Moth balls are highly toxic to the environment and animals -- please don't use them! Here's some info: Mothballs are composed of napthalene and/or paradichlorobenzene. Both are toxic substances (chemicals) and possible human carcinogens. >>>>>By law in the US, pesticides can not be used for purposes other than stated on the label. Mothballs are a pesticide. Scattering them over the yard for repelling animals is definately not on the label. Mothballs have been implicated in several poisonings of small children who mistake them for candy. The poison stays in the soil a long time. Do a search and learn more about mothballs, and hopefully you'll look for other, non-toxic ways to repel the cats or whatever animal is digging. Personally, I suspect skunks or squirrels; as someone else mentioned, cats don't tend to dig holes and leave them that open. If its your bulbs youÂre worried about, you might want to consider what I do: when I plant bulbs, I put about half the soil back over them, then a layer of chicken wire, then the remaining soil. In a few cases I put the chicken wire right on top of the soil  not attractive, but itÂs back in areas where we donÂt normally see it close up, and it saved my daffs from the squirrels. HereÂs a longer post from another GW forum about ways to repel cats IÂve tried some of the methods and although they mostly didnÂt work for me, some people have more success. Good luck!! Cat Deterrents for your Garden: Keep in mind that each cat is different (like people), a deterrent that works for one may not necessarily work for another. On the plus side, most cats will keep pesty squirrels, moles and other critters out of your garden. They're great for keeping out moles, rabbits, squirrels, and other critters which can do more damage in your garden than a cat ever will. If the cats have owners, talk to them without being confrontational. The cat owner who allows his cat to damage other peoples' property is as guilty as the cat hater who kills the cat for trespassing. Remember, cats will be cats, and it is unfair of us to blame them for being what they are and how nature intended them to participate in this world. After-all, we praise them when they catch mice or rats or other creatures we deem to be 'pests'. * amonia soaked (corncobs, etc) * aluminum foil * bamboo skewers * black pepper * blood meal fertilizer * bramble cuttings * Carefresh - "recycled" wood pulp * catnip - donated into your neighbor's yards (so they'll stay in their own yards) * cedar compost * chicken wire (metal or plastic) * cinnamon * citrus peels * citrus spray * cocoa bean shells * coffee grounds -fresh & unbrewed, not just a light sprinkling (highly recommended by MANY Gardenwebbers!) * dogs * electric fence for animals * essence of orange. essence of lemon, lime (citrus essential oils) * fresh manure(ditto) * garlic cloves * gumballs from the Sweet Gum Tree * gutter covers * hardware cloth * heavy bark mulch * holly leaves * keep the area damp, they like dry soil * lavender * liquid manure (good for your garden too) * motion sensor sprinkler * pennyroyal * pinecones * pipe tobacco * plastic forks * predator urine * red wine vinegar * river rocks over the exposed soil * rocks, crushed * rose bush clippings * rue, an herb (Ruta graveolens) (highly recommended in plant form only) * short twigs throughout the planted area about 6" apart * six-inch bamboo skewers (pointy side up) * Spray on your leaves (not the cat): fill a spray bottle with 1/2 t chili powder, 1/2 t cayenne pepper, 1 t dish soap and water * squirt gun with water * talk to your neighbors * tansy * thorny berry, lilac, hawthorn, rose clippings * toothpicks * upside down vinyl carpet * vinegar sprayed on areas where they roam * water bottle on "stream" NOT RECOMMENDED: *** chili powder, red crushed pepper, cayenne pepper (NOT recommended), it gets on the cat's paws then they wash themselves and they get it in their eyes, beware cats have literally scratched their eyes out because of this. Even if it's one cat out of 500 infected in this way, that's one too many for me. *** Don't ever use mothballs or flakes. Those little toxic waste pellets destroy cats' kidney function, could seriously harm people who handle them, and yes, contaminate your own garden soil. Their packaging even warns against using them this way. Give them their own areas: (To keep them out of where you don't want them) (If you don't mind them protecting your garden from other critters) + pick the cat up and bring it to eye level with the plant to see and smell it up close. She noted that once her cat has seen and sniffed at the plant, she usually doesn't bother with it later. + give them their own plants - i.e., pots of grass for her to chew on and a place in a large planted container on her balcony with some miscanthus grass in it (the cat likes to curl up in that for some reason) + if the cats are strictly indoors and attracted to your houseplants, grow catgrass for them. If someone forced you to remain inside one enclosed structure all your life, you might be attracted to the plants too. + Barley Grass + Any type of "catgrass" from the pet store + Carex elata 'Bolwes Golden' but put it in some shade + Catmint Nepeta mussinicultivars (Simply put, Catmints are Catnips without any culinary or feline use. In any case, they are, however, phenomenal, long flowering, hardy perennials that belong in every fairie or flower garden.) + Catnip Nepeta cataria (in your own yard) The oils of which also work as a mosquito repellent that works 10 times better than Deet! Catmint is the common name for all varieties of Nepeta. Catnip is the common name for the specific variety of Nepeta called nepeta cataria, which is the variety that cats are most attracted to. + Cat Thyme (Teucrium marum) + Flax + Oat Grass + Jacob's Ladder + Lemon Grass + Loose soil and mulch like small bark mulch + Mints + Purple Fountain Grass so the cat lays in the long leaves all day. Maybe put something in that the cats really like and - you know cats won't winky were they like to hang out. + Sandy area + Silver vine (Actinidia polygama) + Striped Ribbon Grass (can be invasive) + Sweet grass + Trificum aestivum (type of cat grass) + Various Varieties of Cat Mints (Catnips) + Wheat Grass + Wheat Berries + Valerian This list compiled by Violet_Z6, email at violetgw@care2.com for comments and suggestions regarding this list.

