I started a nice long post last night but had DS home and wanting to chat , and phone call from BILs in Portland and by the time all that was over with it was time to go to sleep or pay the price today with the dreaded office grogginess So many things I want to comment on , so I will do my best, and will no doubt miss a few here and there. First I must say weve had some really enjoyable photos posted the last couple of days. Even poor Kenzie in time-out reminded me of the fleeting nature of having very small children..I felt a little wistful-for about 10 seconds ,lol ! She is a cute little thing though ! Thank you so much Michelle for posting the wonderful shots of your 06 garden. How proud you must be of itits just beautiful ! I cant imagine what I would do with that much space..A wonderful assortment of plants, thoughtfully placed, lovely vignettes , etc etc. Cynthia..yippee to vacation! Ill be in that mode in just a couple of weeks. I have already maxed out my dental insurance for the year. I fear that surgery (for the second time) is in my future again. Think Im looking at perhaps 1 implant. Hope you will post a picture of your spiral aloe sometime- I love aloes and agaves. I bought a boatload of new succulents this spring. Cindy, I need to post a pic of an area in my back garden that is so similar to your Chloe pic you posted. My lawn (whats left of it) is also a path, with various pets lounging about on it-usually that cats (I refer to it as "the savannah" ) and 10 minute mowing is it for me too. I hope to visit Heirloom Roses while in Portland-went last year but it was pouring the whole time-always a risk in the PNW, so I hope for dry weather this year. Last fall I visited Cistus on Sauvie Island-that was fun . Saucy, sorry for the troubles with the younger set. I had my share of those believe me. I look back on those times and it is hard to imagine that my 2 young adult kids are even the same people they were back then. Sometimes being caught doing stupid things can begin the turnaround. Deanne, your potential container arrangements are dynamitecant wait to see them in full glory. Some folks out here in Norcal do dig their Dahlias, but I think its a rain thing, trying to avoid rot. Chelone, dont you just love Annabelle? I wish I had room for a couple more. And as for Sweet Woodruff??? Fie on that one I say ! Ive dug up enough of that to fill a couple yard waste bins and then some, and it has figured prominently in my compost piles. Wish Id never planted it. bug ! Good vibes to Charlotte. I hope that the news is something manageable. Suzy, you have been plant shopping up a storm ! How scary for you and your DH-anything involving the aorta is certainly of a serious nature. I hope your Docs are able to find treatments that will ease him. Well, Im out of steam for now---a big wave to everyone, This is where DS spent a few days last week. Those of you who have been there will probably recognize it. Kathy in Napa

I've so enjoyed reading through this tread. My thanks to all who contributed and who take time to plant for the wildlife. Sherry, couldn't help but relate to your story regarding your blackberry canes. I, too, have been fighting the spread of Blackberry canes. I don't know if they were planted by the prior owner or by the neighbor behind me but even with me cutting each cane over and over during the growing season, they had spread so badly they were even beginning to show up all over my small grassy area in the backyard, not to mention the garden beds. Strong canes with terrible thorns that catch at fabric and skin, no matter how carefully the canes are handled. Last year I could see I was losing the battle so I purchased brush killer and carefully sprayed in the spring with the first spring flush of growth, everywhere I could spray without hitting other plants (I used a tall hollow cone to try and contain the spray to each cane). I managed to set back the growth somewhat but couldn't eliminate everything and managed to also kill spots in my lawn. Didn't want to attempt that process again but with this spring's blackberry cane again sprouting all over, I decided to try something new. I cut each growing cane I could reach down to about 6 inches above ground, soaked a cotton ball in full strength brush killer, placed the cotton ball on top of the fresh cut, covered it with a plastic sandwich baggie and used a rubber band to hold all in place. I am proud to say the cane's are dying, even the ones growing up into my neighbors flower beds, where I couldn't place cotton balls. I'm hopeful that with a season of doing this, I can get rid of the underground roots that spread so far and wide. Blackberries are wonderful but for a small city lot, some can be terribly invasive and destructive. Of course, I would not place these covered, soaked cotton balls in an area where pets or small animals might roam. I don't know if wild animals would sense the danger but I doubt if domesticated pets would know to leave them alone. I've wondered if an inverted flower pot placed over each cut cane, with a heavy rock on top, would be enough of a deterrent to keep animals from investigating? My hope is this season will see the end of the blackberry canes on my property! :-) Mary

Drumroll, please... You have to remember I have been emailing people about plants for over 15 years now. There are a lot of people in my address book. I emailed Robert Redmon and he says UAH still has _3_, and the largest is 20 ft. tall and is coning! I just noticed something interesting about the MOBOT trees. Notice the only ones still alive were directly from Japanese scions or seed. This could confirm my suspicion that part of the problem is most seed stocks in the US have inbreeding depression because they came via a few trees in western Europe. BTW - I last emailed him in the late 1990s, but also via gardenweb. I think he used to participate here. The funny thing is I can't even remember what my user ID was back then. I started reusing gardenweb with this account when I lived near Rt. 28 in Fairfax Co. (That was my 2nd garden after my parents sold their house) He bravely tried a few experimental things there that people said wouldn't grow well in Alabama. Well, this proves sometimes those people are wrong. Although I don't know that anyone told him Larix wouldn't grow. BTW - no, I hadn't clicked on the link! It just said Trees. But by the time I posted what I posted in response to Betsy, I had already emailed Mr. Redmon. This post was edited by davidrt28 on Thu, Apr 24, 14 at 17:19

Ive been there! As I a child growing up in west mass, we would go there, and old sturbirdge village alot. Thank you for sharing, its a very neat place. Silverkelt