It would help if y'all started a new thread for each new query. Include a picture (preferably showing the whole plant, a close up of leaves, and flowers if any), and tell us how big it is and where you found the plant. Knowing whether it's in Florida or Michigan can help ID a plant. Mary, I would say posting your three plants in one thread works, but piggybacking on another thread gets confusing, especially since others have done the same here. Also, there's a Name That Plant forum here; the people who hang out there are friendly and knowledgeable about a wide variety of plants. ----------------------- Now that I got that off my chest, the first one Mary posted looks like a carrot relative--maybe fennel or queen ann's lace. #2 might be a hosta relative. I think #3 will have yellow flowers, but I don't know the name. Maybe an artemissia relative?

Hi Plllog! "That is, I know it's possible, but might not be in your budget." See, there's the crux of it. This little beverage center idea of mine was not in the original budget. (Nor, alas, were new drywall in the livingroom and halls, the gorgeous walnut top on my used cabinet island, the matching gorgeous top that will soon be on the new media cabinet and the near full gut of the bathroom.) And we're still determined to get through remodeling our ugly duckling without taking out a loan or dipping into savings. Conventional wisdom says: Wait until the coffers are full again but that's so hard to do. First off, I'm a cheapskate. Even if the goose who laid the golden egg waddled up onto my deck and built a nest, I'm not sure I would willingly pay someone to mess up the walls I just paid to fix. Second, I'm not quite cheap enough. My new kitchen is starting to look pretty good but, gosh, it would look so much better if the microwave and coffee maker didn't take up so much room on that one counter. I'm willing to spend a little bit more to change that, especially since I'm going to have a piece of countertop leftover that should be just the right size. Still, it's nice to know that it's possible. Maybe when the coffers ARE full again I'll put a tile counter outside on my deck to shade the golden goose should she happen to wander by ;) Thanks for your help!

Is there a reason why you want to wait til mid-December before you plant? I've been known to plant tulip bulbs very, very late. June. So equal to your December. By then, the bulbs would be showing shoots, and if light was present to the bulbs which patiently waited their turn, then those shoots would be green. A colleague advised me to plant any bulb with green shoots quite shallow, so that the green was above the soil. He said otherwise the shoots would burn. So I did that. Those bulbs were not for my garden and so were not available for me to play with after their flowering. I cannot say how they fared but I would guess that they flowered fine. I think their after-care should have included some protection from the summer sun and heat. If you are not dealing with thousands of bulbs (and I suspect you aren't) maybe you could keep them away from light so that their shoots do not go green. Then you can plant them at the correct depth (about 4 inches).

It depends on your goals. If you want to fix it right, remodel the deck to rectangular, so it doesn't look like there is a bite out of it. Remove the patio tiles/pavers and the edging pieces. Remove the layer of sand (to at least 8") and replace with topsoil. Create a planting plan and then plant foundation plants.