Why anyone felt it was necessary to resurrect and add on to an inactive 12 year old thread is a bit strange........but let me just add this comment. Japanese maples produce shallow and extremely sensitive root systems that resent any sort of disturbance. In fact, it is extremely easy to introduce often fatal disease issues by damaging these roots. So whatever one chooses to underplant their JMs with, it should be something that can be left undisturbed and with non-invasive roots. No annuals that require yearly replacement or perennials that will need frequent division. Smaller, non-suckering shrubs are fine but should be planted simultaneous to the maple. Or any low growing, shallow rooted groundcover.

I don't think they're thrips cause I didn't see any insects on the plant. Here's an image of the yellowing I'm talking about. 1 leaf seems to get the bulk of it. It turns competely to a straw like appearance and texture. The other leaves I've noticed are also starting. It seems to start at the tips. I uploaded the first image and included a link to both that image as well as an image just of the flower heads. Wasn't sure how big the image file option will get the picture on here.. http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h248/metallic_alchemist/DSCF9595.jpg http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h248/metallic_alchemist/DSCF9596.jpg I don't know if it's relevant, but thinking in terms of the virus and looking into virus' in bulbs, I'm wondering now if that might not be the issue I've had with my tulips as well. I have a rectangular box dedicated to tulips and for the past couple years now, they grow crooked, leaves yellow and streak, the pedals ruffle and streak as well.. I thought it was tulip fire but the fungicide I tried didn't change anything. Kind of wondering if it had to do with not fertilizing cause, being a novice, it's only just this year that I realized I need to fertilize! And only just this year that I've started.. I debating on if I want to grow the tulips another season to see if the fertilization will help or not, but now with this virus deal... This post was edited by Jahzara on Thu, Jul 31, 14 at 23:36

Minnie, none of their designs are covers. They're all the satin ornaments- you put beads on a pin, and stick the pin in the ornament. Click on the link (in blue, at the bottom of my post above). China- yeah, beads and beagles don't mix. Don't ever leave your bead boxes open!! The pictures (imbeded in the post) are all mine. And i did all of those on my own, after doing following the directions for a different one. I got tired of their design pretty quick, and changed counts and stuff to come up w/ my own designs. Glad you guys like them! If you have more q's you might have to email me, if i don't answer you back pretty quick, i don't hang around here too much (i'm a garden junk junkie!). The first one (Green Giant) was the easiest to do, but everyone loves it the most. It was easy cuz the ladders are not embellished. The 3rd one i hate- i used irregular beads, hoping for a more textured look, but i'll never do that again. Forget the irregular beads (if you can look closely, it's the white ones, called silk beads cuz of the color- DON"T buy them!). I cna't find the directions for theoriginal one online- i got it out of Bead and Button magazine. If you google for Beaded Ornament Covers you'll find all kinds of stuff- that's what i did when i started doing my own. If you're into beading at all, these are really simple. You need to know the ladder stitch, and be able count beads (don't laugh, it gets hard! And it sucks when you have to recount them! I've figured out a trick for that tho.). Oh, you have to have time too. But total cost on these is about $5-$10 depending on the type of beads you use. I'd be happy to send you directions and/or put together a kit if you would want. I dont' want to get sent to Disney here, so send me an email if you're interested. Angie

Hi celianne, You need a free online photo storage album. Photobucket is good. Once you have an account established, in Photobucket, below "Upload Images and Videos" click on the "Browse" tab. You'll get a "File Upload" screen. To the right of the "Look in" box at the top of that screen is a small downward arrow. Use that to navigate to the folder on your computer that stores the photo. (If you'd rather see thumbnails - miniatures of photos- rather than file names: to the far right of the "Look In" box you;ll see several small icons. The last one is the View icon. Click on it, and from the dropdown menu choose "Thumbnail". Now when you're navigating your folders for photos you'll see small Thumbnail images rather than just the photos titles.) When you have the photo located on your computer, double-click on it. The "File Upload" screen will close and you'll be back at your Photobucket page. You should see the name of your photo in the "Upload Images and Videos" box. Below that is the "Upload" tab, click on that. Once your photo is uploaded, you'll see 3 lines below it: URL Link, HTML Tag, and IMG Code. Copy the string of text in the box behind "HTML Tag" and paste it in your post here. If you want to test before posting here, there's a Test Forum here. Almost forgot, photo size. To make sure your photo is not too large for a post on the web, etc., you can resize it either on your computer or in Photobucket. If you opt to resize it on your computer, simply open the photo in your photo edit software, use the Resize command and keep the pixels below 600. Or you can resize it once it's loaded to Photobucket. Click on "Edit" above your photo in Photobucket. At the next page, click on the "Resize" command above your photo. Choose the option (Website, Email..). Think that covers it, hope that helps rather than confuses ;)