MDO: I have 4 tart cherry trees. The minute they are 1/2 pink, I know I have about 3 days tops to get them netted or the robins will eat them all. For me, robins are the worst culprit. This year I netted my North star and found one robin there every morning walking around the base looking for a way in. At least 3 times I came home from work to find a robin in the tree. I am sure he is the same robin! What a time trying to flush him out! After picking and pitting 15 quarts this year, I removed the net and left a few on the bottom of the tree for the birds. Not enough left to drag out the pitter for. That crazy bird came every morning for a good week and stuffed himself. I have to admire his love of cherries as he seems to want them as much as I do.

Jeanne, O how bittersweet! I'm sure it was hard to finally do away with that well established tree. (Have you ever read the childrens story "The Giving Tree"?) ...I love the sliced tree trunk for stepping slices! You know once I saw a table top made with tree slices and it looked all so wonderful! ..I LOVE the pergola! It's absolutely perfect there in that angle! Seriously, you should send your story and photos to Birds and Blooms magazine. It looks like something they would put in it! With all the other bushes, trees, plants that you have planted it will be even more gorgeous in the spring. I'm sure that goldfinch was asking himself, " I know there WAS a tree here. Now, where did it go? Well, this feeder and this other thing here seem really nice too. Was I talking about something else? MMMMmm! Seed is so good when it's cold! " Planting bushes close to the feeder will give thos ebirds cover from the hawks and such....Can;t wait too fro your spring photos! Thanks so much for sharing! Love, Jules

BKay, yes, that is the one I'm talking about. Since I saw no pictures of how he wintered over the pots, I made up a scenario for it. And voila, cinder blocks and timbers as runners, to keep from tearing down the wooden fence not intended to bear such weight as heavy flower pots. Cheerio, Theresa. Wear some latex gloves when you handle the treated wood. The ones I got were freshly received and very heavy and wet, so I had to wear gloves dealing with them. JonnyB, that Walls of Hampshire is exquisite and I suppose whether I like it or not, I'll keep expanding UP....no more room to spread OUT....except convert existing shaded beds to real soil planting space for the best of my hosta. My "allee" will be called to duty later this winter when I make sure the fire ants are gone. They aerated several pots and the hosta roots dried out. Perhaps they will revive next spring, but those became dormant quickly. Hooked, yes, Dixie will be happy to have another huntress to double-team those squirrels with her. At one time, I had three dachshunds; hilarious to watch them play together. They team hunted for rabbits successfully. And the male had a system for catching birds which came to his food bowl outdoors....he never ate them, just hid them in his bed where I smelled them after a couple of days. His treasures. He was a throw-back to standard dachshund size, a real large hunting dog, but his favorite food was....ICE CREAM. The two girls liked liver and fish. Wonderful to have more than one, to see how they interact and relate to one another. I'm looking forward to Dolly's arrival. Hello, Dolly!....It's so great to have you back where you belong. Her breeder sent this picture. Maybe the weekend after Thanksgiving, she will be eating entirely on her own and she can come live with sister Dixie. BTW, the breeder has a stable and is bringing some bags of HORSE MANURE when she comes with Dolly. How nice. :)

We don't see too many people here in the GardenWeb overly interested in micromanagement, thank goodness. The many requests for identification are a good sign that people are interested in learning. Ladybugs are MUCH more likely to be generalists, purple. That would probably not even be on my list of tools I would use to ID pests, unless I happened upon a batch of Vedalia Beetles devouring cottony cushion scale and that isn't likely to happen any time soon. I remember an outdoor session I had with some entomology students where we happened upon five different species of ladybugs! One was the Ashy Gray, which I had never seen in person before. It can be helpful to know what kind of plant is being attacked. Some insects are somewhat host specific. Also, some plants are so attractive to certain insects that it's almost not worth it to bring those plants into the yard. Plant selection is one of the steps of IPM, and one that I think is very important.