Hi, Greenhaven, welcome to Michigan and Garden Web! I'm in SE Michigan so I'm not familiar with nurseries on the west side of the state but I do know there are several rose societies on that side. There is one in Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo and the new Southwest Michigan Celebration of Roses. You can find contact information for them on the American Rose Society's web site.

It certainly seems to have been a year of massively mislabeled bulbs! After having gone through most of the posts relating to this subject, I've concluded that this year was worse than any other! And it's not just the big box stores with pallets of boxes and kits of the cheaper common varieties, either... it's also a problem affecting the more elite bulb growers and companies that offer the lesser known varieties! I think it's mostly due to the re-popularization of the Hippeastrum! These bulbs seem to be enjoying another round in the spotlight, so to speak, and this prompts growers and sellers to hire more workers during the busier months of sales... these part-time, seasonal workers are inexperienced, and in the chaos of harvesting and preparing and shipping, a lot of bulbs are shipped out with the wrong tags attached! That's my take on the situation, anyway. If you look at the "big picture" of novelty and garden plants and how they've been bred and sold within the last ten years or so, you see that it's become all about the sale, and all about making the plants disposable so there are more sales... Those of us that actually take our Hippeastrums beyond the first Christmas bloom are a minority... I couldn't guess at a number, but I'd say that the majority of people buying "Amaryllis" bulbs and kits for the Holidays will bloom them out and pitch the remains. Just the fact that "garden amaryllis" are showing up in catalogs and on store shelves, some of them actually labeled as being hardy to zone 5, should tell us something about our society and how we've become dependent on instant gratification and how everything is made to be disposable! Welcome to the 21st Century!

Actually, that was the side I didn't do anything to other than cut a few of the larger berry bushes at the bottom of the hill. That birch is in rough shape and without staking it up and waiting several years, it won't survive. I would just assume take it down since it's not really in a great location anyway. I hate to do it since they are becoming relatively scarce due to disease and insects. This picture http://minus.com/lbx4OfKnwRF4xc shows what are definitely blackberry/raspberry bushes. I wouldn't mind having them, in fact I would welcome having a ton more, just not here. Being on the slope they will not be easy to get to when the mature and have fruit. If there was a way to transplant them or something I would love to hear it. I had tried it in the past, but the only way I have ever seen them grow was by accident and negligence. Based on the size of a few of the lower bushes, I would bet they may produce a limited amount of fruit. The smaller ones at the top of the hill however are definitely not mature enough from my experience. Going off on a tangent... I loved having berry bushes growing up and we had a large sandy area on my parent's property that they grew like crazy in. They eventually began to die off and my dad chopped them all down. The began to come back by the time I went to college, but it took a while to get any amount of fruit from them. My last year at college I rented a small cottage on a back road that had the biggest patch of black raspberries I had ever seen. I started picking as soon as they began to ripen and then ever couple days for the next 3 weeks. I stopped for lack of room in the freezer for 1gal ziplock bags. I made at least a dozen pint jars of jam and a few quarts. I gave a bunch away but i'm hoarding the last few of the "good" batch for myself. :) So in other words, I would love to have berry bushes, just not where they are. A lot of what you see on the ground on the left side (looking from the house) is debris and not much in the way of live plants other than some weeds. Obviously it is still very early here and not much has come up yet though. The tree shown in the background of this picture http://minus.com/lbwhVJrx76OE9d appears to be planted from what is left of the mulch/preparation around the base. This shot http://minus.com/lvFny84VUSjeW shows a rock swail that comes down from what is left of the last owners fish pond sort of thing. There is a reddish low lying plant growing on either side that I failed to get a close up picture of. It appears that it will look nice later in the spring but needs some weeding and/or mulching. I will take your advice and try posting some pictures on the "name that plant" forum. In the meantime, would I benefit from getting some sort of tall meadow grass mix to put down in a few weeks? *whoops, I wrote a book

Hi Ernie Fl! Welcome. Just saw your post and thought I'd welcome you to That Home Site. I love this site. I've been on it for a few years. Always get help when I need it. Tonight, I need help with central A/C! Wish I was in FL! CT is cold!