Talking abt. Spinosad, Dr. Manners @ FSC posted info. abt. it becoming less effective w/use, and he says it needs to be rotated w/other insecticides, to combat chilli-thrips... this is mainly for roses, but does apply to food crops also...he recommends IMIDACLOPRID,which comes in many forms---- it is a systemic, and foliar spray works best.... Merit 75, merit 2F, premise, bonide, dominion 2L..... orthene, tristar, safari, conserve & precise, avid, Bayer advanced 3-in-1 rose & flower, ortho & orthenex.... I swore off all these 3 years ago but am reconsidering that what with these chili-thrips decimating my roses.... and reading abt. them on Google, there are some are recommended for food-crops.... yikes.... some are spinosad, some are imidacloprid based... but it sounds like the key is, to rotate them..... sally

Hi, I live in the country and have a small homestead. While I was down by the road searching for my guineas's nest the other day, I found a Passion Flower - Maypop vine. It had three slightly wilted exotic looking purple and cream flowers on it, which is what caught my eye. The leaves smelled like gourd or squash leaves. Very stinky. It was growing up over a poison ivy thicket near a dry creek bank. The leaves are three-lobed, glossy and quite lovely in their own right, even without the flowers. The stems are brittle and break off easily. The soil is very sandy. It was growing on the east side of the road, in the grader ditch, facing west in tall grasses and weeds. The hill rises up sharply from the road with an eroded cut-bank against the ditch. There are many large native trees and lots of small trees, grasses and other plants, so it was well sheltered. It is the only one I have ever come across around here and I have done a good amount of hiking and exploring, searching for wildflowers. It must have been brought in by some kind of animal or bird. My thanks to the critter that ate the fruit and pooped out the seed that was carried by a flash flood that deposited the seed that grew into the vine! (Hehehe) It would be mowed down soon by brushhogs, so I 'rescued' it. I dug it up with ample amount of it's native soil. It is doing fine so far. I put it in a large container next to a dripping swamp cooler so it would stay damp and have access to water until I could plant it. This is day four and she still looks good. Now I am thinking - How can I duplicate these growing conditions, without the poison ivy and grasses and weeds? (hehehe) My yard has the same kind of sandy soil. This entire ridge is sandy loam with sandstone bedrock, and it is very dry. On top of that, we are in a severe drought. I have to constantly apply compost and liberal amounts of Leaf Mold (Mulch) and old hay to the sandy soil and then water, water, water almost year round. The sandy soil leaches out all the good nutrients when I water or it rains, year round as fast as I can dig it into my gardens. I have a New Dawn rose and a Don Juan climbing rose growing up on either end of a big trellis at the back of an enclosed carport-shop. I was thinking it could go in there amongst the roses and do just fine. Its feet would be in the shade and its head in the sun, and it could climb all it likes. The colors would be lovely together. Good drainage is not a problem in my yard. It would have shade from the late afternoon scorching sun and protection in the winter. It would be sheltered from damaging winds, both the drying, summer winds and winter's icy blue northerns. Probably need to run the drip hose on her feet until she gets her roots set and growing. That ought to do it, though, don't you think? Since I am a novice at growing these lovely vines, I am putting it to you guys for your advice. Thanks. ~ SweetAnnie4u

I'm going to allow this message to break loose from the top of the page and slip on down by posting a "follow-up." But, I'll try to get it back up here next year in March or April when it might actually do someone some good. Meanwhile, I'm going to be trying to find some creative approaches to climate control in the garden. I don't really want to call it "season extension" since there must be some kind of "right" to grow tomatoes and a few other things without too much concerns with frost and crowding the margins of the seasons. Further, in my current garden locations, a lot of the problems have to do with simple exposure. Wind and sun have had a brutal effect on my garden on occasion. And, I'm not sure that growing everything in tunnels thru the year is much of an answer - leaving aside the issue of expense. I just can't be out there all the time covering and venting and venting and covering . . . Steve

