I gave my plants their first haircut around June 1st or 2nd. I use the small hedge shears and they make short work of this task, it really doesn't take long at all. While I'm at it, I trim back any dying bulb foliage. Usually I trim only once in June, but will play it by ear. This year I trimmed more perennials than ever before - Asters, Boltonia, Phlox, Solidago, Helianthus, Heliopsis, Rudbeckia, Monarda, Eupatorium, Mums, etc. With some of them, I cut the whole plant back, with some (like Monarda didyma) I only trim about 1/2 the tallest stalks. This way, I hope to extend the bloom time - the stalks that weren't pruned bloom earlier, the ones that were bloom later.

@ justmetoo----His now 21 year old son assaulted me, not the one that lives with us now. His mother does feed him stories and has for years let them in on the finances and done everything in her power to cause trouble and discontent. To be honest, in my opinion, this all went off the rails with this particular child when WE bought him a car. After my husband and I did this he kept the ca for about 2 months and decided that he didn't want it anymore. I had a truck that we were not using so SS came to me and said he wanted to buy it because, a. he wanted a truck, b. it would teach him what it was like to have financial responsibility. I should have seen through that right there, because I don't know many kids that would say that. I was honestly against it because I saw nothing but trouble, but after all the hounding I got from my husband and SS, I gave in just to shut them up. I stipulated that there would be rules, the vehicle would not be his until he paid it in full, it could not be driven out of the local area further than 50 miles, and since it was in my name and under my insurance he was not to haul all his friends around and he had to let us know where he was going. Keep in mind at the time he was 16, so I don't think I was being to unreasonable. That was fine for about 2 months and suddenly he stopped paying (payments were $50/month), breaking curfew, rude, sassy, etc. He wants to put the vehicle under his mothers insurance, because she doesn't have to know where he goes. Then he decides he doesn't want this vehicle and he wants to sell it and buy something else. Now I have no way of knowing what my husband and his son discussed or concocted, and they are famous for making little deals and leaving me out of the loop. (That's another issue) So, I agreed to allow him to sell it with the stipulation that he only keep what was leftover from what he owed us because I just wanted to be rid of the situation.. Well you would have thought I was asking for his first born, because suddenly he doesn't understand why he has to pay for something that had been given to me in the first place and why did I not just give him the vehicle. So he sells it and when my husband does not turn over the full amount to him, he says, "Mom told me you would not give me what you owed me!" HAHA BINGO! So I told my husband, BM is obviously planting seeds in his head, which you can't reason with this woman she is a nut job, we have tried. He gets a new car with his mother and adds it to his insurance and in even more attitude, he came over one night to fight with my husband about this entire transaction. Do I know if my husband has lied to him? No, I do not, however that is no excuse to talk to your father that way. In my opinion, bottom line SS is mad because he did not get what he wanted from us. This is the same child that asked his Dad to change the custody agreement so that he could stay with us more because he did not like living at his mothers house because everyone fights there all the time, per him. My husband even gave him $400 to register his new car that he got with his BM with the understanding that he would pay it back because he is working. This was 6 months ago and the boy has yet to make any attempt to give us anything, in fact he told his Dad in the past few weeks, "I don't have any F*&^ing money, so why would I give you any? I'm not paying you back." NICE! My husband left his son OVER $300 for lunch, food, etc whilst he has been away, gives him money to eat when the SS is at work, school, to go out with his friends....but the boy has a job, he is already in college. I feel that we have done so much for him and all he does in expect more and disrespect more. He will walk right past me in my home and look right through me and not say a word. I feel that I have done more for him in the 5 years I have been married than his own mother does for him. Its just a mess and it makes me very sad because it was NOT always like this. We used to do things as a family, have dinner together, go on trips and now I can't stand the sight of him.

Never had a designated night of the week for anything. Ok, I was raised Catholic, which meant Lenten Fridays were meat-less (but not fish-less) back in the day. If I'm not cooking, it will be a salad. I've done one pizza takeout during COVID. (Otherwise it has merely been breakfast takeouts, which I eat while driving to my next destination.) I don't care for sandwiches unless grilled or toasted. I guess I would consider leftovers simply re-heated as "no cook", and even that take out pizza had to be re-heated as the location is nearly a half hour from home, and I hate cold re-congealed cheese. I do often make large meals, to provide for leftovers. Salads can take a variety of forms, depending on what's in the fridge or in the house. Right now, local tomato season has begun, which makes this a logical main ingredient. Or, yogurt may make a good base component.

Diane not only is that a stunning example of a Black Lace Elderberry, but also I'm amazed that it let you prune it that way. Mine is a total diva about pruning. Cut mine anywhere back of the blooms even slightly - like maybe tip pruning or cutting off a few crispy leaves - and the entire branch rather dramatically dies down to the ground. Every time. No exceptions. I even have some thick branches that are totally dead that I'm leaving for fear of disturbing the rest. I've gotten so I don't do anything but finger prune off the blooms and I do even that gingerly so that I don't disturb anything else about Her Highness's eccentric hair-do. Mine is robustly winter hardy but after shedding 50% of her branches if I dare to brush against them too roughly, mine is still rather sparse at about 6-7' of limp "I vant to be alone" lounging against the 5' wire green fence I use to keep her together and out of harm's way. Yep, she's my Greta Garbo of shrubs. Suited for Sweden and lovely when she's happy but a spoiled headache when she's not. Cynthia