Thanks all, for the suggestions. Sue- you made my yard look so beautiful with the photoshop! I love your idea of the swing and structure (with roses, of course) but I think my husband might kill me if I put in another little patio (we have three, and I am busy building the fourth already). Gobluedjm, you know that I adore weeping bottlebrush. That is at the top of my list for a small tree, but the pepper is weeping right there, so I'm not sure it would work. Maybe it would look even prettier- I may do that. I also love aloes. But I don't see an aloe in that spot, not with little white daisies, larkspur, and irises crowding all around. Well, I can see it, because I do have some aloes in that situation, but mine are small. I saw a photo on the OGR forum? of a climbing rose grown up a post and through a wagon-wheel or something similar, and it cascaded back down in the most wonderful way. I guess that's what I had in the back of my mind. Or- dare I say it- how about Iceberg roses? Finally, does anyone have any experience with small upright junipery things? I'm thinking of three small juniper spires at different heights on one edge. Renee

I don't know if you've only gardened in more northern areas, where cutworms do indeed cut off plants only at the ground level, or if you've gardened in the south before. Here in the southern part of the country, we do have climbing cutworms that cut off plants well above ground. It also could be something else. If the cut-off portion of the plants are disappearing, as in being eaten, it could be squirrels, deer, rabbits, or maybe certain birds. For the animals (except for squirrels), a fence will protect your plants. For birds, bird netting put over them may protect them, but some small birds can get under the netting. For squirrels, a good dog or a gun, or bribing them by putting squirrel food or bird seed well outside the garden might keep them away from your plants. I always keep small, shallow pans of water on the ground outside my garden for the birds and small wildlife and having that water available to them keeps them from attacking my plants because they are desperate for water. I also make 'wildlife puddles' whch are mini ponds for them in other places on the property to draw them away from the garden. During drought, many natural sources of water dry up and that causes wildlife to destroy plants when all they're seeking is water. If the cut-off portion of the plants are being left lying on the ground, it could be some birds. They'll clip off the tops of the plants and drop them on the ground. To the best of my knowledge, we don't know why this happens but we know it does. Often, but not always, the mischievious birds are mockingbirds. They might be after water from the plants' stems. If you think it is cutworms, there are a couple of solutions. The best one is to put cutworm collars around the plants. If the plants are in the ground and adding cutworm collars now would be problematic, then you can stick a twig, a popsicle stick or two toothpicks (on opposing sides of the tomato stem) or something similar into the ground on either side of the plant. The sticks need to be so close to the main stem of the tomato plant that they are touching it and cutworms cannot squeeze between the sticks and the plant stem. If the cutworm cannot wrap itself completely around the stem, it can't cut it all the way through. I like to buy a bag of bamboo shish-kabob skewers, break them in half, and insert one-half of a skewer on either side of a tomato plant at the time I transplant it into the ground. I put about an inch or two of it into the ground and leave the rest above ground to deter climbing cutworms. That's your quickest fix. Another solution is to spray the plants with Bt 'Kurstaki' but since is it a slow kill product, the cutworms may cut off your plants before the Bt stops them from feeding. I put Slug-Go Plus (active ingredients are Iron Phosphate and Spinosad, and it is organic) on my ground to keep pill bugs and sow bugs from eating my young tomato and other vegetable seedings and the spinosad in it has pretty much wiped out all the cutworms in our soil. I do use it every spring though and what it appears to have done is to decrease the number of cutworms slowly over a period of several years. Like most organic products, it is slow-acting and not a quick solution in general, although it works remarkably fast on the pill bugs and sow bugs for which I use it. I have used DE for years and its performance with cutworms has been unimpressive, although it works well to deter some other pests. Dawn

Hi to you, Irish. I am about to totally blow my cover. If this doesn't get me kicked off Garden Web, then I will be surprised. My mother's name is Dee Bennett. She was the hybridizer of some of the greatest minis and Mini Floras in America, including... Jean Kenneally Irresistible Yantai Luis Desamero Ultimate Pleasure Rosy Dawn Kay Denise Herbie Sweet Arlene Rowdy Roy All the 'ups'...Pucker Up, Cheer Up, Cuddle Up and super singles, like My Sunshine, Punkin, Grace Seward That is just the tip of the iceberg. She created about 200 varieties of rose, including some floribundas like Bonnie Jack. The new introduction 'Remembering Dee' is a sport of her rose Madeline Spezzano and was named to honor my Mom. I appreciate your welcome, but I probably won't be hanging around here very much, because I know that some folks will be uncomfortable with me posting on this forum again. Lurking is about all I feel comfortable doing over here. I have another forum where I have been very active and feel more free to speak. That's where I will be most of time.

Hi Cliss! No they don't smell off...They're just turning really pale from the bottom up and are looking really weak. I am going to water them when dry for a while and check if the roots regain their color and strengthen up again. That's great you have a variegated in hydro and doing well! Fingers are crossed Cliss! Mine apparently were doing great with the extra water...They were putting up new pups, all looked great from the top. Oh well... Take care Cliss! Hi Karen! Thank you for letting us know that yours still have good color in hydro! I have mine in small pumice stones instead of leca stones, the pot might be retaining too much water for passive hydro... Maybe the roots are too suffocated with the small pumice and all the water... I am going to change the pumice to a larger size and ease on the watering for a while. After the roots strengthen I might give passive hydro another shot with the larger pumice stones and see if it makes a difference... Thank you Karen! Take care!