smom40, I'd agree with cantstopgardening, just weed wack a little too close to the tree in a circle. You might even follow up with some roundup sprayed on the area you cut, just in case you missed any "weeds". Also, WAY back in this thread Brent_In_NoVA mentioned how NoVa would like to seperate itself from the rest of "the Commonwealth". I know he was joking but, personally having lived in southwest virginia, I'd rather live surrounded by the mountain wildflowers and rusted cars than in the traffic and sprawl that NoVa is known by. One of the sad things about the the new houses being built, it actually that they have no sense of place. If camarodreamer67 had not told us that she lived in Southwest VA I'd have no way of knowing by the archetechure or the landscaping. My one single piece of advice would be to help restore a sense of place to your home and landscape. Consider using a native plant or two, or drive around some of the older nice houses and consider integrating some of the features you find and enjoy. I'm not saying you need a tractor tire planter or fake goose, but I'm willing to be there are things in older areas that make your town special and they are worth noticing.

Hi, I'm also plagued with the devils here, although I can't say that they have any color preference, and as they adore Hibiscus syriacus leaves (no signs of flowers yet) it's not specifically a scent issue either. As an experiment I put up pots of white geraniums and placed them next to two roses including their favorite meal (my Hansa rose - I've forgotten what a flower on it looks like, although I do recall they were fragrant). As you may know Hansa is not white, yellow or pink, but a deep magenta color. I had read that white geraniums were a delicacy and the beetles would eat the flowers and fall intoxicated beneath it. Well, it's been nearly a week and not one floret has been damaged. Last year I tried the same experiment with pink geraniums with the same results......Oh, love to spend more time weeding or enjoying my garden instead of hunting Japanese Beetles all day long.

Oldbat--Stoli with fresh grapefruit sounds yummy! I'm enjoying a warm cup of that spicy mulled cider I made for T'day with a glug of rum. What? It's not 5:00 pm here, but I know it is for some of you! Besides, DD is down for her nap; DH and DS are outside installing holiday lights; and I've got a quiet house to myself. Heaven! I'm taking advantage by cooking up a double batch of chunky tomato and meat sauce for lasagne. A pan for tonight, and one to freeze. Plus, some herb and garlic bread to go along. Hey, I just realized I have everything to make another salad using the tangerine-chocolate vinaigrette. I should have mentioned that the initial recipe came from epicurious.com before I modified it. Your DS sounds very adventuresome just like mine. Poor kid never grew up on standard fare like PB sandwiches so now I have trouble coming up with lunches for him to take to school. He's too used to warmed up leftovers, fresh saut�ed zucchini, stir fried broccoli, etc for lunch. Can't do that now that he's in school all day! Deedles--I've seen that recipe some other place and ignored it for my standard ATK recipe. The reviews are so good on the vodka crust that I'm going to give it a try next time. I almost hate to use vodka as its so expensive now that my state privatized liquor sales, but I'll go for it since I bought some gonzo bottles of vodka out of state to make vanilla extract for gifts this year and have some leftover. It's either that or drink the stuff, right? ;)

You can squirrel/racoon proof a pole mounted bird feeder. Use plastic plumbing pipe of 4 inches Inside Diameter or larger. Merely lift the feeder off its pole and slip the pipe over the pole and remount the feeder. For a little extra deterrent, add an umbrella shaped guard at the top, one that made for the skinny pole. Carefully determine the length of the pipe and cut. Cut the pipe a bit long for the first try, temporarily assemble, and measure for the final cut. The pipe will be in the way for getting to the normal clamps for mounting the feeder. To fix this, fasten a pipe flange to the bottom of the feeder and screw in a short length of water pipe. Use a size that just slips inside the aluminum feeder pole. A pipe lenght of 5 inches or so will work. To mount the feeder, put the pipe inside the pole and let the feeder rest on top by its own weight. There's no need to clamp it in place unless you wish to hurricane/tornado proof the installation. Mine has stayed in place in wind gusts up to 60 mph. As an alternative, the pipe could be used in place of the aluminum pole that comes with most feeders. However, you'd have to devise a way to mount the feeder and the pipe would require a larger hole in the groud to install. The lazy way is to slip the pipe over the existing feeder pole. I have deterined by experiment that the pipe must be 4 inch or larger. Racoons can get enough grip on a 3.5 inch pipe to climb it. The pipe must be one piece with no joints. A joint ring or seam may aid the animal's grip. The pipe soon pays for itself in reduced loss of bird feed and feeder damage. The racoons will be greatly frustrated for the first few days until they resign themselves to what drop to the ground. They will, however, dig and tear up the ground under the feeder. Evetually, their visits will diminish. If the racoons have a nest nearby, they will continue to attempt to thwart any barrier between them and food or shelter. Make sure they do not have any way to gain access to a roof of your buildings. Both squirrels and racoons will enlarge any small opening they find on a roof structure to gain entry. Trim away any overhanging tree branches; Remove vines.