No one likes my new Papaya, boo hoo..j/k. I know, it looks like a stick, lol. Kyle, thanks. I hope it's not a Xanado. 3 or 4 summers ago, I got into succulents...ended up giving a friend 20-something Philos. One was a 15-yr-old Xanado. After giving them away, I felt bad. I really missed a couple variegated Split-leafs. A seller on Ebay have a gold Xanado for sale..it was nice, but I passed it up..Golden foliage. Kyle, you probably over-watered your Crown of Thorns. They're so pretty, especially Thai types..'large flowers.' I only wish they were hardy enough to live outside year round. Susan, thanks..What color is the Neon Xanado? Sounds pretty. Maybe I can find one on Google. Pug, thanks. Your Steph is so nice and full. Have you ever tried untangling? Good luck. lol. I 'attempted' untangling its never-ending vine..lol..I ended cutting a good amount off. BTW, I bought a variegated Steph from Accents a while back.l.it's in a 4" pot, but already putting out growth. I was debating whether or not to pot both Stephs together. What do you think??? Wish warmer days come. Plants want to go out for summer. I probably won't take as many plants that normally go out, but a good amount will. 2 wks ago, it was in the 90's. Then last wkend, temps dropped, big time. Some nights were in the 40's..a couple nights 38F. 38 is too cold for some plants. 40's iffy, 50 is better. Let's hope for spring, Toni

Amy, your hostas are so very lovely in their settings with companion plants. Great pics! Old Glory is indeed glorious! Jo

Looks beautiful Kelly! We moved into our newly built home in late December. The backyard is a wooded area, filled with trees that we're not supposed to cut according to the county. But like you, I cut down anything that didn't have a 6" diameter. The brush at the base of the trees was probably about 4' high at that time. I hired someone with a bush hog to come in and clear all the brush in February. By Spring, you could easily see the brush popping up out of the ground. Since then I've sprayed it with Brush Killer by Roundup and that seemed to do the trick. I've been spending the past 2 months just raking up all the dead brush with a metal rake and disposing of it. I've planted a few shade loving plants under the canopy of the trees, but I don't want to rush into it. I think what I'm going to do next is purchase bales of long pine needle mulch and lay that down throughout the area. I have a ton of boulders mixed in there, so I'm going to try to organize those and define some pathways. Then I think it'll be easier for me to see where the remaining planting beds should be located.

The tide pool was at Lincoln City at Spanish Head. My daughter in law the Marine Bilogist sent me this (TMI!) after I asked her about it: The star fish are common purple stars (Pisaster ochraceus). They can be other colors like orange depending on where they live. Ones exposed to a lot of waves and surf action are generally orange, where ones in protected calm waters are generally purple. Sea stars can be stacked together. They slowly move to engulf their food (prey like clams, mussels, and oysters) so you may have just caught them traveling to more food. They are not stationary creatures. They are really gross when they eat too. Sea stars slowly pull shells open and then throw their own stomachs into the shellfish. They eat and digest shellfish right inside of the shells and it can take a couple of days to occurs.