You've done a great job laying the groundwork for what I think will be a beautiful set of flowerbeds! I'm not familiar with what grows in your zone, but I would be very surprised if you had much luck with daisies or coneflower (echinacea). Both of these like full sun, and the foliage of both is nothing to get excited about -- so they'll look sort of straggly if they're not getting enough sun for good bloom. The same holds true for most daylilies; they want full sun as well. But some people like the grassy look of daylilies even if they're not in bloom; if you're among them, they'd be worth a shot in your sunnier beds. But you've taken photos of some excellent choices for shade -- just think foliage rather than flowers! I have many coral bells (heuchera), brunnera ("Jack Frost" looks much like your photo IMG_8257), lungwort (pulmonaria), and bleeding heart (dicentra) in the shady areas of my garden. Most of these are spring bloomers so I drop in annual impatiens for summer color, but the foliage remains attractive all season, especially the heuchera. There are many dozens of different cultivars; I hope that someone from your area will respond with tips on how they do in the south. Ditto hostas; there are many to choose from, and they're all great in shade/part sun. I can't grow them due to the neighborhood deer, and slugs love to feast on them, but in the right setting they're lovely. If you're concerned about the pampas grass getting out of hand in #7, would a shrub rose serve a similar purpose in keeping people from walking into the flower bed? I've had good luck in the past with shrub roses planted where there's a half-day of sun.

Its not a matter of pieces and parts, the problem is the plant can not use its own pollen. Those who say that they have had success with a single plant owe their success to the bees that found other plants in their range. Its not a coincidence that every year someone starts a thread asking why their lone tomatillo plant is not setting fruit. Here is a link to a thread from three years ago: http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/tomato/msg080132591320.html ---------------------------------------------------------- This issue is widely documented on the web . Here are just a few examples: http://www.seedsandstring.com/2009/06/tomatillo-matchmaking-services.html The thing about tomatillos is: they are self-incompatible. This means that one tomatillo plant standing all alone will not produce fruit. Tomatillo flowers on one plant need the pollen from at least one other tomatillo plant's flowers in order to produce the tasty green or purple crop. This is a trait present in some plant species that encourages outcrossing, and thus more genetic diversity in succeeding generations. -------------------------------------------------- http://sparks-mexico.com/costalegre/fruit/tomatillo.htm The Mexican husk tomato is highly self-incompatible. When the flowering plants are bagged, no fruits are set. K.K. Pandey, while at the University of Ohio, studied this problem. He reported that only a few seedlings in a group produce rare fruits by natural-selfing and such fruits usually contain no seeds or only a small number. An occasional fruit may have 100 or more. --------------------------------------------------------- http://growingtaste.com/vegetables/tomatillo.shtml Vital note: Tomatillos are self-sterile, so always plant at least two! (So that's why the darn thing didn't fruit . . . .) Recall, though, that the tomatillo is not self-fertile, so that you must have at least two plants to get any actual tomatillos. --------------------------------------------------------- http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/proceedings1990/v1-407.html Tomatillo is self-incompatible, so all plants are hybrids. Pollination is by insects. Cross pollination with other cultivars or other Physalis spp. would be possible if the plants are closer than 500 m. Here is a link that might be useful: 2006 gardenweb link

A few more colorful plants from my garden. There is so much to look at, it feels almost like summer. I have some confused plants in my garden because it just isn't getting as cold as normal. My Zoysia grass lawn is still green, not a summer green, but it's green instead of dormant brown. I have several Blueberries in bloom. Penstemon foliage looks as good as it does all summer. This photo of Ribes White Icicle doesn't begin to capture the brilliance of its yellow fall foliage as the sun hits it. It's just as colorful as if it were flowering. Bright red berries of Skimmia japonica. It could use some shade in the summer as the yellowed leaves suggest but it'll have to wait until the replacement shade tree gets a lot bigger, but it looks so pretty anyway. Calluna 'Firefly' in its fiery winter foliage. I wish I had a larger garden; I'd have an entire bed devoted to the Callunas that color in the winter. They're very pretty in summer too. This Calluna turns yellow gold. A Brunnera that refuses to go completely dormant, but I think it still looks pretty. A lonely Echinacea! This Nandina always rewards me with such a pretty show in winter. Here's a dwarf Mugo pine (Mitsch Mini) that i think looks so pretty in winter because its decorative baby candles look like little white ornaments. I just love my grasses in winter. Here's a very showy Stipa arundinacea. An Oak Leaf Hydrangea can't be beat for fall color and it clings to its colorful leaves for a couple of months.