I have done a little swapping - but only when I have seen the gardens where the incoming plants come from and know the gardener is as conscious of and concerned about HVX and nemitodes as I am. With this approach I am more concerned about purchasing infected plants than swapped plants. I am amazed at how even established nurseries seem unconcerned about selling infected plants. The owner of one, last year, at least knew what HVX was, but felt he sold only "safe" plants because he didn't buy from Dutch sources-only from American sources. If I found an HVX infection in any of my hosta I would never swap until I felt it was under control. I have in the past maintained a "quarantine garden" for new intoduction I might question. I know transplanting them then can slow development of a hosta, but feel it is the lesser of two evils. I am sure the quarantine approach comes from my tropical fish experiences, where I often quarantine new fish for months before placing them in my aquarium of choice. It is much easier and less risky to treat a couple of fish in a small tank than hundreds of fish in large tanks. Same with hostas. Les

Yama and others, I hope you will start this forum anew. I would like to have a small Japanese garden area in my backyard, but I don't know where to start. I am originally from Hawaii but now reside in Kansas. Needless to say, the plants are very different. I am quite accustomed to Asian styles and would love to begin a small Japanese garden. I will keep checking back to see if this is still alive. I do have many healthy peonies. Alas, my Japanese Maple of nearly ten years had to be removed this past year. We had a late killing frost last year and it was lost along with apples and peaches and all the peonies. The frost was unexpected so no one could prepare. A tragedy.

Plant your vegetables, at the appropriate time for your area of the world. If started seedlings put down a mulch material to aid in suppressing unwanted plant growth, aid in conserving soil moisture, aid in keeping the soil cooler, and (if the appropriate material is used) add organic matter to the soil. If sowing seeds wait until the plants are up and growing before mulching. That soil most likely has the seed of many of those "weeds" you removed and those seeds may well germinate so you will need to go back and remove them as they grow, just be careful to not also take out the plants you want.

Houzz administration.........can you remove this forum? There is no "Yard Doctor" and there hasn't been one since 2006!! Any yard question can be asked just as appropriately on any one of the many other gardening forums. Also when this forum is included in the cross posting feature (which btw does NOT work well at all) many times one is unable to respond because the comment function is disabled. See here: https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/5407974/mountain-laurel-is-yellowing-and-then-dying#n=0 That pretty much defeats the entire purpose of the forum, does it not????? Please fix or remove!!