Eric_oh - Nigella in Upstate NY - they bloom for about a month in midsummer (June-July), then form their balloon-shaped seed pods. They reseed freely, and their seedlings form a fuzzy green carpet in the fall, overwinter without trouble, and grow on in the spring. Their foliage and seed pods look scruffy (totally dry) by September, so I pull them out then, and sprinkle the seeds where I want them (or harvest them to share). I have three mixed borders in my yard (suburbia, but a nice little lot bordering a wooded ravine). The widest border (full shade under hemlock trees for half its lenghth) is about 12 feet deep by 75 feet long. The others are both about 9 feet deep by 30 feet long. I wish they could be deeper, but then I'd have no lawn and the kids would have no place to play, LOL - they were unhappy when I took over part of the back yard for an island bed the last two years, so I'll be shrinking that bed this year to give them a little more room. SO, the point of this is that I've had to keep the shrubs in proportion to my smaller mixed border depth. I can only dream of a border that's 30' by 90' - that's almost my entire yard, LOL! In a small yard I have different issues than if I had a large lot. For instance, I can't use a full-sized lilac by the sidewalk (it would block the line of sight down the road from the driveway - a safety issue), so I planted lilac 'Wonderblue,' a "dwarf" that should max out at 6 feet tall. Nice plant, gorgeous flowers. And, my neighbor might not appreciate having a forest planted on the property line, so I have to be respectful of her view, too. Fortunately, she likes looking at my garden, and doesn't mind the border shrubs at all. The backbone of that front border is a mix of five shrubs: a tall lilac nearest the house ('Krasavitsa Moskvy'), which I'm training to be more tree-like and vertical than bushy and spreading; a butterfly bush ('Plum Purple,' dies back most years, stays 4-6 feet tall/wide), rose of sharon 'Blue Bird' (very vertical, self seeds like mad though), philadelphus/mock orange 'Virginal' (again, more vertical than spreading), and then the 'Wonderblue' lilac by the sidewalk. In front of those is a mix of perennials and annuals: peonies, tall bearded and siberian irises, daylilies, white echinacea, a spiny acanthus, pennisetum alopecuroides, culinary sage (makes a nice shrubby, furry texture), chrysanthemum 'Emperor of China,' Stokes asters, plumbago, rose campion, nigella 'Miss Jeckyll Blue,' alyssum, sempervivums, snapdragons, a campanula (from a garden swap - hopefully it will bloom this year; it seems to be a bit invasive and might have to be moved), nicotiana 'Lime Green,' and I'm sure I've forgotten something. I wish I had a good full-length picture of the border, but it's still young - only three years old now, so it's a work in progress. (These pictures are all PD - pre-digital camera. I'll be sure to get better pictures this year.) This is the only overview picture I have of it, from May of 2005, right after heavy rain caused the retaining wall to fall over into the border - AAACCKK! It looks much better now, really. This is the shady end of the longest border. You can't see in this photo, but I've included two Kalmia (mountain laurels) that should eventually give some nice form. At the back of the border, beside the house, is a doublefile viburnum - amazing foliage and delightful flowers. Again, I'm having to manage its spread a bit - I planted it several years ago, then realized it would get wider than I anticipated. The rest of the area on the left of the path is filled with hosta, lady ferns, variegated solomon's seal, pachysandra, two rhododendrons at the back by the fence, toad lilies, lamium 'Hermann's Pride' and 'Chequers,' a dwarf fothergilla shrub, and in the summer with impatiens. I could probably have gotten away with having NO shrubs and only perennials in this area if I really wanted to, but in the winter it's a straight swatch of barren mulch without the shrubs to break it up. The front (sunny) end of the long border. It's got a backbone of rose of sharon (2), rose 'Roseraie de l'Hay,' lilacs 'Andenken an Ludwig Spaeth' and 'Blue Skies,' rose 'Blaze,' a mugo pine, and an unknown rose (I think it's rosa multiflora, planted by a bird - I have to manage it diligently to keep it in bounds, but I love the sprays of white flowers and its tiny hips). That bed includes tall bearded irises, peonies, pennisetum alopecuroides, salvia 'May Night,' sedum 'Autumn Joy,' aster 'Blue Bird,' knautia, stachys byzantina, an unknown pink aster, daylilies, thrift, geranium 'Brookside' (an incorrigible flopper/spreader, but great flowers), yarrow 'Moonlight,' echinacea, hosta 'Minuteman,' clematis 'Duchess of Albany, climbing one of the rose of sharon bushes), white valerian, alyssum, and others, underplanted with clusters of spring bulbs (daffodils, tulips, and iris reticulata). This border has the fewest annuals of any of my garden areas. The reason for the dense planting of shrubs at the back was at first practical rather than aesthetic: the heavy planting (supposedly) keeps the neighborhood kids from riding their bikes through that area in the winter. . . . Laurel

The simple answer to your question is that a woody cutting will not root until the cut end forms a callus. This can be difficult with some plant material. May I suggest that for those hard to root shrubs/trees that you try my 'toothpick' method. It is easy. In August select those cuttings you wish to root. Now with a small, thin bladed knife or Exacto knife make one parallel cut all the way through the stem below a bud and insert a toothpick through the cut. Secure a marker on the branch so you can find it later. Walk away and forget about it until November. At that time the cutting will have callused on the plant. Remove the cutting below the toothpick and pull the toothpick out if possible or cut off the toothpick at either end close to the stem. Now the cutting should root in either a cold frame or greenhouse. I have even tucked them right next to a house foundation for the winter and found the cuttings rooted in the spring with no protection. By the way, the best method to try and root apples is to use the water sprouts as cutting material.

The part of the plant i was refering to is the green (sometimes red or pink; color varies), soft(herbaceous), part of the stem that is located between the nodes of the youngest leaves. I needed to know this because I am doing a science project that has to do with testing what host is prefered for a semi-parasitic plant (Santalum paniculatum) and if liquid fertilizer will supply the plant with necessary nutrients. To measure the effectiveness of each independant variable I am measuring the size of the largest leaf, height, and the length of the "fleshy stem." The reason why I am measuring this is because the length of this portion of the stem is directly related to the plant's health and growth conditions. It is usually longer on faster growing individuals and shorter on slower growing individuals. This fleshy stem is often absent or very small on stunted plants. It is difficult to measure this part of the stem, especially for plants that grow year-round, because the fleshy stem gradually becomes wood. For plants that have conspicuous buds and grow seasonally there is a discrete line between wood and fleshy stem. It would be helpful to know a scientifically correct term (if it exists) for this part of a woody plant because I will have to write a lab report including my data, and I must use proper scientific language.

The good news is that there are varieties that are bred especially for warmer climates. The special hot-summer varieties bred by the Descanso Gardens people around 50 years ago should be able to grow here in Florida. The Descanso Gardens in La Canada Flintridge, California has a garden devoted solely to these hybrids. The hybrids 'Angel White,' 'Blue Skies,' 'Blue Boy', 'Dark Night', 'Chiffon', 'California Rose' or 'Lavender Lady' can handle the warmer climates of Southern California and I would guess also parts of Florida to zone 9. Most of these hybrid lilacs grow only about 6' - 12' tall as compared to the cooler-climate lilacs. When I lived in California near LA I would visit the gardens in the spring. I was very surprised when I moved to Florida from New Hampshire that nobody had heard of the warm-weather varieties of lilacs and all I ever hear is "Lilacs won't grow here". Lou