Hey Dave...thanks for looking! We just finally made the "leap" to DSL internet a couple months ago, and it was hard, but we found a way to do it for $25 a month, so not too bad I guess (we don't have/want cable or cell phones, so we had to work around all those "bundle" offer things to just get digital internet). It's still not the fastest connection (we're on the slowest DSL there is), but it's faster than the dial-up was. Thanks for the alyssum offer - I'll have to check with hubby first (I've found it's a bit more complicated gardening with someone else, since our tastes are a little different in plantings). But I'll keep that in mind. Thanks for the directions...I can find it from there, just couldn't remember the exact street. Anywhere but Billings, I'm completely lost with compass points, but here with the Rims, I can generally get around pretty easily following them. The Rims are always North, Deb! :-) I'll bring you both something super-special for a division of the fernleaf's...my goodness...I "can't" wait but I will, for something so special! Thank you, thank you, thank you...what a generous offer! I'll get a special spot ready for it this summer, somewhere it will get "shown off" like it deserves...last time I checked, they were $84 each! Very steep, but I'll admit, I did consider it... Yep, that picture of Double Delight is the one I was looking at, and my Peace rose is the one that was damaged the worst this year. I probably noticed it more because my roses are currently out front, where they get about half a day of shade, so the foliage doesn't come in real thick. So I notice all the very neatly cut edges when I'm walking by to the front door. This year they'll be in the back with better sun, so hopefully the foliage will be thicker, and we'll get more blooms. I'll have to check out your handiwork on S. 27th it sounds like. Making a mess, are you? ;-) I don't normally shop Walmart (merely because I hate trying to shop with all those people in one place...I'm kind of "needy" as far as personal space goes), but on the rare occasions I do, it's very late at night, so if she's ever there between 11pm and 1am, I'll definately look for her! I adore Rio Samba - had one at the other house, and I've been kicking myself ever since for leaving that one in particular behind. Between the intoxicating spicy scent, and the "rainbow" of colors, it's probably my favorite as well. Deb, if you get one in at Walmart, let me know, and I'll make a special trip to buy it from you... :-) I can't remember if you two grow veggies or not, but I'll have extra from the greenhouse this spring if you're interested, so just let me know. I went a bit crazy starting stuff in March, and don't have nearly enough room to plant it all at our place...

Alison, Opportunity meets heavily germinated flats. The last twenty or so flats I had were all "killers", there was little brown earth showing. I had green carpets of seedlings. So, it had to be a massive redo in order to accomodate what I had. The moscheutos seedlings were all self-sown, I had sowed several a few years back and they reseed abundantly. I had several, several yearling hibiscus that were waiting for a bed to happen for them. This was the opportunity I had to get them into a row. So that's how it started--with a row of the moschuetos. I looked behind me to see all those flats and then I grabbed the red hibiscus and put them in down the whole line, and they are planted in doubles--I had enough to put two seedlings into each back line planting hole. Then I started to fill in with seedlings from the moss-like flats. I was tearing out huge chunks and made them into smaller hunks (not quite an inch diameter) to fill in around the plants, with hunks going in every four or five inches. All my flats were made from foil lasagna pans, some had two varieties in them but the last were all singles. Across the lawn from the hibiscus border is a bed I made with a fig tree in the middle and surrounded by eight volunteer PL toms along the bed edges. The underplantings are a central ring of malope (I think) to surround the fig, and the rest is hunk-o-parsley. I did a flat with curly parsley and it was as thick as moss. I like flat-leaf parsley better but all of this may change my mind because I have never had so much before. We will be eating a LOT of parsley here, lol. Maybe with tomatoes too should they all crop well this year. T

I'm not down, I just don't want to face all the work. I think I just need a day or two of nothingness. It seems like all I've been doing the past week is taking the dishes out of the dishwasher and putting them right back on the table for more guests. Sunday a week ago it was DD and SIL, Tuesday, neighbors, Friday, DS and GF, Saturday, DD, SIL, DS and GF and Sunday, DS and GF. Decorating is so much more fun than undecorating. I think I will start tomorrow and do a little at a time. The house always looks so bare when you first take it down. Some good ideas here, though. I think I will go looking for a new something to not perk me up but perk up the house.

A weak and stressed plant is an open door invitation for many pathogens but some only require the right conditions to infect your plant. You may notice a row of landscape conifers with one brown or yellowing plant sticking out like a sore thumb and is likely the result of a phytophthora root rot of one phyto species, but all the other conifers are health and unaffected even when all are susceptible. That one brown Taxus conifer may be sitting in compacted soil with bad drainage and dead meat for the Phyto. At least a few of the 100's of Phyto species will be in any given soil so always assume there may be one that can attack your plants, and if you have that special Phyto spore they're having a hay day swimming through your water logged soil to get to your plant roots. (They swim and are attracted to chemicals from the roots of plants.) If you want to confirm or eliminate Phytophthora you can buy a rapid test kit for about $12 to test infected plant tissue and takes about 10 minutes. But a single kit can't be found and sellers require a 5 kit minimum. Maybe they have them at your work? You can also bait the soil to see if phyto is present. Search phytophthora baiting on youtube to learn how. You only need an organic apple or pear. Neither test will tell you what species it may be. I Kind of suspect you have poor drainage just from the nice flat ground your plants sit in from the pics in your other thread. And your layout suggests you do a lot of walking through the garden to get around, and with every step you compact the soil. Kindly take a bunch of pictures of the entire site (yard) from all corners and post them. I spent thousands on my gardens moving 100's of yards of dirt, grading and digging washes to flow to containment area's to drain my gardens. (big gardens for veggies) I break up subsoil compaction down to 14 inches, till down 6 inches and raise the beds 6 inches with hilling discs to insure good drainage because of the type of soil I have. I never walk on any ground within 1 1/2 feet of my transplants to avoid compaction, you should do the same. I think you said it's always moist, but how moist. If you can't push a stick 4 to 6 inches in the ground by hand it's compacted. Dig a hole 12 inches by about 8 inches wide and fill with water, then 12 hours later fill again and time how long it takes to drain. If it drops less than 2" an hour your have a drainage problem. less than 1" a very serious drainage issue. You may need to haul in dirt and build berms to plant on (and may look better). But first do the tests to see. No guessing. Concerning verticillium wilt you need to determine your plants susceptibility to the pathogen. Look for a common links, or a broken link if a resistant plant is also infected. Are any of the neighbor's plants on the other side of the fence showing problem? Does the neighbor's property drain into yours? Pictures, show me the pictures of the entire site.