CMK, I remember reading you have drainage issues. We had a little bit of that ‘wet without draining’ in early spring, a couple of times when it rained and the ground was still frozen. I thought I was going to have trouble and I don’t know why I didn’t. I normally have good drainage though, so that must make the difference. I’m sorry you don’t. :-( That must be a particularly aggravating problem. I wonder if you’ve ever considered raised beds? I had plants very slow to show up this spring, so I was considering that I might have lost them, and at the time, I was thinking maybe I should add more conifers, until I visited the Conifer forum in the spring and they were posting long lists of plants they lost! So, if you are thinking about it, I’d read some of their posts on which ones they lost. :-) Mnwsgal, sorry to hear of your losses too. I have never had much luck wintering over in the garage. And the snowplow frequently digs into some edge of the front yard. We have a bed that borders the street, but it has a rock edge to it, which I suppose must help. Of course, they don't actually see the rocks under the snow, and once they did plow into those. Wow, what a noise that made! And 12ft of rock edge had to be reset, but I didn't lose any plants. [g] I wish we had sidewalks.

I have treated once on 12/21 or 12/22. I am still seing new scale here and there and scrape off what i see each night. Now some of the bottom branches are beggining to die. Looks like they are drying up from the tip towards the main branches. These are prevalent on the branches that had big clusters of flowers/tiny fruit previously. Should i prune the dead branches off? These are nowhere near where i have been finding the scale (which have been closer to where there are still leaves). I have been so concerned about overwatering, i may have let it get too dry a few weeks ago. also, the soil temps may be a little cold but the only place to move it will have less light. Any advice? you can see two examples in this pic. Although the branch looks greenish in the picture, it is brown for about 10 inches if not more. The next picture will have the area where it has died back to.

Karen.... No, I didn't cut anything while still green. 95% of mine were brown by the time I returned from a vacation on Oct 24. The remaining few (Halcyon lineage) went brown shortly thereafter. Most of the hostas were brown enough that a knife wasn't necessary... it's only those last few that required cutting. I think, if yours are still green, you should leave them (no pun intended). As long as it's green, it's sending energy to the root system. I'm sure there will be another warm day or two for you down in Missouri! Last year, our snow flew early and stayed. So, my hosta foliage (and tree leaves) overwintered in the beds. I wonder now if leaving that hosta foliage on the plants possibly helped contribute to a perfect storm for nematodes this year. At any rate, I'm not taking chances! Plus, come spring, I don't like the look of leaves laying on my mulch. My sun garden (below) isn't huge, by any means. I want to rework it this spring as I feel like the plant heights are no longer working well together. When I first started it, the artemesia 'silver mound' was in the front of the garden; now, it's pretty far back. Hubby also wants the sundial (his wedding gift from me) moved forward so it's more readable. And the hostas in there My front garden (see my thread on soil testing) is mostly full sun too, but I tend to be conservative in my front garden. I just started it this year and so far, the plants like it. 2009: 2010:

You did it!!! You did it!!! Oh, Caroline, I am so happy for you. And tremendously impressed too, not only by the physical difficulty of the trip, but by your dedication to a good cause. What an amazing thing you did. I can hardly wait to see your photos. Welcome back! Now you can sit back and watch the Giro d'Italia starting on Saturday. (Universal Sports, on TV & online) You'll have new appreciation for the pros putting in over a hundred miles a day in mountainous terrain LOL! Wow, you are one tough cookie...