Renee, I now know that skinks don't eat roots and I know that toads don't. They do however make holes and I do know that air pockets in your soil are not good for the plants roots. These holes are numerous and destroy soil stucture. At first I thought maybe whatever it was was eating the roots but I no longer think that. I think the actual holes could in fact be causing damage. I don't consider ACE a big box store at all. These are small buisnesses and they do hire people who actually know what they are talking about which is why I like to shop there verses Lowes or Walmart and I would never ask those people advise on plants cause they know squat! This women is a master gardener with 35 years experience and knows what she is talking about (everything she says line up with things I have read). I also come to these forums as well (use to be on here a lot more at one time) in fact I have a link on my blog for this and the antique rose forum because there are so many wonderful people from all over to get there opinion or advice from and I think it's great. Very helpful people on the Garden Web! I have a bad feeling now though that is may in fact be voles as I dug up one of my antique roses that hadn't been doing good (with 2 holes near it) and it roots didn't look right. So I am going to try this method and see what I come up with. Easy and cheap without waasting money on traps and bait or having to buy harmful bait to gget rid of them. Wish me luck! ~Meghan

I got some seeds from Curtis who got them from Ken. He sent them to me cause I got him a Hyuga Urajiro from Hideko and he wanted to say thanks. I had more seeds than I have room for so I decided to share! There are 3 more of you that will be getting a surprise in a day or two! And you must post a photo of your elf!

I understand completely where you're coming from with having a house straddling multiple styles. My house - below - was also built in 1900 and sort of splits the difference between Late Victorian vernacular (with a few surviving Eastlake details, although we know there were more once upon a time, and it was always a modest millworker's house) and some Arts & Crafts. On the one hand it's nice to not be confined to one style, but on the other hand it is admittedly easier to have your choices narrowed down for you already! (Let's not talk about the vinyl siding and vinyl replacement windows, please... :-)) Anyway, I'm a copper freak so I knew from square one that I wanted a copper mailbox, but it still took me months to get , and half of that was dithering around that the one I'd picked was too cute or silly! I ended up justifying it to myself that the brass strapping would coordinate with the brass Eastlake doorknobs and twist doorbell - at least once I strip the dozen layers of paint off them, anyway. :-) I've gotten a lot of compliments on it, so I guess it's working okay. PO put up these horrible black plastic pseudo-Mission flushmount light fixtures that I try hard to ignore for now, since I can't afford to replace them, but I covet the "Alton" pendant fixture from Rejuvenation, kooky as it may be. I did come thisclose to getting this Ecco copper mailbox but it was backordered for ages. The description calls it contemporary but for me it has as much of an early 1900s Arts & Crafts-ish sense as it does an early 2000s modern one. If you liked the antique fishing creel but were just worried about the durability factor, why not get a new one? If the location is somewhat protected it should hold up fairly well, especially if you sprayed it with a matte clearcoat finish, and you could give it a more aged look by rubbing it with thinned-down craft paint (wipe on, rub off) before putting on the clearcoat. As for sources of vintage-style mailboxes in general, there are some good shopping directories at Period Homes, Old House Interiors, Old House Journal.

Julie, is it really YOU posting? I thought at first that maybe you were having someone else update us, then realized it had to be you. It's made my day to see you on here again. I've been hoping/praying for you to be getting better each day. I hope you and yours have a terrific Christmas holiday. And that the new year brings wonderful things your way. Shirley