LOL, the purple heart of winter sowing! Hi all, my first year WSing and no battle scars yet. I used my Swiss Army knife to cut up the milk jugs - haven't tried thicker containers yet though. The awl on the Swiss Army knife works excellent for punching hoes in the bottom. An awl is normally used for punching small holes in leather or wood and is very sharp. It slid through the bottom of milk jugs like butter! Also used the small knife blade to cut the flaps which also cut very easily and safely. Seems simpler than heated knives and soldering tools? This pic shows the Awl that comes with the knife. I slid it in and gave a little twist to open the hole a little. It was very quick and easy, and quite easy to control.

when i moved here.. i brought 1500 potted hosta ... in promix.. heavy peat media ... rototilled to 12 inches .. and slipped the hosta out of the pot .. and stuck the media in the native sand ... over the years.. many cared not a bit.. and thrived.. then i started getting fairy rings [the middle dying in EXACTLY the size of the pot/media] .. and out right loss ... the problem is that the sand was wicking all the moisture out of the peat media .. especially come july and august ... when the sand was really hot ... so.. it is best.. to plant them in native soil ... and not leave that wad of media ... thought the better your soil.. the less it matters ... ===>>>>> by making the cone.. and really firming it up.. you can .. hopefully .. set and retain the plant at the PROPER PLANTING DEPTH .... if some of your hosta.. end up planted too deep ... THEY COME UP LATE ... and many will suffer ...in the long run ... if and when they come up .. and they are late.. then they need to be dug up.. and replanted AT THE APPROPRIATE DEPTH ... the pips.. eyes .. NEED TO BE AT SOIL LEVEL ... not one inch lower ... THERE are 3 parts to a hosta.. the roots.. and the leaves .. and between the two.. is a potato like thingee called the crown ... and the crown .. like an iris.. is at soil level ... another way to tell if they are too deep .. is that if the3y are supposed to be 12 inches tall .. and yours is say.. 8 inches.. and just look squat ... then you poke around.. and see if you can find the crown.. most times.. you will find it a couple inches too deep .... ====>>>> chris grows his in mother earth ... i dont know what his potting media is ... ====>>>> you do not need to remove 100% ... just shake off the majority of the media .... if it is severely root bound.. use the hose ... ===>>> potting media is not soil ... if you want to pot them .. use a PROPER MEDIA ... new post if you cant find old posts on that topic ... if no one above suggested what kind .. ===>>>> did i miss any other questions??? ken

Thanks Dawn for posting your mw being up. I would be almost positive that it is indeed viridis. You are correct that the mw tends to come up faster by the edge of the road more than likely due to the warmth of the pavement, and tendency to hold water. Congrats upon seeing your 1st Monarch!!! Even if it looked pretty fresh, it was still your 1st sighting, and they are always the most special. Probably a Houston migrant looking to leave some eggs. I will post your sightings. I always look forward to your reports. They are appreciated. :) How wonderful to hear that you got some much needed rain. I know that you were really dry, and it will make a big difference. Okiegardener, good to hear from you. Like Randy said, it is probably too late to think about planting some native mw seeds in April. Alot of them them require cold stratification. But, tropical mw does very well in Ok. Occassionally, it will reseed for me in warmer winters, but I have never had it come back from the roots in Okla. I have been able to overwinter some in pots in the garage. The Monarchs do tend to prefer it in laying their eggs. What part of Okla. do you live? You may have some luck finding the A. tuberosa in some nurseries. It is perennial, and comes back every year. The blooms are gorgeous, and really attracts the butterflies, but does not do well in the heat. The A. incarnata (Swamp mw) does well in a lower wetter area with morning sun in central Ok. Sometimes you can find it in nurseries. I would highly second Randy's recommendation in trying to make one of Marilyn's plant shows from Wildthings Nursery. She is a dear friend, very knowledgeable about natives and butterflies, and has quite the green thumb. She carries alot of hard to find butterfly host plants that she grows from seed or propagation. E-mail her, and perhaps you can work something out. Good luck with your butterfly garden! Randy,hope things are going well for you and your daughter. Are you about to get caught up on your ice storm mess? I'm sure that your daughter is continuing to win gymnast awards. Thanks for checking on your mw. :) Hope that the Monarchs stay put. Forecast of high of 49 on Friday, with temps down to 30's on Saturday with possible SNOW???? Oh,no. Keep in touch!

Capoman: I keep thinking about getting more soil and I drive by the store every day. I don't think I will sleep right till I do pot up to the 3 gallon. Going to stop there later! And as far as the 511 mix. I am scouring my local shops to see what I can scrounge up..not going good. Thanks for chiming in. Bill: The summers get brutal here and I also picked up some lava sand to top mulch and then cover with pine chips. Just getting ready for the summer and trying to slow down evaporation. Everything helps and since I am planning on moving sometime around August, containers are my only option. Bruce: I guess I have to get out of the bonsai mindset. I am in the habit of root and top pruning my other plants because they are in containers as well. The bonchi fascinates me. With the 1 gallon and soon the 3 gallon containers, my plan was to use the thick green gardening steaks punctured through the bottom drain holes of the pots in an attempt to steak down the plants and use the bamboo with green gardeners tape to create a mock tomato cage style holding pattern to some what control the growth. I do not mind doing the additional work. My Espaliered trees require a lot of work so it is a nice break to get to play around with the pepper plants! :-)