I've had a fabulous turnout of migrating warblers, etc this fall! Or maybe because I'm too pooped to do anything but sit at the window and stare, I'm seeing more this year. I still have hummers, even a few males although it's mostly females and younguns. Around here they say to leave your feeders up until end of November, that it won't keep the ruby-throats from migrating and there are more and more sightings of west coast hummers who end up on the east coast in late fall and early winter. There was an Anna and a rufous hummer in Ohio in the last two years. One showed up in December and stayed until the middle of January. Nobody is quite sure why there is an increase of these hummers but there are more and more reports each year. It would be fun to see a hummer in December but I'm afraid I would worry myself sick! Most of my summer birds are still here. The wood thrush no longer sings (sniff, sniff) but I still hear his little "Pip, pip, pip". I've seen both the summer and scarlet tanagers in the last week - both had molted into their winter colors -why can't they show themselves in their pretty summer attire? I've added two new yard birds this fall - a warbling vireo and a yellow-bellied flycatcher which is one of my rarest yard birds. I've had a nice variety of warblers so far - american redstarts, bay breasted, black-throated green, black-and-white, blackburnian, black poll, blue-winged, canada, cape may, chestnut-sided, magnolia, ovenbird, prairie and tennesee and vireos - red-eyed, warbling, white-eyed, and yellow-throated and a swainsons thrush. I also had a juvenile rose-breasted grosbeak, not sure if it's a migrant or from the pair that I saw this summer. I do love see the fall migrants but I am really going to miss summer ... and the mosquitos and the heat and the drought ....

It's lovely! Looks like a species rose of some type to me. You should post this over on the Antiques forum. Some one there may know what it is.

Hello WendyB, I am in a similar situation this year. We have a 2 year old Sweet Autumn Clematis that had amazing blossoms for the first time last year (picture below) In late November last year, when all the leaves and blossoms were killed by the first frost, I had pruned it leaving about 3 feet length. The winter this year was unusually warm specially in December and the plant set out new buds and vines which were killed by a later snow storm. Now, there are no buds, no swelling, no vines, nothing. Please tell me I did not kill this beautiful thing. Did your neighbor's clematis come back to life last year?

If you are pulling up roots then you are deminishing that plant. Every Spring I cut five or six stems from the back side of my plant where it would not be visible when they are about 5 in tall. Then scratch a spot in the garden or a flower pot and place them there and water. They root very easily. I must have done that over 30 times and given away a healthy plant every year.