Petzold's on the right track; there is a legislative framework here. You are under no obligation to provide room and board for your neighbour's vegetation, nor to carry the workload of root or canopy pruning it, raking its debris, etc. Nor should you have to plant a line of defensive shrubs. I did some serious investigation of the legal issues involved last year as we had a neighbour who was refusing to cut down an enormous evergreen that was eating our house and totally using all the gardening space on our property. Fortunately they sold their house to some reasonable people who did the deed almost immediately upon taking possession. The bottom line is that you have a right to peaceful enjoyment of property (I think that is consistent from Canada to the US) and so, of course, do they. But you have a duty not to interfere with each other. So, they should keep their vegetation within bounds, and you cannot go onto their property and kill or change their tree. I should say that simply wanting your house to be visible is probably not a useful route to go, since they could probably park an RV on the spot as opposed to a tree; I don't think you have any recourse in that direction. You cannot seek to influence what they do ON their property. What you are legitimately concerned with is the impact on YOUR property. What you have some say over are issues such as trespass, nuisance, and damage to your property. Don't take this as legal advice, but this would include damage to your foundation or your car if it overhangs a driveway (or maybe in my case I should have considered suing for the cost of the many plants I lost to root competition and suffocation from tree debris!). The issue of nuisance would have addressed the many hours I spent basically servicing the tree; cleaning up its poop, trimming it on my side, cleaning our eaves, and so on, as well as the windy nights spent comforting our children, and losing sleep ourselves, for fear that the tree would fall on us. You should identify the issues explicitly, and pursue them from a legally rational point of view. Check just what your local ordinances require, but I think the right to peaceful enjoyment is an overarching one. In our case, it turned out that we had the right to cut both the roots and the canopy at the property line, and that we could have pursued its removal on the basis of danger. There is a huge body of legal cases on issues involving trees and neighbours. Every court or bylaw enforcement officer will expect you to have tried to work this out with your neighbour yourself before calling for enforcement. So you should inform the owner of exactly what bothers you about the tree, and ask to discuss possible routes of action - if you would like it removed, offer to pay for half the cost of removal or pruning, by all means. We did pay half, and consider it money well spent, since they don't technically have to remove but only manage the thing. If you have problems in the discussion, sometimes it is a good thing to have sent a registered letter. Email, of course, also leaves a paper trail. That may be more than you wanted to know, but it is to say that these issues can cause enormous rancour and stress if not dealt with with a clear head from the outset. KarinL

Hi, Kitkat-- Thanks for the correction/reminder: it's Heirloom Roses, not Heritage. I have yet to see Irish Hope. You're right about Austin's blowing soon and having a droop factor. But I find that if you cut them before they're open--and even if they *are* open, and *immediately* put them in water, they tend to hold up pretty well; of course, not like a hybrid tea, but hey, their flouncy, delicate beauty makes them worth it. As for plant food, at the time I took most of those shots, I was into the rose addiction heavy, and trying every darn mix and brand and method the 'experts' recommended--most some version of expensive organic this or that. In that period, one product I liked a lot is Neptune's Harvest. Since then, I was tragically beset by the nastiest of all rose pests: the Rose Weevil. Looks like a ladybug without spots but with a snout, which it uses to pierce the buds; so, when they bloom, you have swiss cheese blossoms. Or, they suck juice from the stem below the buds so they droop and die. They are horrid critters, and I was forced to turn to liquid systemic Bayer All In One (food, blackspot & insect control). It works fine and makes life easier when you're getting older, lazier, and more slothful (especially with 70 roses to deal with). Long story short, I've learned over the years that roses are tough cookies and don't much care what you feed them. And they keep blooming well even if you forget to be prompt; they just bloom BETTER if you're regular and disciplined. I've seen roses just as beautiful fed with regular Miracle Grow as with any fancy organic approach. I do, however, replenish the soil each winter with good organic compost, epsom salts, alfalfa meal and whatever else I have on hand. Once feeding stqarts, I don't think it matters a whole lot what you give them. My current rose tragedy is an infestation of botrytis blight--a fungal illness which only a very expensive product works on, called Decree; and, thus far, I'm only having limited results with it. I'm about ready to throw in the towel if I can't get rid of it, and get rid of many roses instead. It originated on my most beloved scent rose: Yves Piaget. Smells like roses are supposed to smell. Sorry for going on, but your question got me going over my live with these wonderous blessings. Karen

Ahh, what a sweetheart!! She had better hold to him! Hopefully a room full of flowers will cheer her up too. I didn't realize that you need to seal the end of a poppy after you cut it. How long does it last when you do this? Speaking of sealing cut flowers and with all the peonies starting to bloom, has anyone ever tried cutting a peony bud, just when the colour starts to show, then dip the end in wax and store them in the fridge in a plastic bag for a couple of weeks? When you bring them out, just cut off the end and put in water and they'll open up the next day. I did this last June for my sister's bridal shower. I used 'Smouthi' peony which blooms in May and they made for wonderful table centerpieces.

Yippppeeee...got home from the office a little while ago and am excited to see such nice compliments from ya'll! Yes, those are my tomato plants in the 6th picture. When I plated them at the beginning of March, they were about 12" tall. They've grown leaps and bounds since then and have lots of tomatos ripening as we speak. Oddly enough, I can't stand the taste of them and only grow them to give away to friends and family. Prettypetals, I am embarrassed to say that I cannot remember the name of that rose. I have been trying to remember it for about 2 weeks and have been looking on the 'net to try and jog my memory. I think it is either Honey something or Gold something. Out of all of my roses, that is the only one that I can't remember. I love the Mexican Bush Sage and so do the butterflies and lizards and the black racer that likes to hide out and scare the s@%t out of me. We had a hard freeze here a few months ago with temps in the low '20's. I thought I lost the bush but as you can see, it does not seem to have been phased. Purple is probably my favorite garden color.