What a brave soul you are Dan! This is what it looked like when I moved in. It's a work in progress, I only get four weeks when the creek goes dry and I can work on it, last fall I did this, and bought some sale plants that I overwintered, throwing them in with out much thought (along with some other items I see, whats up with that duck anyway???) so I could have a few larger plants to work with this fall, if you can make out the three hellabores. Early summer it looked like this. You can see the plants grew quite a bit, this fall the ferns are about 24" and it's a real jungle the hellabores will get about the same hight. I like the trout, I know you'll probably want to ax them, but I like them swiming upstream:P I would like to see the hellabore planted with scilla as they bloomed the same time and I liked the thought of this odd combo, scilla only blooms a short time so it's not going to hurt anything in the long run if it's awlful. I have a good sized lace leaf mapple and smaller weeping norway spruce, maybe the norway could dip off the rock bank ? the lattice is going to be replaced by a retaining wall system and the rock wall will have another layer added so the space between the two is flat, a path of some sort will be put in for upkeep and strolling, I hope to get 20 foot ready for planting this year if I hurry, I had no idea how much damage was done last winter that I need to repair before I even get to add on :( the retaing wall in the back (where the lattice is now) will be about three foot high and could have some plants years down the road in it as it will be another bed around a reddwood for shade plants on that upper level. so if you think of any plants that could creep down that wall. I don't know if these help or not, like I said there is a lot of bank washed away and I may not be able to get it ready for planting this year:( but I'm working at it! if I can get a hold of a camrea I'll take more recent pictures that might be helpful. I can add rocks here and there up to about 140lbs that's about as big as I can carry. I'm sure by now with all your rock work you know exactly how large a rock like that is :P Thanks for any ideas Dan :) Crystal,

I haven't heard of Borneo Giant doing that well in temperate climates. You can push a regular A. macrorhizza to that size with water and fert. The Virginian has done it and I have seen them. I got this Colocasia 'Jack's Giant' from Wayside this spring as a 12" plant. Check it out- photo 7 in the album link below. It's gotten over 8' tall since May- biggest one I have grown ever. Boca Joe Here is a link that might be useful: Giant Tropicals

If you want them to remain small, be sure to buy your fruit trees on dwarf stock. There are some benefits to keeping fruit trees small, they can begin producing fruit earlier in their lives because less energy is going towards growing the tree. It also can allow you to have room to plant several different fruit varieties in a small yard, so that fruit is more likely to be available at different times of the year. When it comes to dwarf fruit trees, some people advise pruning the leaves before planting, since the tree likely lost many feeder roots when dug at the nursery, and now the root system may not be able to support all those leaves until it has a few weeks to become established again. Pruning can stimulate growth and help optimally shape future growth. In the long-term (15+ years), I do not believe dwarf stock is as healthy for the tree. However, if you want to grow peaches, plums, and apricots, they sell "fruit salad" trees with all three fruits grafted on to the same tree. If space is limited, this may make more sense for you than planting 3 separate trees.

I have a "deck" garden. I planted all my veggies and herbs in pots, and now there taking up the whole deck. One of my favorite plants on my deck is my cucumber plants. I have two of them, (there the slicing breed) and there in a long (two feet) green planter. My cucumber plants spread all over the deck, which is kind of awesome. That means I get many more cucumbers. cucumbers grow so fast, so you will be harvesting cucumbers before you know it. Some kinds of cucumbers, like mine, reproduce. I harvested about eight cucumbers from one plant and five from the other, and about a week after I harvested the last one (I thought It was the last one) I saw five female flowers with mini cucumbers. I haven't harvested any of the second batch yet, but they will be ready to harvest in a couple of days. Plant your cucumber plants in mid May to late May for best results. Plant them when the ground is at least 70 degrees, at least two weeks after the last first date. Water them once a day, unless it needs more or less. Do not water the leaves, as the leaves can get diseases if you do. You can use a trellis so the cucumbers can clime up the trellis. You get straighter fruit this way and sometimes you get bigger vines. Don't use trellises for bush varieties, bush cucumbers are best for raised beds and not planters. Burpless means that they have thin skin andd are easy to digest. I love cucumbers because you can use them in cooking, or just eat it by itself. Either way, garden fresh cucumbers are the way to go.