Sounds like you had lots and lots of the Asian ladybug that was around in mass numbers a few years ago in New England, several years ago as my 28 year old daughter was still in school then. If I remember the story correctly, they where imported to this country to help out with insect control and it was believed that they didn't survive. It was found that they had and in mass numbers and they, more than the ladybugs that were here all along, have an attraction to light colored exterior homes, especially white, as well as white walls and in the fall they would cover both inside and outside of light colored homes in mass droves, looking for entryways into the home for the winter. My home is white exterior and the walls of my daughters room where white at the time and her bedroom was on a west facing side of the house. All disaster for her and her room. Her room was infested with the beetles and I was vacuuming them up in her room, the walls, the floors the furniture, even in her bed for about 3 weeks and then they where gone. Gone, that is, until the spring. Then these wonderful asian ladybugs reappeared all over the inside of her room as if I had never vacuumed them up. they where coming out of any and all crevices that they had gone into for the winter and we had to keep her bedroom windows open and the screens up all day, every day for about a week. Since that year, and it seems to me that she was in middle school then, we have not had a problem like that repeat itself. We just would get the occasional ladybug in the house. That is as long as I didn't need them to eat the aphids. The years that I did, well none where to be seen. A was talking with a friend of ours that is a farmer and he reminded me of one method to try and keep some ladybugs around over the winter for next year. Get some corn stalks, if you don't grow corn, or use your own if you do. Let them dry out, and then place them on top of your garden beds in the fall. You only need a couple of stalks per bed and you can cut them down to fit the bed if need be. Leave them there all winter and spring until you are ready to clean up the beds. Apparently ladybugs love to stay under and around the corn stalks for the winter and come spring, are very content that you provided them a place to winter over and will stay in your beds. That's my plan for the fall. Corn stalks in the beds for the winter. If lucky ladybugs in the spring and I won't have to buy them. Fran

Completely normal for Clematis to explode in year three. Also normal for young plants not to bloom. There is an invasive Clematis in our area, Clematis vitabla. It has small white flowers that I would not consider gorgeous... I can't tell from the foliage which Clematis that is.

I have a 2 1/2 year-old son and we also struggle with working in the yard at times. IT is better this year here are some things I have done... Let them water your containers or play with water. Drexler now tells me the flowers are crying because they are thirsty. I then give him the hose and let him have at it...last night he was right. One of my pansies was thirsty! Get excited about things. Right now EVERY DAY when I get home from work my son asks to go pick the strawberries. We go out and usually a new one is ripe (can't wait a few more weeks). He is still working on not picking the green ones, but he'll learn. Teach them what is yummy. Last year we planted carrots in a container and he would go out and pick a carrot out, wipe it off and eat it. Clean soil, no chemicals and hey he was eating carrots. Teach them to love flowers. How does it smell? How does it taste. Have them help you pick out what ones to pick. Drexler and I will do this together, go into the house and put them in vases and then talk about how pretty they are. I have a small vase by my bed that he empties out every day and replaces the water in...and then the flowers. A bit of a pain, but he is learning to appreciate my yard. Don't freak when they step on a plant, but do teach them to be nice to your plants. I have a large yard and Drex has hurt some of my plants, but we talk about how to treat them. Teach them to watch for bugs and to be interested in them. Ants can keep a kid busy for at least fifteen minutes. Tell yourself you will most likely not get a lot accomplished with your helpers so when you do accomplish something it feels good. Make them an area that is all theirs.

You can cut into the wood as long as there is still foliage growth that emerges from that area. It is cutting back below any green or foliar growth that can be a problem. IME, overly rich soils can easily cause this problem. So often planting areas that have been amended to accommodate the needs of other, fussier plants are just too rich for the likes of lavender, which really prefers a "tough love" sort of situation :-)