Thanks, ZM! I live in a "city" -- ok, maybe suburban (anything with sidewalks to me is "The City" :-) but I have quite a bit of 'growing for wild-life' landscaping on my postage-stamp sized lot: for the birds & butterflies. One of the 'benefits' of living in an urban area is one does not have to worry about deer, groundhogs (just squirrels [and that's only because I feed the birds], and very few bugs --not even mosquitoes!), so I can plant pretty much what I want. Anyway, I digress. So to answer your question, I would have to say the sunflowers are for the bees (during the developing stages) and birds (after the seeds have come in) -- but also as something beautiful to look at from my dining room window when the sun is setting during the summer: the bright yellow petals would just glow from the late afternoon until sunset from this west facing window -- about 6-8' tall specimens were the perfect size for viewing this spectacular site. When I was successful, I would have about a 6-8 large-headed sunflowers in a row. This caught on to others in the neighborhood and some people had as many as 25 in their small patches of ground. I liked that idea better and since then have been trying to get that same "field of sunflowers" effect -- there is enough space for that amount but, unfortunately, my yield has been '0'. I also have another area along my fence line that would look great for a 'wall of sunflowers' but I have never (even when the first area did yield some) been able to grow any there. That would also be an ideal location, not only esthetically (so I don't have to look at my neighbor's "junk yard") but also because that is where my birdfeeders/'pond' is located -- so the birds would not have to go far from their MacDonald's fast food bar to enjoy some fresh food too. I am hoping that your suggestions work because I would also like to take some seed from the best flowers to use for subsequent years -- but so far, that's only a dream. :-) Just talking to you guys has made me so excited just thinking about cleaning up for the new season. I am very concerned, however, since the hydrangeas were already putting out their buds in January and I had not even pruned them back yet -- that usually doesn't happen until March/April -- but the mild winter played havoc on some of the plants. I suspect I won't get much in the way of flowers this year. But, if I have a "wall of sunflowers" that will make up for the loss. :-) :-) Thanks!!

John - find someone that's been around awhile and has established credibility, like Josh, and pay attention. I'm not dissing the other posters, it's just that I know Josh knows what he's doing from seeing him on a number of other forums (I don't come here all that often). About your thumbs: Fortunately, the speed with which you arrive at green thumb status depends much more on how much you know about the plant sciences than how much experience you have. Experience is most valuable when it's used to validate something you've already learned; in most other cases it's what you get after you've just did something wrong and you're at the point where you have to do it all over again. If you're hoping to move ahead by guesswork - well, you can see how long THAT's going to take. Try to avoid guesswork as much as possible. Learn all you can, and try to look at things from the plant's point of view. You'll soon discover it's very often a whole lot different than yours and that of most growers. If you're still around and at all curious about what I said, I'll link you to a couple hrs worth of reading that should eliminate most of the pitfalls likely to be in your immediate path. Al

Good points, NJ. People growing up today are largely doing so without much of any contact with any form of nature, period. And I'm purposely using the term 'nature' loosely. The other day, I had to take a bunch of youngsters out to show them what wetlands are, the plants and animals there and so on. One little girl said her mom doesn't ever let her walk in "high plants". Sheesh. Another young couple I know built on a "wooded lot". So there's woods behind the house, but their little Austin can't play in it. You know, poison ivy, other deadly things like that. I asked his folks if there WAS any poison ivy out in that little speck of woods. They both shruggingly responded in a way that told me that A) They had no idea if there was any out there, and B) They wouldn't know the plant if they saw it. Contrast that to when we were kids; all we did is play out in the woods and creek. The problem, as I see it, is that millions of people will not care about things they've never experienced. Now what forum is this......? Oh yeah, conifers! +oM

I'm not a kitty person either but I'm wondering could she have had a small stroke? I'd ask the vet if that's a possible explanation. I have a friend whose dog had a stroke. The dog was paralyzed on his left side. Not all strokes paralyze, of course, but this one did. The vet wanted to put the dog down and my friend, who took his dog to work with him every day wouldn't hear of it. He took him home and fed him bee pollen and put aloe vera juice in his water (both have to be started out with very small doses gradually built up) and the dog completely healed. That amazed the vet. Maybe not pertinent, but I thought I'd throw this in.