Cat, You really need more info on Gourds. IMHO the best place to get it is in Purple Martin Forums. I have one that is a tight group so when you email me for the seed info I will give you their address. I don't want to put it here because they are really serious birders and gardeners second, but they do grow their own gourds and for PM's the gourd of choice is KETTLE. The so called PM gourds really do not grow big enough for PM's. The larger gourds give the birds more room and room mean more chicks and also more protection for things that go bump in the night. To grow nice dipper gourds you have to trellis them or the necks do not grow straight. The BH and Kettle gourds should be grown on the ground and you have to watch them closely. when they start to form you need to jump in and see that they sit upright, etc. The forum will tell you all of this 1eyedJack and the Dawg

Kate, hand pick the curculios. They hide, they don't bite, and they drop and play dead. If you don't like to crush them, you can let them drown in soapy water when they drop. If you see the holes, they are there somewhere. I have a lot of trouble seeing them. More importantly, be fanatical about cleaning up the damaged buds and blooms. Curculiols are laying eggs in the receptacle. Their young develop and winter in the soil under the rose. So make sure you clean up during this month-long season. Curculios supposedly have only one reproductive cycle in a year. At my place, it was Mother's Day through 4th of July. Now they are gone. I have been deadheading with pruners (something I rarely do) and cleaning up all the spent bloom and hips around the roses that were affected. One suggestion for control is underplanting roses the companion plants may help, if the companions form a thick mat, like creeping thyme. I don't do that because my roses are planted in cages, and I find roses don't like competition. But it's a thought. The thinking is that the immature young are kept from coming into contact with the soil and die.

It depends on what type/size your birdhouse is if it would be suitable for other birds. Some of the wren houses are awfully small for a Tree Swallow or Bluebird to nest in. Bluebirds need a 1.5 inch hole, swallows prefer that too but can get in a smaller hole. Chickadees also prefer the 1.5 inch hole but can get in a 1 1/8 inch hole. A housewren will enter any size hole, not much deters them except keeping the nestboxes far away from brush and trees. House Sparrows can enter a 1 1/4 or larger hole, you would want to keep them from nesting in your birdhouse. A properly mounted nestbox is mounted on a slick metal pole with a predator baffle and at least 15-30 feet away from trees/fences/brush with no branches hanging over the box. Squirrels and or raccoons can and will get into nestboxes placed in/on trees or mounted on wooden posts. A metal plate on the front is to prevent woodpeckers from enlarging the hole. If the nestbox is mounted properly squirrels shouldn't be able to get to it to chew the opening. Here is a link to "lots" of info about cavity nesting birds..it is a bluebird site but has load of info about all cavity nesting birds and how to attract them and properly put up nestboxes for them.... Donna Here is a link that might be useful: Cavity nesting bird info.....sialis...

Ajsmama and Justgotta, me too. I live in earthquake country and when I saw "Question about hanging pictures above the bed" by Crashboombang -- well, LOL! I like the three pictures very much. It fills the wall in a pleasant way and I think incorporates the nightstands visually. Besides, in decorating remember the 3, 5, 7 rule! Do please be careful to hang them so if they fall they drop behind the headboard and not in front of it on your head! And please show us a picture of them after you hang them up.