I moved my pond a year ago, but kept the liner where the old pond was. This I filled with a mixture of peat moss and soil. So.....now I have a small bog. The water iris that had always been grown in water, are now grown in "the bog". They are twice the size, and are spreading wonderfully. Other water plants are doing well in the bog as well. The point is: you can set up another little pond ( bog) and put some of your cherished plants there, and watch them grow. Since my "bog" is inground, they overwinter well there as well.

I spent the last couple of days reworking a section of my front yard. I had been growing the rosemary in a raised bed on the south side of the house (along with lavender). It did very well but started to get very crowded. So, I transplanted the rosemary plants (about two feet in diameter) to along the side the walkway leading up to the house. I plan on keeping it as a formal hedge (like boxwood).--Only I hope I didn't plant to close to the walkway now. I don't mind if it overlaps some and I guess I can just keep pruning back. Rosemary outside is easy (where hardy)--I never had luck with them in the house though!

I'm in the beginning stages of growing my rosemary topiary. I began with a 4-pack of plants from the local grocery store's annual selection, planted 3 of them in large containers along with other annual flowers, and planted the straightest stemmed one in a 4 inch pot. I stripped off all the lower leaves and tiny branches and am presently waiting for it to grow to the point where I can start shaping it. I'm really glad I stumbled onto this post as it has given me a lot of good advice on how to care for the plant. It is presently outside and receives morning sun, then a bit of shade as the sun passes its highest point. I'm hopeful that I can successfully bring it indoors without too much of a shock. I was hoping to keep it going over winter in an east window. I suppose time will tell. I'd hate to kill it...

Oh okay I'll water them less instead. Before I water them I feel the soil maybe an inch deep to make sure it's dry. I couldn't find a good way to check online so I've just been doing that. I haven't seen white on it but the one behind it has it, I'm treating that one. I have noticed a lot of yellow spots on the leaves some are brown now. Oh okay, I was reading that they can be indoors if you want a little kitchen garden so I thought they would be okay and easier to manage that way. The store I bought them from kept them indoors so I thought they would be use to it. The container its in now doesn't have any holes I wanted to make some in it soon but in the meantime I think I'll move it by itself in one of those regular black plastic containers that has a few big ones in the bottom. Before when it started to wilt it was in one of those, though it was smaller and I kept it outside. I forgot for how long it was until I moved it inside. My first Rosemary would get covered in dirt and spiders and this area has a lot roaches and stink bugs during the summer that I was concerned about. I didn't know if they would cause problems for it since it's an herb. I'm in central California. We are currently in an in between of our winter and summer where the weather is almost unpredictable but shifts from very cold to very hot. But maybe a month ago it was cold. We just had on and off rain along with strong wind and pretty cold nights. But I kept all of my Rosemary's inside at that time.