Here's some information i found. Hope this helps Chinese Elm - Ulmus parvifolia -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- General Information: Chinese elm is fast growing, deciduous or evergreen depending on its location, forms a graceful upright rounded canopy with shiny, dark green leathery leaves. elm is moderatly salt tolerant. Several dwarf varieties, sports of Ulmus parvifolia, exist which grow slower than the ordinary Chinese elm but it produces a much finer network of twigs and branches. It is these sports which are used for bonsai. Family: Ulmaceae. Lighting: Will grow in full sun or partial shade. Temperature: Zones 5B - 10A. More restricted zones may apply to some of the dwarf varieties. Watering: Needs a lot of water. Fertilizing: To retain and produce small leaves, do not feed high nitrogen fast-acting fertilizers. Feeding three times a year is sufficient to maintain good color and healthy growth without enlarging the size of the leaves. Pruning and wiring: Most shaping can be done by pruning. The bark is thin and may be damaged easily. Propagation: Because these dwarf varieties are sports of another plant, they can only be propagated by cutting or layering. Cuttings may be made from new tip growth taken in early summer. Repotting: They transplant well. Any type of soil with good drainage seems to grow them well. They have heavy root growth so must have root room. Pests and diseases: Boreres and chewing insects seem to be the only pests bothering the plant. Cankers may develop on young trunks where soil is excessively wet. Some species suitable for bonsai: Ulmus parvifolia, var 'Catlin', is a sport of the common Chinese elm. It is partly evergreen in mild climate and evergreen in the south. Its leaves are a 1/4" to 3/4" long and are a shiny dark green, lanceolate and smaller than zelkova. John Catlin, a landscape designer in California, found this sport on an Ulmus parvifolia or Chinese elm in a nursery in about 1953. Jim Barrett named it Catlin Elm to honor the man who found it and to separate it from the Chinese elm. Ulmus parvifolia ,var 'Drake', USDA Hardiness zone 7 to 9. has small, dark green leaves, sweeping, upright branches forming a rounded crown and greater leaf retention being almost evergreen in CA and FL. Ulmus parvifolia, var 'Dynasty', has smooth dark grey bark, smaller leaves and is vase-shaped, with red fall color in the north. Ulmus parvifolia, var 'Frosty', has a small (.75 inch long) white-margined leaf which may revert back to green. Bibliography: USDA Fact Sheet ST - 652

Crape myrtles and aphids go hand in hand in the south. As a matter of fact, there is a crape myrtle aphid! Since you used the words 'older' to describe your crape myrtles, I wonder about their age. The older seedling varieties are very prone to aphid infestation (and black sooty mold) as well as powdery mildew. You can certainly help prevent a major infestation for next year by using insecticidal soap applications now, and a hitting them a couple of times over the winter with horticultural oil. Be sure to soak all of the branches and stems with the soil spray. In my opinion, those are the two pest control products you should probably have, anyway. Crape myrtles are awfully forgiving plants, so I'd suggest that something about your soil system might be challenging them. Does it drain well? Is it severely compacted? What's your pH? Were you able to water during the worst of the drought? (Healthy, well-established crapes can take a drought.) The single most helpful thing you can do for your crapes is to establish a good sized mulch ring around them. Give them as much space as you can (imagine where the root system might be) and apply 2 to 3 inches of organic mulch (chips or pine straw). You might be amazed at the recovery of your trees, just by providing them with a good mulched area.

I'm thinking I'd tap-con on some wire lath, and use a thin float coat of mortar to tile over, AFTER using a roll on waterproofing. Being that it can't tie in under the tile on the face of the wall, it's not going to be the best waterproofing protection, but it'll certainly be better than nothing.

Hey Jennifer, welcome to our crazy world! Just be careful.... it can become a major obsession! I started with a handful of roses back in 1990, and I now have way over 1700! As for roses for a shady area, I would think any of the old tea roses would do great for you, especially since you're in a warm zone. My summer temps often reach triple digits. I have several tea roses growing along the lower, west side of our house in mostly light shade. My ROSETTE DELIZY is a virtual monster, spreading about 4ft wide and sometimes over 6ft high, and blooms off and on throughout the yr. Same with MAMON COCHET, altho that one reaches almost 8ft if I let it. In that bed I also have the teas WILLIAM R SMITH, RUBENS, DUCHESSE DE BRABANT, LADY HILLINGDON, MONSIEUR TILLIER, RAINBOW, climbing teas MADAME DRIOUT, SOUVENIR DE MADAME LEONIE VIENNOT, E VAYRAT HERMANOS, shrub roses MORDEN BLUSH, MARQUISE ORSOLA SPINOLA and floribunda BLUEBERRY HILL. Some of these don't repeat as well maybe as others, but they grow just fine and do bloom at least two flushes. Oh except for E VAYRAT HERMANOS. That one and actually SOUVENIR DE MME LEONIE I am planning to move out of there and plant them at the bird-feeder pergola so they have a place to climb. At the side of the house they don't have much to grab onto, so they sprawl out all over the place, getting in the way. EVH has never bloomed in the 10+yrs I've had it. It just grows like a big monster-octopus. I would just experiment and see how certain roses do in a shady area. They will probably surprise you and do really well. Just to give you an idea how beautiful some of those teas are, here are some pics to tempt you with. (I just love to enable...) Antique Rose Emporium carries some of them. ROSETTE DELIZY RUBENS MAMON COCHET MONSIEUR TILLIER MADAME DRIOUT DUCHESSE DE BRABANT WILLIAM R SMITH LADY HILLINGDON