If this cable assembly has a plastic sleeve over it the cycle cable lubricator will work. But if you want to do it on the cheap there is another way. Unhook one end of the cable, the highest one is best. Take a ZipLock sandwich bag a cut a small bit out of one corner. Now slip the end of the cable in through this hole a short ways and wrap a rubberband around the bag to seal it to the cable. Now put a cup of oil of your choice in the bag and seal it. Support the cable up high and let it set over night. Might want to put something under the other end of the cable to catch the dirty oil that will come out.

While not impossible, it is often rather difficult to prune a rose to death with one bad pruning. Most likely, your plants will survive and with TIME, never show any affects of your pruning efforts. As for replacing them, that is totally up to you. TIME is the operative word. If they are front and center to the design you have and their appearance offends you, replace them. I know how difficult it is for some people to overlook such things, and as it IS your gardena and your money, spend it if it makes you happier. If you can overlook these roses long enough, the greatest chances are they will recover and be fine. "Long enough" is up to you. If you do replace them, move the originals somewhere else in the garden and enjoy. Kim

Is this always true for Tuberous Begonias? Tuberous begonias will peter out as winter comes, but I cna't say the blooms get smaller. Cut the stems back to allow the tuber to rest. I hope you have not been watering this. It should be stored in a cool (you have the right temp) dark and dry place. I put mine in the basement (Zone 5) and pack in sawdust. . My first year tuberous begonias, that I have grown from seed, I leave in their containers and allow to go dormant in Nov./Dec.. Older tubers are remove from the pot and cleaned and stored in the sawdust. I use blueberry containers. I remove all stems as they wither before putting them in the containers. In March, I will move the one year old plants to a warm room with no direct light, and water them. If they show signs of life in a couple of weeks, I have succeeded. I will them remove most of the soil and repot. The clean tubers get the same treatment. I lay them out in a bed of sphagnum peat moss (the stringy stuff) without covering them and with the hollow, flowering side up. When they show signs of rooting (white, fleshy roots on shoulders and bottom), I will pot them up. From there, they need strong light to keep them from getting leggy. I use flourescent lights for 16 hours a day. The reason you should leave young plants in the dirt is that the tubers tend to be so small that they survive better if they are not disturbed in the same fashion as mature tubers.

I took some cuttings of my pineapple sage but also plan on mounding up some leaves around the base of the plant in hopes that it comes back next year. If both fail I will buy another one next spring. I don't intend to do anything heroic to overwinter it since the plants are cheap. I've always tortured my peonies in pots, purposely exposing them to extreme cold in order to get them to bloom so I could see the colors before I included them into a flower bed. If you buy them in the spring they tend to have not experienced enough cold to set buds. If you plant them now, don't plant them too deep, they need the cold to bloom.