You said you have apples in your yard? A beetle could have laid eggs in your yard because of the apple tree, knowing that when the grubs pupated into beetles, they'd have a food source right there. Did you say you spread compost over your yard? It could have been that a beetle egg was in the compost, and it hatched after the compost had been spread in your yard. Or if you have a garden that you put compost in, or do lasagna gardening, the grub could have crawled over from that area. I found a big fat one where I had piled up lots of organic matter to decompose over the winter so I could plant some roses in the spring. The fruit beetle isn't the only beetle that produces huge grubs that eat decomposing materials, so it could also be one of the other ones. The thing that really distinguishes these grubs from lawn grubs is the size. Lawn grubs are fairly small compared to the big fat composting type grubs. Deanna

Um, look, guys, that tree is the only shade he's got right now. It appears healthy, nicely branched, and doesn't seem urgent to take it out. And it is interesting looking. No need to get offensive or jerky. The first photo doesn't show the top of the tree, to get an idea about whether it curves to point upward or whether it just leans straight out. If it's the latter, that's probably a reason to remove it now, otherwise it can wait a bit. It is, if I can estimate from the picture, about 5 feet from the foundation? So you will eventually want to remove it, I guess. I would do some landscaping and plant a couple other trees and get them started, so you don't have a completely denuded yard when you do remove the tree.

I also have the spiderwort, 4 different colors, a white, the zwanesburg blue, a pink and a purple (just like yours). I have not found that they are invasive in any manner in my yard. Yes, the purple and pink have spread but not taken over just an individual plant here and a plant there but the white and blue have not. I really enjoy its many little flowers. The white spiderwort... The zwanesburg blue was and still is mixed up with Grandma Jean Daylily just like it was when a friend of mine sold the daylily to me. They are very happy together so I think that they may remain that way here. Since they have taken over in your yard...yes, get rid of the majority of them. Wonder how many years they have been in the yard? Maybe your soil conditions are the exactly what they like. Brenda

I am attaching a link to photobox with few photos. First five photos show one rose, the other four photos are showing another rose, and the last four photos belong to the last rose. Here is a link that might be useful: Roses album