Thank you so much. Yes - I believe the leaves are growing directly from the ground. I see these types of flowers all over Massachusetts. It would appear I have much to learn about flowers in general - especially lilies and daylilies! :) When you say "start over" - what exactly do you mean? Particularly - what do you mean by "dividing?" Do daylilies (assuming this is what I have) grow from bulbs in the root system? How difficult are they to "kill"? I ask not because I want to get rid of them, but want to know how tolerant they might be to withstand other measures of weed/grass eradication. I had thought about the idea of some pre-emerg in the spring - I assume the daylilies are much too resilient to be affected by grass pre-emerg - assuming the daylily is not germinating per se, but just coming back to life. Well - thanks - I'll check out the daylily forum. Best - Brad in MA

BM, the only plans are in my head, The size was based in the wood that was available. Ask me anything you want about it and I will explain what I did. I can measure up the seat itself and get the angle; things like that. Sorry, I just made it as I went along. Bernd, No pond, but I expect that weeds will like the increased sun from my clearing efforts. Like everything, it is a trade off. I don't want to limb up the pines that give pretty solid shade in the lower area. It just takes a little 'mowing' with RoundUp every year or two. The trade off is it is ery tough and slow to grow there. Jon

Great posts all. These chemicals are so dangerous and so many are so unaware or couldn't care less. Years ago my aunt's cat was diagnosed with sclerosis of the liver disease. She jokingly stated that her cat didn't drink. Her veterinarian asked if the cat went outdoors and told her that the disease probably developed due to exposure to her neighbors lawn that was treated by ChemLawn. My husband works for the utility company. They sprayed Roundup several years ago to kill some weeds at one of their job sights. NOTHING has grown there since. We use no chemicals in our yard but have very few honey bees although we do have lots of bumblebees. My crab apple tree had plenty of spring blossoms but has virtually no fruit due to lack of honeybees. We have no lawn, just flower beds and gravel paths on about 1/4 acre of our 1 acre lot. The rest is woods. I don't know if the lack of bees is due to our being in such a wooded environment or if there is something else going on. We have plenty of dragonflies and butterflies so it may be that honeybees like a more open area rather than dense woods. I bought Bayer 3 in 1 once and never used it when I reasoned that there was no way for the pesticide to distinguish the good bugs from the bad. I now deal with the insect damage if not too severe and try to manually kill the damaging insects when they start to overwhelm the plants. When you look at the seeming explosion of cancers in our generations, 1959, and later it's difficult to not question whether this is due to the fact that we are poisoning our food with this toxic arsenal. I know several women who have had breast cancer but don't recall any of my mother's friends being diagnosed with this disease in their 40's and early 50's. 2 of my 6 grandchildren are mildly autistic, one also suffers severe food allergies, a third was diagnosed with cancer at age 9 1/2. It really makes you wonder if the explosion of allergies, autism and cancer diagnosis is related to the explosive use of such toxic chemicals that contaminate our air, water and food. Massachusetts is considering passing GMO labeling laws so at least the shopper will be aware of whether the food they eat is GMO or not. Monsanto is now making GMO grass seed so soon even grass fed beef will not be safe from contamination. What is scariest though is the apathy and indifference among most people who either don't know or don't care about all of the toxins being introduced to our foods and water supplies. I recently purchased some David Austin roses from a nursery in NY. She recommended both disease and insect spraying. I might spray for disease if absolutely necessary but adamantly refused to spray for insects. Her anecdotal response was that she has plenty of insects around so she really couldn't believe that she was having an impact on the ecosystem. What would happen if we all felt this way? Sharon

No point in having a conversation with someone who has an agenda which obviates any need to consider facts. Since you so obviously know so much about the state of Eucalytptus species infestation in the USA, which is in your view reason enough to avoid planting any Australian plant elsewhere than Australia because of the grave impacts on our local ecology, I will defer to your expertise and greater wisdom. Oh, by the way, did you neglect to register that I did mention the very species of Eucalyptus, both E. camaldulensis and E. globulus as being amongst the few that have weedy potential here in California? As to any Eucalyptus species ever having a chance in hell of becoming an escaped weed in someplace like Ohio, what is your supporting evidence beyond a Wikipedia citation? As to presuming that I have no experience with conserving native habitats or the issue of escaped exotics in the wild, you form this conclusion on the basis of what, exactly? Yet you continue to sidestep the very real issue of potential issue of gene pool pollution by mixing of selected "native" cultivars amongst local gene pools, and act as if this is a non-issue to consider. If you are going to walk the walk instead of just talk the talk, then "native" species should only be collected within their naturally occurring habitat for revegetation purposes, rather than planting out man selected cultivars from other parts of the plant's range, and often selected for their ornamental characteristics rather than those qualities that make them a good fit for their particular geographic range. As well, you failed to address the point I made about how planting out natives in already urbanized settings can not begin to replicate a fully functioning natural environment, the closest you can come is a facsimile, the original diversity of species is impossible to fully replicate. Therefore, as I stated before, it is more important, as well as more useful for the conservation of species diversity, to place more emphasis on preserving intact environments that remain, rather than play at recreating what was, in urban settings which have changed the hydrology, soil structures, sun and shade, etc, etc. Certainly no harm in promoting "native" plants for use in gardens, but to insist that only natives should be used is no more or less valid than other approaches. The only way you would actually convince me otherwise is if you did your homework, got off your soapbox, and addressed the points I raised in a logical manner, rather than resorting to bullying and name calling. I suppose that we also differ philosophically on the point of gardening and cultivating plants in general. I see landscape design as encompassing various methods with varied purposes. To the point that use of exotics does no harm to the surrounding "wild" landscape, what is wrong with appreciating plants much as an artist uses various paint colors, having a diverse palette to create beautiful effects. If...