Lol, Mike. I actually like squirrels with or without the gravy, lol. I love to watch them but I just don't want him digging in my plants and stealing my bulbs. I curse my dog for doing that as well but I love her too. I saw him on the next door neighbors roof as I drove off today and went around the block and came back and sure enough he was in my yard, lol. I went by the house they tore down and guess what I found. 2 of the white lillies were popping up thru the bare dirt right next to a bull dozer, lol. I was so happy. Even though I felt like crap I went to my friends house nearby and got her shovel and when I got back the workers were back from lunch. I said excuse me I have to just grab these flower bulbs real quick and I'll be out of your hair. They just stopped and watched and said have a good day. These are staying in a pot in the garage til I can get a feeder for Red. (Thats his new name) he is the only one I have seen in the neighborhood and thank goodness no armadillos. Those things are nasty. I stopped by the organic nursery after that and she told me to put some orange oil around the beds and it might deter the critters. That crap was $17 a bottle, I hope it works. I got that and some fish emulsion and 2 bags of ladybug potting soil that doesn't have peat in it. She said that is what is attracting the fungus gnats. It was $48.99 after she have me a 20% discount for whining, lol. I got home and went out the back door and my Naughty Nick was missing from its pot! This was devil dogs doing I am sure. I wanted to strangle her. It looks like she unpotted it and carried it up the hill and left it there. Its not chewed on so I potted it back up and will hope for the best. I should have stayed home. I feel like crap again now. Going to drink a bottle of Nyquil and go to bed, lol.

Before you decide to get a Jack, give some consideration to how much time you can give them to burn off all that energy. They need LOTS of exercise, so long walks every day, or plenty of room to run and run should be in the plan. If they don't get enough exercise, the result is often manifest in unwanted behavior patterns - chewing, barking, aggressiveness, dismantling the couch, just for something to do ..... We had a Westie (West Highland White Terrier) a while back. They were bred specifically to keep the castles in Scotland free from vermin. Ours also took great joy in guarding the yard and denying entry to anything that moved, but didn't walk on two legs. She was hell on squirrels &, unfortunately, slow moving birds. So smart, she would feign no interest in birds & walk away out of their sight. She would set up to develop a full head of steam just as she rounded the corner of the house. The birds would scatter, but often she would leap and snatch them from the air. Squirrels fared no better, She would latch onto a squirrel & shake it senseless, rarely with even a scratch. Terriers are indeed fearless, and have no sense of their own size, which is often a hoot. Enjoy your new Pal, FP. No matter how you treat him, he'll make you the center of his world, but if you treat him well and show him love, he'll give an extra measure to your relationship and you'll have something very special Al

