vinegar is an organic herbicide. Apply full strength. It kills vegetation good and bad so care is needed. Anyway, I am not a fan of vinegar as an herbicide. I assume you are refering to Houttuynia cordata when you say Chameleon plant. Beautiful plant, when containerized. I was thinking of adding some to a small water garden in a pot. Maybe I could get you to send me some ;-) Anyway, this is one of those devilish plants that spreads via underground runners. Miss a bit and back it grows. Is there an organic way to control it other than digging? Nope. Vinegar can burn the foliage, but won't touch the underground roots. Even commercial, chemical herbicides may require repeat applications due to the extensive root system. This is a case where an ounce of prevention would have been worth more than a ton of cure. But, no worries, stuff happens. Every once in a while things just explode ;-) Make a decision. Commit to digging and pulling or use a chemical herbicide. If you go the latter route one of the most effective ways to kill a plant with aggressive roots is by using RoundUp in a spill proof container with the plant material dipped into the toxin until you see the plant die (couple weeks). Not just the plant dipped into the RU, but the rest of the plant connected to those roots. This approach, while certainly not organic, limits the use of the herbicide to the plant in question, doesn't get any on the soil, poses no run off or groundwater contamination issues and is about as environmentally friendly a way to use RU as it gets.

Vicky, Boy, we are much alike. Funny you should ask about sleeping schedule! I wrote my post right before going to bed a couple of nights ago. Went to bed -- then got up 2.5 hours later! I did get some more sleep later yesterday, and did some more catching up last night, so I think I'm back on schedule. I had a bout of insomnia for most of this year that was fairly resolved when we went on vacation. Anymore, I don't even consider one bad night of sleep per week as insomnia, compared to those long bouts. I've really been taken with alternative containers, especially since I can get them free while trash picking or keeping up with our local Freecycle Network. (People ask for or offer items that would otherwise simply be trashed, but still have some life in them. To find your area's site check out this link -- http://www.freecycle.org ) Granted, some times I do pay for the containers, but, if you know where to go (we just hit our local Goodwill Stores for the first time last week, looking for containers and found two -- a beatiful ceramic one for our small bay leaf and a cheapo plastic wagon that will only last a year or two), you can get the 5-6 gallon containers, for free or for $.50-$4 each. Below is the link to one page of one of my websites that gives a long list of unusual containers, and where you can find those 5-6 gallon containers, although I forgot to mention that my Dad gets his by buying kits to make wine, and gives many of them to me, afterwards. (I may not have kids, but I still enjoy playing and thinking young. LOL) Of course, once you get into containers, soil can get expensive. I've been buying much of my soil in the fall, when the leftover potting soil is on sale. I also supplement it with last year's dead annuals and the stuff that just blows into the yard -- leaves, buttonwood fuzz, and soil that leaches out of the bottom of containers, each time I water. (Last one is only doable if you have concrete for a yard, so you can tell the soil from the ground. LOL) My compost is left in five gallon containers with a multitude of holes on the bottom and lower sides, so the pill bugs can find it and enjoy making it into true compost during the winter. Add to that, I buy sandbox sand, which is more sterilized then builder's sand, a big bag of peat moss, and a couple of bags of perilite, to stretch out the bought potting soil more and mix it in with used soil and new compost. "Don't plant more then you can do," is my biggest problem! Eight years later, and I still can't figure out how much I can do. LOL Fortunately, I must be one of the world's worse seed sower, since only about a quarter of the seeds I start actually sprout AND grow to maturity. LOL (Yes, I use seed starte soil and containers, so it's not a problem with Damp Off.) This year, I'm even having trouble growing lettuce from seed! Last year, it grew quickly and easily. Well, good thing I read some good advice given to an advice columnist, when she brought home a whole pick-up truck full of annuals, and then realized how much time would be required to plant them all. She just sat in the midst of them, feeling overwhelmed, when her next door neighbor found her. The neighbor picked up a single container, handed it to her, and simply said, "plant one at a time!" Duh, now! LOL I guess that is part of the secret, realizing that we'll never get any of it done, unless we just set our minds to dealing with just one at a time! But, you are right. I do feel badly that hubby became disabled, but I'm sure glad I get to see more of him then I used to. I generally don't have to worry about dinner. He's a great cook and does most of it with great enjoyment and great results (as demonstrated by our great girths now, too. LOL) One thing I have learned in the last 8 years, that only other people in our situation truly understand -- the house will not fall down, if all the housework cannot be completed. LOL Sounds like something else we have in common -- a reduced sense of what absolutely has to be done for daily chores. ;) I sure hope your daughter can visit occasionally, so the two of you can sit in the garden and simply enjoy what you have so far! That's part of why I love gardening -- the amount of time hubby and I sit back there in the summer through September and just watch the tomatos fruit, the birds enjoying the bath and seeds, and the variety of herbs and flowers, as we just take it all in silently together. Lynn Here is a link that might be useful: Young Buds in the Garden

Loved the post kaboehm!!! I'm one of the funny ones that for the most part likes the leaves of many things.....on the odd occasion I get a flower I am excited, but the weird, above-ground (in some cases) bulbs with the glaucous or twisted leaves I love every day......Haemanthus montanus has beautiful leaves that have a slight twist to them.....like the Nerine krigeii, but much larger......usually just 2-3 leaves on the Haemanthus though. Here is one of mine from this spring: I did not take pics of any of the ones blooming now :o) Dan

I think that getting all of the notifications was a bit of a surprise for some people, especially if you'd opted out of threads from GW before the move AND if you were one of those people who never got notifications no matter how many times you tried to sign up on GW. Houzz's email system works very well. LOL But, I think it had to be all or nothing to get things set up - and it's simple to go in and turn them all off. Once you've done that, it's easy to opt in or out to individual threads. a2gemini - if you're still having problems, contact me directly and we can figure it out. tamara.amey@houzz.com