Thank you! I'm saving this info so I can do this sometime in the Spring, whenever the weather decides to warm up :) !! pkponder ...do you have a picture? Would love to see it. I want to include a Birdhouse and a Birdfeeder. My Birdfeeder is very large and I hung it last summer and was still out till recently when it needed seed and found out the thing broke at the top where you take it off to add seed ... so I'm mounting it on a pole and it will be just fine that way. It is VERY heavy so I can't have a tall pole for it. I included a picture of my bird feeder. It is 13 x 13 and has 9 feeding stations, 11lb capacity. I want to have a birdhouse separate but not too far away. Have an idea to put these alongside our ramp ... will look nice with some vines I think. :) Also, I know this bird feeder can be pole mounted because a couple people told me about how to do it. I saved that info and it says The pipe needs to be no wider than 7/8 of an inch. Anyway, looking forward to mounting that and I have to find a nice bird house to also mount on a pole. We have lots of cats around here (including ours that goes outside) and squirrels, so I might have to figure a way to keep them out.

My thought would be to drill a few inches into the bottom of the spindle and then insert re-bar into the hole and then stick the re-bar into the ground. If you are worried about moisture, you could seal the inside of your new hole with deck sealer. If you are looking to extend the wood part, you could get a new spindle, and drill into both the old and the new and connect them with a dowel.... that way the new spindle will rot away instead of the one you have. In fact, a dowel inserted into the end of your spindle could be mounted into anything... an old lamp base comes to mind.

Kirk, I was digging out birdfdrs & stuff for Spring...& guess what! I said above that I envied your blue hummingbird fdr...& in Sept '10, we vacationed in MN & DH had me choose one for my b'day...so I have a blue etched glass bottle hummingbird fdr...will be hanging it out in the arbor in a couple wks so I'll post a pic. Just kind of smilin' here after reading your post above. I was looking for your cobalt blue birdbath (& found your post) cause I scored 2 diff cobalt blue vases today! I'm saving up for 1 like you & Carol did! Jeanne S.

i am having a hard time with the darkish pix ... but will try anyway .. but a few things first... OF COURSE the leaders are bowing... its a WEEPING PLANT .... dont get too frustrated by its natural tendencies ... in the long run ... the thing will kinda heap upon itself.. and achieve height ... next .... this will be a 10 year project ... you will NOT kill it by pruning it.. only by lack of proper watering ... finally ... the job is NEVER done.. on one pruning ... if you can NOT figure it out.. there is always next year... just stop.. put down the clippers.. and walk away ... i would rather you 'wait and see' .... than try to re-attach a bad cut.. lol... anyway ... first pic .... I THINK i see one rather straight branch/leader on the right .. WHICH I PRESUME goes down to the ground.. and the left one goes on a 45 degree angle out.. then develops the second leader.. this is a future weakness ... IF THAT IS A CORRECT INTERPRETATION .... as that 2nd leader grows in size .. it MIGHT collapse the 45 degree angle part ... so i would take it off either at the trunk or at the ground ... as to staking.... insert a stake .... TWICE AS TALL AS THE PLANT .... or as tall as you want to train the plant... on the side opposite the weep .... and then pull the weep to vertical ... if you need more than one rope... you are probably pulling it too far... and the placement of the rope it too high ... tie it... come back in a month.. retie it... another month.. retie it.. etc .... i prefer to use all cotton clothes line ... as it is easy to tie and untie.. and retie ... which you should do 2 or 3 times per year ... at least .. i tend toward cotton.. in case i forget for 5 years.. the rope will rot way ... same with jute .... if god had meant for you to use plastic twine.. your plant would be plastic .... you tie very loosely ... and you do it in increments ... thought with this whip, i doubt you can break it .... the whip should be free enough to blow in the wind .... but tight enough to guide up ... if it bows some other way next year ... pull up the stake and start over ... as i said .. training a plant is not really a once for life thing... you have to fool around with it.. until you attain your goal ... all that said.. i once bought said plant.. in a plastic bag... probably 4/2000 ... it fought all attempts at pruning ... basically killing off every leader i tried to shape into my preconceived notion of verticality ... so i have been ignoring it for 5 years.. and it did it all just fine on its own .... i just go in a prune out dead branches ... and in 8 years.. it has never bloomed ... it is east of a box elder ... and does not get watered ... so it is shaded for half a day ... its a nice plant... but i lost interest in it years ago ... if it ever blooms.. i will be thrilled.. but i am not going to fixate on it ... the reason i tell you this .... relax ... do what you can to train it ... but let it do its own thing... in other words.. dont set your expectations too high.. or you will never be happy .. good luck ken