this was fun reading through your notes I have not bought so much, it seems this spring I seem to have so much already Did buy some colourful annuals I bring several large pots either into my solarium room or into the garage Depending what is in them Surprisingly I have found that if I put the pots, large pots, of chrysanthemums into the garage, not cutting them back at all they seem to survive and this year I left geraniums in the large pots, even the Martha washington ones and they all survived As well I have tropical stuff in the pots. I am down south for the entire winter and do not bring the pots out until I get back home early May I do put them out then just to get them out of the house and put some plastic over them as the weather can yet be cold So I always have lots of stuff awaiting revival. I stick in a few annuals into the pots some of the pots. One of the best places to get good deals on plants are the horticultural society plant sales Most often they are mature plants. but I missed two of them last weekend attending a family reunion out of town I am looking for more Japanese Tree peonies The flower does not last long but the plant stays good looking all season They tolerate cold and drought and neglect which makes them ideal as they none the less are stunning

Hi! I love PA and its history. I lived out in the eastern part of the state for a while and the Harley Davidson plant is pretty cool...so are the little towns of Amish (as suggested above). If you're heading up to Erie (Presque Isle is GREAT!!!!) you could hit Oil City and check out the great old mansioins and museums. If you're heading north, check out the Allegheny Nat'l Park, too...there are tons of great places to stay for a night in a cabin on the lake. If you head south, you can always hit the city of Pittsburgh and take in the history there. The science center, station square, museums and strip district are always fun...even for those of us born and raised out here!!!!!!! You could always hit the PS grand canyon, too...heard it is beautiful! Hope you enjoy the trip and I can't wait to hear where you went!!! Take care and journey safe! ~k

"It's easier to beg for forgiveness than to ask for permission". How true! Well played sir. "last weeks sproutings of WR's will overtake them in a few days!". Even funnier knowing it's true! You know there are some plams I really like but there just ain't no use gowing them cuz they do nothing,heres my short list-S.minor,T.nanus,C.humilus( a larger plant would probably remove this from the list but cold hardiness has to be factored in)Needle palms,these are hard to establish this far north but this is one I will probably keep trying as it is extremely hardy!Blue needle palm,I would like to try this again as I think my small one may have come back,they are very sloooow and I will replace with S.louisiana-anyway you get the point,this logic reverses when you consider something like a Washy,they may not be super cold hardy but they repay you with incredible growth!

Lots of good information has been posted already, much of which I totally agree with. Winter is definitely the best time to do the heavy clearing because, as noted, no bugs, and the layers of clothing that are needed don't cause a problem. After trying many different garments I've decided that the Filson tin cloth stuff works best. The multi-flora rose is really tough on everthing else. I wear a pair of the double tin cloth chaps, and the logging jacket. I usually burn the stuff as I'm cutting. I've found that the rose and honeysuckle don't stack well, leaving large piles that just become breeding grounds for new plants that sprout from the seeds. Burning also makes it possible to work in some really nasty weather as you have a source of heat. I use a lot of hand tools, with a good pair of loppers and a hand saw (Fanno makes a wonderful saw for this) being the most useful. Hedge shears come in handy to cut a way into the base of the plant. If you are burning, once the plant has been cut at the base you can often just drag it to the fire. Spring, summer and fall I spend on maintenance of the areas cleared during the winter. In the spring I can usually cut back the new growth with a grass whip on a heavy duty brush cutter. As the growth gets older and tougher I change to the plastic blades and eventually the brush blade. Or a scythe (see scythesupply.com). That tool has been very useful, and very relaxing. I have been using sort of an all-purpose blade, but am thinking of getting a blade just for brush. For larger areas I use a DR mower. There are many things about the mower that I don't like, but it does what the DR folks says it will do, and more. As for the native plants, I do try to save them, but I've found that most will come back if given a chance. So my initial approach is to cut everything but the trees, then when I'm doing maintenance I can be more selective about what I'm going to trim back. A large supply of survey flags will come in handy. Whenever I see something that I want to look at again (like when it is leafing out in spring), or that I really want to save, I stick in a flag. I do this because after clearing the brush I usually scatter some grass seed. The ground is usually almost bare under the rose, honeysuckle and autumn olive. It's amazing how fast the grass will come up and hide all those interesting plants that I might want to save. Each spring I buy 50-100 lbs of seed from Ernst Seeds in western PA. They have an assortment of reclamation mixes that are not too expensive