Thank all of you for allowing me to infiltrate your forum, despite ranting about plants that you are gardening with sans difficulty. To me, the problem is exactly the concept that gardeners like to share the wealth, and the receiver of bounty may find the behavior to be far different than the donor. That's how invasive species get started unintentionally. Why aren't we all on the same page? Some of it is commercial ventures like to make money as easily as possible. Which NE states have had to ban the production and sale of certain non-native ornamentals (like Berberis) because vendors wouldn't quit selling them, despite the pretty obvious effect this species was having on natural lands and plant communities? It is really hard to overcome this tendency, as well as the one where people can't fathom that an ornamental plant can behave badly. That's why I made the cockroach comment. I don't know too many folks that would defend these varmints (or rats) where they threaten our humble abodes. I consider most of the invasive species of plants to be "rooted roaches." Some people live too far north for roaches to be a problem, but...I bet they wouldn't have them around, even one, even if it couldn't reproduce! And they sure wouldn't share them with their friends. But gardeners are going to do what they are going to do. I just believe in providing the information - for them to do what they will with it - and not belabor and/or overmoralize. Well, maybe a little bit. A long time ago I made a comparison to growing known invasives to use of lead-based paint. As a society, we've decided that the dangers outweighed the benefits of a very good product, because the dangers couldn't be quashed and the danger was long-lasting. This might be the way to think about some of these plants that currently might eke by on current climate and growing seasons, which we know very well are not static. I mentioned above that I had planted a number of selections of Miscanthus sinensis around the Valley here. When I read up on their propensity to escape, and observed it myself around central KY, I determined that these plants would not be long for this world. I am just now reaching the end of that endeavor. I burned several large clumps in place last weekend to destroy the seedheads, and managed to singe two of my very nicest Ilex opaca ('Big Daddy' and 'Judy Evans') in the process. They had made quite the garden pairing. Today, out on the tundra, I cut back all the clumps that I could find that were the escapes and burned them. In the spring, I'll have to dislodge the root wads, or hit them with a graminicide to finish the job. I drive by the site of a former nursery that specialized in ornamental grasses and rhododendrons (what a KY mix!) daily on my way to work in Louisville. This nursery occupied about twenty acres, and that field (observable from I-64 in Shelby County) is now one vast mass of Miscanthus sinensis. You wouldn't believe it unless you saw it happen. I will get a picture of this site this winter. If someone cares to re-educate me on how to post a picture in a thread here, I'll share the scene. I took a read through the Garden Rant link. Some notable statements: "...environmentally neutral - neither a detractor nor a contributor." "He's also friends with Doug Tallamy... Well, I know Rick Darke personally too. He's lectured several times in Louisville, and I took him for a ride through Cherokee Park one winter. He's a fine fellow, and I admire his ethic and design/gardening style. He has quite the eye for arranging native and non-native plants in a way where you wouldn't notice that those plants wouldn't normally belong together. I don't agree with him on the subject of Miscanthus, though, for the reasons I've mentioned above. Also, if one of your gardening goals is to contribute to supporting native systems and local fauna, a non-contributor (which could be replaced by a native contributor) doesn't seem like the choice to make. Saying he's friends with Doug Tallamy is really throwing up a smoke screen! I just listened to a long lecture presented by Doug at the national ASLA conference in Philadelphia in early October. What a great presentation! He has the greatest photos of bugs you may ever want to see, especially the caterpillars. The thrust of his presentation: every native plant you put in the ground (especially ones fed on by native caterpillars) is a huge leverage to supporting those populations, as well as the rest of the fauna that feed on the caterpillars! Think about it... All the birds that eat caterpillars, and feed their young, etc., need those beasts around to support their life cycle. If the plants the caterpillars eat are not there, then they don't exist to support the birds, the birds don't raise as many young, and you see the spiral that begins. I highly recommend everyone take a look-see at getting Doug Tallamy's book Bringing Nature Home: How Native plants Sustain Wildlife in Our Gardens (Tallamy, D.W. 2007. Timber Press. Portland, Oregon). You can see more about the text at http://bringingnaturehome.net and you can delve into all things Doug at http://copland.udel.edu/~dtallamy/ if you haven't had enough. Apocalyptic? I don't mean to be, and I don't demean gardeners who plant what they like. I just think that there is a lot of opportunity for illumination, and every little bit helps to see the light and the big picture. Runk, trun is a wise man, in more ways than one... On another site, I've often offered up proposals for plant naming; trun has inspired another. Miscanthus sinensis Intensely Incestuous

haaahaha...i now don't feel so bad knowing that a family of squirrels has taken up residence in my garage. good thing my garage is not attached to the house. but they have torn a huge hole in the back of my garage, and it seems that they are not even scared of me anymore. when i go in the garage, the mother squirrel does not even move from her spot up in the rafters. i swear today that one of them was waiting for me on my back porch....wtf?? thankfully my husband has just bought a giant assault rifle type pellet gun and is excited to use it. the squirrels have done so much damage to our garage, i almost feel like we might as well tear it down and build a new one. they have ripped down ALL the insulation, and the holes are ridiculous. so...good luck to all you squirrel hunters out there...and just remember...they might be cute..BUT THEY ARE STILL RATS!!!!