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 am also of the opinion that it is too close a proximity for comfort, for me. You will never meet a bigger animal lover than me. We have [humanely] trapped and relocated possums from our garage, snapping turtles that wandered into the yard, and even a rat that we found living under our porch. It appeared to be a pet that had escaped...white with black spots. We actually found the rat a loving home, believe it or not. This summer we spent a few weeks trying to trap a rabbit. He was running through our backyard every night when I had the dogs out playing fetch. At first it was kind of funny, but one of my dogs was getting really good at chasing him, and I was afraid he was going to be successful soon. I did not care to witness a violent death, and I didn't want my dog to experience that either. We figured out his path and set a trap outside the fence, and one night, there he was!! We released him in a more appropriate habitat. I am all for letting nature be, but as Jim said, if it is a threat to the health or safety of my family or my pets, sorry little buddy, but we're going to have to find you somewhere else to live. :) I would also be concerned about the one with the hurt paw. :( I hope you can find someone who will help you! What you need is someone like these guys. They're a franchise...wonder if they have a branch close to you? Here is a link that might be useful: Wildlife Solutions

I finally found some Chuck Hayes Gardenias about 6 weeks ago or so at the Al's Nursery new store grand opening day (a retail nursery with about 10.5 acres, including several acres that are covered with auto-retractable roofs). It's about a ten minute drive from me here in Beaverton, Oregon. Anyway, so they've been in the ground for 4 or 5 weeks and are about two feet above the ground in height (bought three of them). They're planted in the same spots as my previous "regular" non-hardy varieties where the longest one lasted 3 years (we had a really cold winter with a long cold spell of about 20 degrees a couple years ago that took out the remainders). Nursery I had bought previous ones "joked" about how I was buying the Gardenias as annuals. :-( pH measures a bit marginal (6) using the colored water vial sort of hand-wavy measurement. I think 5.5 is supposed to be the nominal, but I think 6 is close enough (is it?). I had acidified it quite a bit several years ago, but it's next to the house's concrete foundation that's rumored to make things go in an alkaline direction over time. I put a tiny bit of sulphur into it for long term acidification when I re-rototilled it up for these three (using a Mantis tiller). Got my fingers crossed both for the health of the plants as well as hoping for mild winters (typically a high of 50 and permanent drizzling). In the month or so they've been in the ground, they've not minded too much. They've all started to generate quite a lot of buds, of which they had none when purchased. I attached a link to a photo of them about a week or two ago. Still need to put down some stuff on the surface, but was waiting for the first generation of weeds to come up so I can get rid of them easier before covering it up. I had tilled some grass and weeds here (it was being saved for when I finally found some Chuck Hayes plants!). With fingers crossed in Oregon... Mike Here is a link that might be useful:

I was planning a Groundhog Day breakfast for Tuesday morning. I'll get some pics. It will be simple and not elaborate foodwise since I am working that day. I may have to "borrow" your sign idea. Very cute table. I wish I have a picture of the little gopher creatures that keep invading our neighborhood! I do have a picture of DH standing in front of a sign at the Prairie Dog Town sign in Lubbock last week. He was less than thrilled that I wanted him to see this. I grew up there and we were in town for a funeral. It was his first trip to the flat land and it was cold that morning. Not a single prairie dog stuck his or her head out! When I was little we used to visit and there were hundreds of them. I guess it was too cold. There were lots of mounds though. DH said they were too closely related to the yard gophers that he keeps running off to the neighbors.