Kara, barred owls are a...ready?...HOOT to listen to, aren't they? With their very loud, "Who cooks for you, who cooks for YOU-aaaaallll?" And then the cackling battles they get into...reminds me of laughing hyenas in the African bush. They are very easy to call up, too. I have known people who could do a perfect call, and even I can call them, though my rendition is far from perfect. But I have had them answer me many times, and come swooping in to see if there was a strange owl in their territory that needed to be investigated. They are the only one of our owls that are often active in full daylight, and they are the only one with black eyes instead of yellow. They are big owls, and the lack of "ear" tufts makes them easy to tell apart from a great horned owl. They are definitely my favorite one. Except possibly for the cute little burrowing owls in the Cape Coral area. Glad you are enjoying them. They sure do spice up a summer night, don't they? Marcia

Of course, being a good steward of our reasources, such as by planting grasses that need less water and fertilzer is good. But, if global warming is happening and threatening to push us in to a whole different kind of weather epoch, I sure wouldn't have any problem growing a lighter shade of grass to to try to help mother nature balance out the higher temps that may be resulting from all the greenhouse gasses our industrial age has been pumping in to the atmosphere. While day to day temps, even a whole season can't be taken as indicators of changes in world wide changes, I was working outside yesterday and had to come in and put on a short sleeved shirt because it was so hot. An unheard of thing in 30 years of living in Amarillo, Texas. Also, when things like sheet ice at the poles start disapperaing, as we can see and measure, it becomes a little more difficult to stick our heads in the sand and say nothing is happening. Now, I agree we may not know for sure, sure, that man is "causing" it. It could be part of mother nature's big long term cycles. But, even then, its probably best for us to do what we can to balance the climate out, say with little things that might add up, like more reflective grasses growing in millions of yards around the country. Science tells us it is a fact that "nature" led to periods of weather that had high temps and mega-droughts in the past. Weather patterns that were non-man made that helped kill off a majority of species in the past. Helping mother nature keep things balanced, regardless of the cause, might be a pretty wise investment for us to make in our own well being.

"Hibiscus syriacus" can be very invasive because every blossom when pollinated will produce a seed that will grow into another tree or shrub. If you keep cutting the leaves off these the roots will die off because they will be getting no food, no nutrients, with which to grow. You could spray something but that is, like cutting off the leavs, something you will need to do often, not a one time thing.

From your picture, that looks like pretty open shade? Don’t give up and just do mulch. And please never do orangey mulch, only black/dark brown. We have a very shady back yard, with huge old Norway spruces and a Norway maple. We have euonymus alatus - winged euonymus or burning bush planted under the trees, along a weathered 6 ft. fence. They don’t get as bushy, and they really have only a hint of red in the fall, but they do okay in spite of getting no direct sun. They should be hardy where you are. Best bet for finding shrubs for this problem area is to take your photo to a local garden center and ask for suggestions. Here is a picture taken this morning - that’s about as much sun as our euonymus get! and a picture taken in June. Under-planted with aruncus/goats beard, hostas, and (yes, horror of horrors!) bishops weed. Before posts start coming in expressing outrage at planting invasive bishops weed, it’s been there for 15 years and while it has filled out, it has NOT been invasive AT ALL - too much shade and tree root competition, and it does help light up the shade.