Larry, I think some plants just want to grow in any condition. Al always wants green onions, so I usually plant him a bag or two of sets, that he can just pull whenever he wants and leave my bulbing onions to grow. When I was cleaning up the garden there were a few still left and I just tossed them in a flower pot that was sitting there. Because I am lazy, I just left it there. One day this winter I noticed that there were still green onion leaves coming out of that pot. There might have been a tiny bit of dirt in there but mostly just a few autumn leaves that blew into the pot. After I saw that, I couldn't bare to throw them out, so I just left it there. Those onion have made it through the entire winter in a plastic flower pot with almost no soil. I'm waiting now to see if it shoots up a flower stalk. LOL That might be good seed to have. Through January and February, we made a lot of trips to Oklahoma City, and sometimes left home on an hour's notice. One night I used a head of Napa Cabbage for dinner, but had all I needed and just cut about two inches above the root zone and used the rest. For some reason, Al always wants to eat the core of regular cabbage raw, but I would throw it in the compost bin. I cleaned my kitchen and when I started to toss that part of the NAPA cabbage, I decided just to leave it and see if he would ask me why it was there, or if he would eat it. The next morning, we got a call, and rushed to OKC and didn't come home for 2 days. When we came home, the cabbage core had started to grow and had this ring of green leaves near the center of the cabbage. I thought it looked funny so I grabbed a disposable bowl with some water and stuck the cabbage in it, and watched it grow to be several inches tall. Then it sent up a seed stalk and is starting to flower on my windowsill. Now that is determination. I will throw it in the chicken pen in a day or two, but it was just kind of funny to watch it grow.

I relocated 4 squirrels this year. While they're not completely gone, the damage is a lot more contained. I lost 90% of my fruit on one plant, about 50% on three more, and about 15% on the last one in the space of two weeks. After relocating the final squirrel a week ago, I "only" lost one fruit. I tried all the other methods, including food on the other side of the house. They just eat the food and move on to the tomatoes. I really don't want to kill them (though my mom does. It's funny, she's more militant about my plants than I am), but this way they at least have a chance to live. I released most of them on a highway service plaza on my way to work (~40 miles away by road, ~30 miles as the crow flies). The service plaza is in the median and has some trees, and the highway is surrounded by mixed pinelands. Will they become roadkill? Maybe, but maybe they'll survive and not get to anyone else's tomatoes.

Yes, I did not want to bring up ... roses! We had a discussion about this a few months' ago. Aegis is quite the rose grower and helped me i.d. what I had. I finally told myself, "Roses are red, violets are blue." I have red roses in my outdoor garden. I had crimson orchids (I gave to a friend who grows orchids.) BTW, I saw a double or triple blue rose shaped AV on Ebay for $100. (The computer monitor might make it look more blue ... hard to know.) But $100 is hardly pocket change. As you say, I am also exploring other aspects of AVs, notably, light blue that are stable. Or a few edge variegated. After much commotion with experimentation, goaded by an expert grower in my club, I now want peace in the plant room. For example, I am tired of purple and white that turn solid white in winter. Or pure whites that decide to be blue.... Or green splotches that are supposed to be edges. And don't even mention "yellow." As for variegation, I was ridiculously happy with anything Apache for a very long time. The mosaic variation and semi double blooms in a rainbow of hues thrived in dappled window light. But then we moved, they did not like the new location, even though it is on the same street. The house is angled 90 degrees differently, making light requirements for blue AVs a more successful choice. They seem to do well in nearly any light. Simplicity. Joanne

The small brick half-circles are basically flower pots in the yard. Suitable for annuals and the occasional perennial and that's about it. Whatever suits your fancy. If you want to do landscaping instead, you need to make a 6' depth bed across the entire front. We don't know what the bed would do at the ends because we can't see them.