Hello snaylor, " The rabbits come up on the railing of my deck to eat from the rail planters and the other plants (on plant stands!) on my deck. Stargazer lilies chewed to the ground before they are an inch high. Nothing "cute" about bunnies, they are destructive, filthy animals. " Since you have a neighbor, I assume you live in town and an air rifle is not a good idea for controlling the rabbits. A slingshot would probably be legal, but would take some practice. Assuming your deck is in your backyard, fencing the rabbits out of your backyard is probably the best idea. A chicken-wire fence about 3 or 4 feet high might work, provided that your codes permit that. If you have an existing fence, the chicken-wire would just serve to make it rabbit proof. Nothing will keep squirrels out, but as you already know, they can be trapped. Fortunately for me, rabbits don't damage my zinnias. We have several native plants in our rural area that they prefer. ZM

Sorry I know this is old but still a lot of valuable information. I was researching butterfly bushes. I've tried a couple of the newer sterile varieties and they've been disappointing as far as attracting butterflies. I'm not sure they're worth the space. So I started wondering if the older varieties might be hard to find now. It would be a shame if they get lost over time like some plants do. I plan to watch for a couple next spring. Many years ago I had a few of the old varieties that reseed. Kind of a pain but at least they attracted butterflies. My mistake was planting them in a mixed perennial bed where the seeds had a great place to sprout. I think I could control one much easier if I plant it by itself where I can mow up to and around it. If I remember right, the seeds didn't travel far (for me anyway). They mostly just rain down. I've never seen a butterfly bush growing along a roadside here in Missouri so I'm going to try again. Hoping I can find a Black Knight (op called it Dark Knight) or Attraction. Zinnias are great for attracting butterflies if you get the right ones but I'm having trouble with disease (alternaria blight I think). On a side note - I looked at the UK study that said Lilliput zinnias were the best but the study seemed a bit lame to me. They only tested four varieties and they were mostly counting little butterflies like skippers. I think that's why some people are saying they're not that great.

mmqchdygg, no problem on the questions. Keep asking all you want. This was a new thing for me last year. My gardening ability was very crimped last year do to emergency spinal surgery and I couldn't do much gardening. I had to improvise, get lots of help and just dump seedlings where ever they could fit or whatever containers where handy to put things in. I ran out of room on the fence after I had about 40- 50 different varieties of MG seedlings planted. Since I wanted to keep varieties separate, I couldn't plant more than what I did around the fenced in back area. I had read on line about the Japanese growing lots of morning glory vines in pots so figured, if the pros could do it, so could I. I didn't find the vines got too long and figure it was because they where stunted in growth from being in pots. the first thing I did was put the cheapest brand of coffee filters in the bottom of the pot and moisten it to cover all the drainage holes. This holds the soil in, lets the water drain out and prevents the roots from getting into the ground. then in went miracle grow potting mix and depending on the size of the pot and the number of seedlings of the variety I was planting, the seedling/s. Once in the pot, I covered the top of the soil with a thin layer of the cheapest bagged bark mulch I could buy. This helps to keep weeds out and some moisture in the pot. Then I put a plastic tomato pole in the center of the pot to start the vine going up it. I rigged some wire coathangers that I got from a local cleaner, (they gave them to me free) together and tied them with some twine and stuck them into the soil with the pole in the center. As the vine grew I kept twisting it around the coathangers and the pole. And, when they got a little to long for my likeing, I held my breath, and clipped them back. All that did was branch the vine into 2 more vines and more buds. They didn't bloom quite as profusely as the ones on the fence, but was more than happy with them. 2 of the MG I put in a 12 inch pot, with 4 seedlings and put them in a plant stand beside the front railing and trailed the vines up the railing. A couple of others went into a couple of hanging pots and I hung them from an arbor that I bought at Brooks Pharmacy a couple of years ago. Had to assemble it ourselves and put it in the ground (a real pain) but it has held up well for 2 winters. Brooks pharmacy has them on sale this week for more than I paid a few years ago, $19.99, but I bought mine in August and they where marked way down. It's 8 feet tall. those did really well too, I just kept wrapping vines around themselves and if they got longer than I wanted them too, I just pruned them back. There are some nurseries around me that sell vining plants in large pots to keep them in. They use some kind of metal trellis type thing to keep them vining. I can't remember the name of them but when I saw them they where all out last year. I plan to get at least 10 of them this year and will let you know what they call them. What I've found over the past 4 years of WS is that just about any annual and perennial can be grown in a pot. All it does is not allow the plant to grow as large as it would in the ground and it won't bloom as fully as it would in the ground. So many of my plants went into pots and bunched together last summer to make it easier for others to water for me, and everyone was really impressed with they way they grew and the fact that the pots could be moved all over the place to brighten up various spots in the yard. I'm planning to do the same thing this year. I had a coleus in a 12 inch pot that grew to 4 feet!!!!. I got it at my plant swap and it was only about 4 inches tall in June 3rd. It kept getting moved to a bigger pot till it got it's final home in the 12 inch one. My tomatoes where all in pots and did great too. I even had perennial malva's in pots and just put them in the ground in the fall. (I could garden in Sept., I know, the timing was not the best but hey, this year I'm fine and can't weight to get in the dirt). By the way, not that I'm a big Walmart fan but when it comes to my gardens, every place to shop is fair game. They have the best prices on plastic pots for outside use. Got my first ones there 4 years ago and you would think they are brand new. All the pots come with a saucer, which I don't use outside 8 inch $.88 10 inch $1.98 12 inch $2.98 17 inch $4.99 holds 16-17 qts of soil. use these for my tomatoes. They come in terra cotta color as well as dark green and a grey color that looks like stone. BE brave and put those MG in pots and have fun. The link below is from a website about growing mg in pots. I've linked to that specific part of the site, but do check out the whole site, really great and facinating info from a real Japanese pro on morning glory and growing. Ask if you have any more questions and when I get the name of the stake things from the nursery will let you know what they are called. You could check with some local ones around you as well. Fran Here is a link that might be useful: Japanese methods of growing morning glory in pots

Flo, that's the Nabi Jewel. I have a sample of it. Pink, I also have a sample of the blue macaubas and white marble in the basketweave. (Esplanade Winter Lake? ) diff color, but this is how the layout looks it's gorgeous. I have a sample in the black and white option, and the Linen one,,far left. you can see the Nabi Jewel 2nd from right they only give you two little bars for a sample. Order one full sheet if you really want to see how the tile will look. that's what I did w/their black/white , Cindersmoke, or the Black Beauty. the other blue/white is pretty. But they are both expensive, sign up for their trade program. you get a nice discount. they have this design too. this is no cheap date tho. that's why I mentioned the trade discount Nabi Argyle. comes in diff colors do you like this kind of tile layout pink, have you also looked at encore ceramics? they have some beautiful blue glazes, all sorts of shapes/sizes, and you can blend colors. look at Rain in the chevron. man it's pretty or imagine this, but in these diff blue crackles, or mixed w/the marble. they can do 3 or 4 colors Lapis and Azul wave ignore the shape, but look at the color blends. so pretty peacock and light azul in the flame wave or these color blends. (they literally have 100 diff shapes and sizes) larger chevron in Ocean gradient blend