I don't have a garage or shed (am in a hi-rise but was in a house for years before and do some vertical gardening on my balcony wall), but I do have vines for hummingbirds and recently butterflies have been visiting too (yes I get both up here...lol). Regarding your suggestions, you bring up good points and counter-points regarding trellising against a shed wall. Wood does rot after awhile (even with paint) and metal can rust and crumble after awhile (even with paint). It would be nice if one could find a similar large wall trellis in PVC (I know there are smaller ones that are tall but usually narrow too, but that might be something to think about to use). What I can offer would be like a small scale experience to help describe what the vines you are considering might do and the type of support you might need. Some of the vines that hummers like do include the honeysuckles, but if you choose a native (Loncera sempervirens), then those don't grow as aggressively or are as invasive as the japanese honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica). There are many named varieties of the natives and my hummers couldn't wait until the flowers started opening yesterday and they were all over it. Mine ("Blanche Sandman") is in a pot and supported by a decorative vinyl-coated metal trellis. Interestingly, that honeysuckle seems a bit reticent to twine like other honeysuckles so it would basically mean manually threading it around the support and/or tying them initially until they are on their way. My other honeysuckle - a "Mandarin" (Lonicera x mandarin) does twine quite readily on its own and that is on a small wooden trellis support and yep, the hummers like that one too). But as a note, as a twiner, honeysuckles may have some difficulty going around something too large in diameter, although being woody vines, they do better than the annual vines on wider supports. Similarly, my American wisteria, which is not as aggressive as its asian cousins and as a woody vine, can twine better around a wider support, but the thinner the easier for it. My Blanche Sandman honeysuckle looks like this right now (sorry for the hazy picture but it's hazy here...ugh... this is its 2nd year with me, it was from a 1 gallon size plant that I got last year). These have a tendency for bare bottoms (I have seen larger specimens do similar) with a mass of vinelettes and flowers towards the top (unless you prune to make it bushier - the japanese honeysuckle tends to do the long vines): The SRBs, cypress vines and cardinal climbers have thinner vine shoots and need a finer support to attach to. I have seen some interesting suggestions for that on the large scale where one can string fishing line up for them. Since they are annuals (and the cardinal climber is in the colder areas although they might reseed), and unless you can find white or clear netting, using fishing line might be more aesthetically neutral in winter when the support area is exposed after they die back. The crossvine and trumpet vine are woody like honeysuckle and sortof twine but can become shrubby as well. So for any of the woody vines, a good solid support would be a must. The trumpet vine can get aggressive so unless you are willing to hack it back (I have seen people grow it like a standard), then you might want to reconsider. The crossvine might get that way too, although it's not as aggressive and there are some pretty cultivars out there. If you did decide on clematis (I have one on a cheapy tomato cage) it depends on the type as the group 3s like I have can be cut to the ground every year and will bloom on new growth (meaning for a trellis, it needs to be re-trained each year), whereas the group 1s and 2s maintain a woody structure and require minimal pruning. These attach via their leafs, which wrap around the support, so too thick or wide a support and they can't climb well on their own and they will attach to themselves and then fall over in a tangled mess. But for the ones maintaining a woody structure, if you thread and train the vine (even tie it up), you can shape it permanently. For attaching to a wall, it's probably best to have it on a stand-off (maybe a few inches out) so that you can get behind it and allow the plants to be woven around and through it easier. Plus it keeps the back of the plants off a hot wall and allows some air to move behind. Anyway, hope this helps a little - when I was composing this, I saw a butterfly that I wasn't sure of. Someone from above was looking out for me because I took a WAG and checked a PA butterfly site and immediately ID'd it on a first try as a silver-spotted skipper. I have alot of red flowers blooming up here right now and I guess it saw those and the leaves of my wisteria and maybe thought the wisteria was a locust tree or related (these apparently like pea family plants and the wisteria leaves resemble such): I did have a visit from an Eastern Black swallowtail last weekend: And I'm still trying to get a good picture of my hummers this year but here's a rare one from last year where 2 were sitting not far from each other and had they known the other was there, the mad chase would have errupted (plus you can see my volunteer MGs around the shepherd's hook where the feeder was hung - they did use the MGs as they were closing by the way):