well, I guess I can leave it in good morning sun until our southern maryland frost comes (october 1st?) then chop it off below the girdle. I only didnt girdle it because I vaguely remember hearing it is a member of the aralia family and as a result sheffleras dont have a true stem (maybee more like a dracenea or palm tree) and that girdling wouldnt work with these kind of species. But im not real sure. Do you think I should cut back some leaves, give it more light, girdle it, then give it till before first frost and chop it down at that point no matter what it has on it? or do you think it could continue rooting in the moss If I move it indoors. (remove leaves is a good idea to decrease evaporation?, or try a clear bag instead?) thanks

I had my first pond when I was about 5 years old. We lived on a farm and there was an old farm pond about 2oo yards in back of our barn. I found I could "play" behind the barn out of sight from the house and then sneak back to the pond. I went back there as often as I could. I only got caught once, got yelled at and told not to go there. So I got better at sneaking. I totally could have died back there...but the risk was well worth it imo. It taught me so much and got me interested in learning. People today are starting to consider the possibility that we're over protecting our kids. Park where kids can use tools, build fires, do what kids do. But to the question... Here is my Kinder Pond. I built this for the neighborhood kids because they were always want to see my ponds in my backyard and to play in them. I've seen kids drink water out of it. Yeah, sure could make them sick. So could the cat poo they picked up and ate. So could licking their shoes. So could... To make this durable and reasonably safe I did the following. Made it shallow. Just 3" for most and 10" in the center. That also made it a great bird bath which was unexpected and really great for bird watching. Kids like watching birds too. Added a wide stream. Kids love to build dams so I didn't want a stream that was right to the edge of it's banks. If they were going to dam it and overflow the banks I wanted to make sure they had to work at it. I added a small waterfall. The sound of water is attractive to kids and other wildlife. It has to be strong enough to stand on. I used EPDM liner and concrete over that. Bare line and kids I don't think would be good. They would pull it up to see what its was or what was under it. So no visible liner. I mortared all rocks in place. Being shallow means not a lot of water which is a problem. I sure didn't want the pump visible in the pond. You think raccoons are inquisitive, kids have them beat. So I buried a 55 gal plastic drum about 5' away from the pond/stream. A pipe went from the 10" deepest spot in the pond to the drum using a bulkhead fitting on the drum (Uniseals are great). Pump went into the drum set on some bricks so it wasn't right on the bottom. Power cord went thru conduit to GFI outlet with a locked steel cover. A hose from the pump went underground to the stream top. No visible pipes. I built a very heavy cover for the drum and screwed thru that into the side of the drum. The drum is the dangerous part so that had to be secure. I made the top out of plastic decking so it weighed about 40 lbs which by itself is difficult for kids to lift. The drum was set low so the top as a bit below grade making removal more difficult. I also added an auto fill to the drum. A float valve that got its water from a sprinkler valve on a timer set for 2 minutes per day. If the float valve failed, and they do, the most water that would be wasted was 2 minutes worth per day. In the pond the 10" low point was formed into a rectangle. I made a skimmer basket type deal with PVC pipe and shade cloth that fit into the formed concrete rectangle. That stopped leaves, sticks, rocks from getting into the pipe going to the drum. It ran 24/7, never was green and it never had a string algae problem. Maybe I was just lucky, maybe that most of the water spent so much time in the totally dark drum helped. I didn't ever see mosquito larvae in this pond. Don't know why. Another option which I've seen kid enjoy are bogs. Pond or stream that maybe at lease 12" deep and filled with pea gravel. Water level can vary from just below the surface to as deep as you like above the gravel. Like a wet sand box. Kids can build streams, dig, do whatever they want. You can run a hose, or several hose on the surface so the kids can move them, build water falls, or whatever. I'd keep the hoses near the center and short enough so they could be move to outside the bog.

Photos must be stored online at a hosting site. I like Photobucket since they store up to 5 gigs for free. It is difficult to post the command line for posting here since the computer recognizes it as a picture but, it is: greater than symbol "" The only spaces are between img and src=. I can move up to 500 pound boulders into place without equipment however, if we have access we can do a much faster job with a bobcat and small excavator. Any damage done by equipment is easily repaired by hand after stone placement is completed. The first photo shows an English style wall without mortar. The stones are simply stacked properly with a solid base and gravity does the rest. I also live in Marietta so it's no big deal to come over to take a look. I do not charge for estimates however, if you require a design (and I have landscape software for this) I do charge for the time to design and implement plant choices. Usually around $250-$500 depending on scale of the project. I use a program that allows me to take an actual photo of the area and install stones, plants and hardscape items as needed. I can also produce overhead designs as well. If you would like to discuss this further please click on my name and follow the link to my email. Gardenweb does not like solicitations on the message boards. Here is a link that might be useful: How to do everything on gardenweb

Rosesstink, I just returned from Lake Placid and found it very sedate. We were at the Wild Center in Tupper Lake, (which is a 30 minute drive), and only saw six other cars in the parking lot while we were there. Not too zoo-like. Their major sporting event, IronMan, isn’t until the end of the month and aside from horse show events off and on, for the majority, most crowd drawing activities are scheduled for late July and August. The OP was talking about 4th of July week. I was up there last year for 4th of July week and did not find it crowded then, either. There is plenty to do, and see, in the immediate area, as well as within a 30-45 minute drive. We offer all the water, mountain, hiking and nature features that Old Forge does, (minus the Enchanted Forest Water Safari), yet have more of it and more extensive private and public accommodations.www.lakeplacid.com/events And we, too are only 45 minutes away from the wonderful Adirondack Museum - a joy to visit!