Pappy, Although you make a good argument against secondary poisoning, there seem to be several Internet sites that warn about it when using anticoagulants. I don't have any first-hand experience witnessing secondary poisonings, but Googling "brodifacoum secondary poisoning" pulls up a lot of sites. However on primary unintentional poisoning, I've witnessed it first-hand. When I was a kid, I lost an Airdale terrier to rodent bait. It was a puppy, and we weren't sure it got into the bait, until it was too late. However, I don't know if it was an anticoagulant poison, or something like zinc phosphide. Either way, with second generation anticoagulants that kill with a single feed, or zinc phosphide, I think there could be risk. My original point was that with non-label use of rat bait, if an accidental poisoning happened, it could incur more liability than with PoP alone. Additionally it doesn't appear dogs and cats are as susceptible to hypercalcemia, as rodents are, so there is probably less danger of unintentional poisoning when PoP is used as the sole active ingredient.

What a glorious garden, silverkelt, with stunning Quadra that made me sit up straight to look at it in admiration. And your weather does make the lush green that some of us crave, but can't have. Since childhood, I have always been amazed that my home in southwest Idaho is in the same latitude as is yours in Maine, yet our climates couldn't be more different. We do share a short growing season, though, and I find it intriguing that all the companion plants you grow, I also grow, and they love it here. And, of course, there is nothing like a Maine potato, unless it's an Idaho potato. Thanks for posting these glimpses of your wonderful garden. Diane

Jay, Three inches in 11 months is so incredibly low! If y'all didn't have deep sand, i guess all your trees would be in really bad trouble by this point. I am sorry that rain missed you. Like Lisa, I was hoping it would hit your place. That's really sad about the ranchers having to liquidate. It is so heartbreaking to see that happen when some of them have spent decades building their breeding lines. We went through that here during/immediately after the 2005/06 drought. It isn't just the financial losses either. You know, it is hard to see lifelong ranchers feeling so disheartened, demoralized and defeated by the climate. I hope y'all get a break from all those fires soon. I know your firefighters must be exhausted. The lighting-ignited fires are so dangerous. One day a couple of years ago we were out fighing one of those fires, and lightning was everywhere all around us. I was so worried that one of our firefighters would be struck by lightning. Tracy, We're dancing the happy dance for you. Hope you get more rain. The best thing about the rain here, piddly amount though it may have been, wasn't even the rain---it was the rain-cooled air! For a couple of hours you could walk outside without feeling like you were going to drop dead. Did y'all notice Arlene came ashore in Mexico. So, at least they are getting rain now, which is good because they're having a drought too. Dawn

Nik, I agree with Ingrid. I happen to love this rose, but not for the individual blooms. It makes a great impression, but more for impact than detail. Though is does go through a (short) phase of lovely buds, the open bloom is at best described as "messy". At full bloom, the petals are quilled, but "arranged" (there IS no arrangement, lol) in a haphazard form...imagine a pink octopus with Attention Deficit Disorder. Howeverrrrrrrr...when it blooms, it explodes. It may have something to do with the fact it's one of my hardier teas, almost never suffering winter dieback. That shouldn't be an issue in your climate anyway, so if you want a bang of color, BS will make you smile. For me, in my less than tea-friendly climate it's definitely a shrub, but occasionally puts out a longer sprout. Those bits appear mostly as late-season growth and are the only winter-kill it gets. So I do think it wants to be bigger than my growing season will let it be. Mine is a fairly bushy 4', maybe 5' if you count the outlier sprigs, lol. I'm sure it would be larger for you, but can't make a guess if it would climb or not. John