You said you couldn't pull a starter and I was just trying to encourage you. If I have a big project I can't get done myself, I call some people. A few years back we took down a 60 ft. poplar tree in my yard. I got 6 people over and a borrowed chipper. We dropped it, cut the trunk and branches into firewood, and two guys ran the chipper the whole time and chipped the entire top into mulch. I could not have done that in a week by myself. Your Craigslist seller might be sexist, but for better or worse he can sell to whoever he wants. It doesn't fall under any kind of regulations. If you were renting an apartment and he wouldn't rent to you based on something listed in the fair housing rules, that would be a problem, or if he had a restaurant and tried to keep certain people out. Selling your own stuff in your own house, well, it's just not regulated. Besides, you don't need to buy from a knucklehead anyway. :-]

There's the rub: no morning sun in my yard and 9 large maples planted just on the other side of my fence, exactly where I need them to NOT be. I can't remove those trees as they belong to the neighboring church. It's afternoon sun or no sun at all. On the bright side, it has been far milder for the last week and we had more rain in one day (Monday) than we had over the last 2 months. So far so good. Odd though, because mid-August is usually the most severe part of the season for us regarding drought & heat. I shouldn't be surprised--lol--the rest of the year has been Bass Ackwards, so why should it be any different now? :)

Well, if nobody wants to talk about Caroline Hairston (pouting, LOL) then can you tell me more about Mier y Teran and/or Star of the Republic? I know what ARE says about both of them, and I own them both but they're too young to be doing much yet and despite many visits to the south ARE, I haven't been able to catch one of these guys in bloom or even large enough in their pots to give me a better feel for the growth habit. From description, I envision Star of the Republic being kind of big and sprawly, maybe looking good just let "fountain" and Mier y Teran being great for a pillar. Has anyone tried SotR on a pillar? Does anyone have pics of the blooms of either? Any input is welcome....I'm doing garden placements this week. Thanks, Debra

Well, We got, by the rain gauge, 1 .80 inches Tuesday night--but according to a previously empty bucket in the yard, it was closer to 5 inches--then another heavy rain last night. Can't measure anymore, I took the rain gauge down. For some reason, small Bumble Bees pack into it-and die!! I'd empty it each day, but every time, I'd have 5-20 bees in it. Wonder if its because it was mounted on one of my raised garden beds. Anyhow, I dont want to loose that many bees if I can help it. I do like Bumble Bees! I'm taking Cucumbers and Eggs to our local Munch program after a bit-That way I can only hope the ones that get them are grateful, and not see the attitude I sometimes see. It does upset me to have a person say "they'll take something off my hands" if I have too many. My beautiful Heirloom tomatoes? I dont think so! Cucumbers are really producing this year, Tomatoes are slow ripening, and dont have the flavor I expect, I think because we arent getting hot weather. I understand the Brown Recluse is very deadly too, it's the one that all older farmhouses used to have, and we just existed with them. I think everything has had a attitude change in the years passing. From people to animals. With one exception!!! My resident family of Groundhogs! The graze yard, paths in the garden, etc--and have never touched the garden. I watched one yesterday, grazing around like a cow. Well, enough rambling.