Ken, the bird has evolved to take advantage of a food source others can't get at. Unlike your thick skull, their hard head serves a purpose. The re-inforcement on their skull means they are protecting the brain, and people who study that stuff have found that even the beak has thickened ligaments to prevent knocking the smile off their face. The acute hearing means that they hear the critter in the wood / under the bark chewing. It's like having a private pantry that only you have the combination to get in. I once watched a pair of Flickers make a nest. They must have started on Friday when I was at work, by Sat. am you could have stowed 2 beer cans in the hole. By Sat. evening the house was built. The male started a hole on the side of a Locust (Robinia pseudoacacia) and the pieces flying out were not sawdust, more like pieces you get from whittling. Long shards of wood, about 3/8" wide, and at least 2X that long. She was in the Pecan tree nearby, chattering up a storm. After he had worked a bit, he would fly out and she would fly in. When she came out, she would alight next to him and he would try to do married people things with her. She would fly off 100 ft or so and scold him. He returned to the hole and kept drilling. After a bit, she would fly back to the Pecan and urge him on. After a while, he came out, she went in and the cycle repeated. About a half dozen cycles, she was satisfied the burrow was to her liking, and they flew off together. I never noticed her working on the hole although a birder friend says both sexes drill. A few trips with dried grass (very few), the house was ready, and they raised a brood. I'm not sure what they were thinking though, the hole was so low I could easily reach it and put my arm in. The nest was too far down for me to reach though, so I know the bird drilled at least 2ft down through the heart of that living tree. Impressive feat of evolution.

More than likely it is Tuscan Blue or Santa Barbara. Two of the most common rosemary varieties grown for topiary Christmas trees in the nursery industry. They grow fast and in the nursery industry this is the 1st priority. I see no problem with you keeping it in a 3 foot tree shape as long as your willing to trim it 3-5 times a year. Our local post office has box hedged their rosemary over the last 10 years I have lived here in this part of Texas and these guys aren't pro's. As to your mint challenge have you consider a SWC (self watering container) it will give the moisture you need but you will have the soil volume of more like a 7 to 10 gallon container. Might be easier to keep it alive over the hot part of summer. Helps here in Texas quite a bit for other plants I have container challenges with in summer. Happy Growing David

Cathy, snow does not impact my outside decorating. I don't do any. Other people have it done by Thanksgiving or the snow is too deep. I wasn't going to put up a Christmas tree this year, but Ashley really wanted one so I caved in. I had given Amanda the angel for the top of the tree and all the tree lights because her lights quit working (that seems to be a recurring theme here, LOL) and the star that had been at the top of her tree quit lighting up. Surprise. So, I have no lights and no tree topper, but I'm creative. I found some green and orange halloween lights and when Ashley was in 2nd grade she made me an angel out of a toilet paper roll with doily wings. That now sits happily atop my 25 year old artificial tree with the Halloween lights. Can you tell that I don't care, I don't arrange by color and I don't pay anyone to decorate? Bah Humbug. I am kind of thinking that I ought to go drag up some more ornaments. I have about 20 on the tree now, I figured it was enough but Ashley thinks a 6 foot tree with 20 ornaments looks kind of bare. Elery says it's a "Charlie Brown" Christmas tree, LOL, it looks fine to me. Maybe I'll just buy a box of candy canes and use those and I won't have to go back into the basement until the day after Christmas when the blasted thing is coming down... Annie

Hi Gordon, As I'm on the "wrong" side of the country, you'd still be better with local advice on this. I would say, though, that heat alone is not a problem, as they grow fine on the Gold Coast and Brisbane, with reasonably hot (and humid) summers. But out wet season is summer and you are wetter in winter? which might not matter if you have good drainage. Though they like full sun, the spot you mention, of course, is going to be very much exposed, so whatever goes in there could need a lot of mulching and be possibly subject to more extreme heat off that paving. So with a bit of research and prep you may well decide to go for this. My only other comment is that, seedling grown plants can be very variable in colour, and if you are looking for a stunning colour you may need to hunt around nurseries to actually find a shrub of the shape and intensity of colour, that you want for your feature.