Hey guys, just wanted to give my two cents into the mix since I happen to have dealt with all these issues this summer. We had our deck re-built and extended this year. As a result, we went a little hanging basket mad and now have about 15 - 17 baskets around the deck and hanging from the pergola (new and overly excited gardeners lol). Of the baskets we have, some were purchased (Basket of fire, tumbling tomato, a couple strawberries, a couple creeping jennys, and 4 cheapo baskets from wal-mart) but the rest were made by hand so that we could A) control what we put in and b) use nicer baskets and c) re-use the baskets year in and out. When we selected the coir liners, I had no idea that their porous nature meant that they expelled water faster, but having read the other comments, it makes perfect sense! Will have to look into the plastic lining, thanks for the idea! That said however, we spent some time talking to a gentleman at the local nursery and ended up picking a soil called Faffard Profressional Agro-mix, which is a soilless mixture that includes coir, peat moss, vermiculite, perlite, and a couple others (I couldn't find the list online). It was the same soil that the nursery used for all the plants they grew and we had wanted to make a mix ourselves like Al suggested (though not specifically that mix) but he essentially said that the agro-mix was what we would end up with (for the most part), but without needing to do the mixing ourselves. The benefit of a soil-less mixture was that it had great water retention, didn't pack down as much as soil did so the roots had plenty of room to grow and because it was an essentially an inert mix (no nutrients in the mix itself), the nutrients could be controlled by us. Furthermore, once the season was over, we *could* just remove the plants and roots, wash out the soil to remove excess salt (a byproduct of coir is that salt build up will happen, though it is dealt with by flushing the plants with water), and then use it next year. At this point in the summer, I can confidently say that the only baskets doing well are the ones we planted and the basket of fire. Most of the baskets doing poorly look root-bound and while we have provided water daily (when needed) and some miracle-grow for nutrients, they are struggling. I think I can confidently say that while doing things yourself may be a little more costly and time consuming, the end result is well worth it, especially into the end of the summer. As a side note, creeping jenny is amazing for baskets! It looks lovely and if you want to hide the basket itself, it hangs over so perfectly. Cheers guys, hope my input helps. Happy gardening :)

For water garden, try Colocasia, creeping jenny (will grow in water easily-very nice hanging over sides of pot), aquatic canna, cardinal flower; water lettuce, water hyacinth, parrot's feather; water lilly, duckweed...some of them multiply very fast, some are very tall, so check ahead. There is many, many more. They could be in soil held by special pots for using in water, or you can go frugal & use stocking instead of pot (works very well). Some don't need any soil, they just float. If I was doing a water garden, I think I would use 'bubler', or even a 'fogger'...Depends how wild you want to go. You can have any plant in cachepot, since you are planting in another pot & using glazed ceramic for decor. I would make sure there is some space between planted pot & decorative pot for good air circulation, and that it is raised off the bottom so it will not sit in water that may/will drain out. Use a brick or some large rocks to raise it. Or a 'feet' made for raising planters off ground.

Yes, bird feeders are a big attraction to bears and they will get more and more invasive. You essentially can feed the wildlife and have all the wildlife around or stop feeding them and get rid of them eventually. You cannot pick and choose which ones you want around unless you want to kill the bears. When the bears don't get enough food from your feeders they'll start tearing into other things and they'll get more and more bold. If you have garbage cans out, they'll be ripped open. Leave groceries in the car and it'll likely be opened. And if they're in a shed or garage, don't be surprised if eventually they try getting in there. Bears have also been known to become so desperate for food they actually go into houses and grocery stores. Once they have found a source of food and they'll keep coming back. Unless you want to kill the bear you need to dissuade it from coming around. As long as there's food, they'll keep coming back regularly. This has other impacts too. They probably aren't going to get the nutrition they need just from the bird food - it's not formulated for bears and they won't forage as much for natural foods. Worse yet it starts to essentially tame the bears and that's not good. The impact from that can be quite dangerous to people and animals, including their own cubs. We talked about this in the thread about the bear place taming bears so I won't duplicate it here. Suffice to say that it's cute to hand feed wild animals and put ribbons on them but that doesn't domesticate them like a dog or cat. As for woodpeckers, here they make perfectly round holes. I'd go with the wrap with plastic and see if that works. Could be a smell in it that is attracting them. Maybe try hanging some mothballs or wipe it with ammonia, vinegar or bleach. Not sure if that would help or not. Test it though for any affect to the container.

I don't know exactly where to find the site but I know what you're talking about. You might want to just type "flower pot light" (or light) in your web browser line and see what you come up with. Sal