the free seeding elms in my area.. siberean .. are total and complete weed trees.. weak wooded.. prone to wind and ice breakage .. a case where free .. does not make it of value.. in fact .... its worth what you pay for it.. nothing ... not recommended for suburbia ... maybe on your parents acreage??? where you can watch it over the next 50 years ... and then call me up and tell me i was right.. i will be 106 then.. i look forward to the call ... lol really ed.. think about it... if it free seeded itself into an abandoned pot... that should tell you a lot ... its a PIA .... speaking of which ... we just finished cottonwood seed season .. guess what will be in my pots in fall and next spring ... the other useless tree... lol take care ... ken

I just want to tell my story, just because I'm a bit sad about it. I moved to my new place almost six months ago, and I had to store the plants in pots at my parents' place until I get things organized, so I started moving them to the new place slowly. The new place has a central courtyard and walkways around that I can put pots on outside my apartment, as well as a patio in the back. I had a lot of stuff to move, so one day I put the plants I just brought over beside my car in the garage. I figured, it's in a back corner by a brightly-lit back door, and they are just plants, mostly ones that didn't look all that impressive, since they are just returning from the winter, so they should be okay for a couple of days (I did this once before with no problems). I went out the next morning, checking on the plants on the way out, and they were there. When I went out again in the afternoon, they were all gone! They weren't plants that I needed for my arrangement necessarily, and there was nothing particularly special that I couldn't replace, but many of them were seedlings that I've been nursing for over a year, so that they could possibly flower next year, like irises that miraculously germinated despite the seeds being old, a vancouveria, the lone-surviving geranium from a batch that didn't quite make it, etc. Now, what I don't understand is, why would anyone roam around a garage looking to steal plants in plastic temporary pots and a few clay pots that look piddly to begin with? I am sure most people wouldn't even be able to identify most of them from the state that they are in (four or five 8-in iris seedlings don't look like much other than weedy grass). I do hope that whoever ended up with them take care of them well, and they aren't ones I've figured into my patio garden anyway, but I would just like to know what in the world were they thinking?!? Are they stupid, plain malicious, or simply pathetic? They aren't worth anything to anyone (especially in our apartment building) except to the person who grew them and knew their history. Sigh.

In the summer, my gardenia gets full sun for 2-3 hours in the mornings, then dappled shade, then by late afternoon, probably mostly shade. From mid-fall to mid-spring, it will get full sun most of the day. It will still get shade in the late afternoon until it has the abelia near it beat for height. I have an evil Tree of Heaven (not what WE call it!!) that provides some shade to it during the late spring to early fall from mid-day to evening. Since the ToH is first to lose leaves and last to get them, the gardenia will get full sun for most of the colder weather in the winter. I have it situated on the south side of the house where it has a 6 foot wood fence on the east. We get a viciously cold east wind, so I'm hoping that the house and the fence will protect it. I'll probably need to cover it a few time this winter. I only put it in last February. It hasn't had an outdoor winter yet.

Ok we are back to the feral cats. What will eat the mice, rats, squirrels, and other things when the cats are gone. I believe I have read that cyotes are becoming a problem in many cities. We have resident bobcats, cougars, skunks, and lots of racoons in this area. I do not feed cats outside but am aware that in areas that have removed the cats others will move in to eat the expanding food supply. I would rather have the cats than some of the others. The catch and release programs have helped reduce the population of feral cats by neutering them. Something that the original owners did not do. If you have heard of a person releasing or dumping a cat normally with kittens have you spoke up? If not you are a major part of the problem. If more people spoke up the next time someone wants to show the joy of birth to their children with out a thought of what to do will the kittens less cats would be dumped. Even no kill shelters must cull the older and less healthy cats to make room for more. When you see a cat with the tip of it's ear cut off this is a sign that it was caught, given shots, fixed then released. To reduce the number of feral cats and give all cats a good chance at life humans need to become more active and vocal. I have wondered if a poll was done what animal's would people pick to replace the outdoor cats. Since removing the cats would create a vacuum and nature does not like a vacuum what would the posters like to replace the cats? I would like never to have homeless cat but know without outdoor cats we could go back to the middle ages when mice and rats were everywhere because people did not like cats and thought they were bad luck.