thank you all soooo much! i appreciate all of the comments! tropiczone- no the tres havent started budding yet but i suppose soon they will as tonight is the last night near the 30s. im soo glad! all the bulbs are coming up and you can def see the sun is out much longer and it is higher! Mrs. Laura- thanks so much! tropical smoothies for a hard worker like you? ANYTIME! haha we love seeing you drive by, your help, encouragement, knowledge...everything you have done to help us! Mr Hardy- thanks a lot for the nice comments, just a lot of time and hard work, but it will all pay off! thanks to everyone again -Justin in Vb

Yes, I have feeders for hummingbirds here, Tom, and will hang some for them in Hattiesburg. I'm so sorry about your porterweed! Mine never make it to 10' because I either dig them up in early winter and keep them in a pot inside, or they die in the ground. I don't think they can take even a light freeze. My most productive plant for both hummers and butterflies is the butterfly bush 'Orange Septre' - hummers don't like the regular B. davidii types of butterfly bush, but they LOVE this one. I rooted one to plant in Hattiesburg. Once I get moved in I'm going to have to have surgery on my retina - no peace or rest for the weary! Sherry

Not great lighting for pics, but a couple spruces are doing their thing: Picea pungens 'Procumbens' It used to be very stiffly horizontal, but the left side started upturning last year or so. Usually even more intense blue. Picea abies 'Pendula' Picea glauca 'Rainbow's End' Picea pungens 'Thume'

Sylvia, it's a "Found" rose, and we don't really know WHAT it is. Not a Bourbon. Closer to a Hybrid Perpetual, perhaps. There have been suggested identities, but nothing that can be confirmed. It is, as you see, changeable as to color, and in a climate like yours and mine, it blooms year 'round. You can prune it like a Hybrid Tea --- or perhaps a Grandiflora. Or you can espalier it like a Climber. Or you can just let it "do its own thing."