laceyvail - 'He knew I had just cleared a place for them, but he was trimming a part of the garden that is being re-landscaped as I find the time' As I mentioned they were planted in the garden bed 20'w x 30'l , not in the middle of the lawn. Until I get to it, the area I am replanting gets weeds which neither of us like so he keeps it very short. We were going to cultivate it, but they were calling for rain, which we are really getting over the last few days, and it would have made a muddy mess for the dog to run through. The butterfly bushes are going to be treated as a group planting in an open area. They will be that area's focal point hopefully. My butterfly bushes never reach more than 8', if that. I keep them trimmed to allow for more blooms (on side shoots). Has anyone else ever kept them trimmed to allow for side shoots? Thank you. Jane

Cyndrix, the ingredients you listed are only the fertilizer/nutrient portion of the Scott's product - the 'feed' part of a weed 'n feed. They are harmless to the hydrangea. The issue is the weed killer/herbicide component, which has the ability to kill any non-grass like plant. As mor has indicated, rinsing the plant and flushing the soil immediately surrounding it is all you can do other than wait. Sometimes larger woody plants will survive the herbicide as it takes much more product to level them than it does for smaller weeds but you can expect damaged foliage and stunted growth. If it is any consolation, been there, done that! In my early gardening days (pre, pre-horticultural degree!!) I also used a hose attached weed and feed product without considering drift or spray and in fact deliberately sprayed a paver walkway interplanted with creeping thyme as it was so weedy - the stuff would kill all those weeds, right?? Sure it did.....and all the thyme as well!! A non-selective broadleafed weed killer cannot tell the difference between a weed and a desirable plant.....it's all the same to them. Just another reason why I so dislike these types of products.

CG, I'm glad you don't have MY luck! If it had been me - that door would've landed on me. Seriously - it would have waited till just the right moment, then SMASH! I'm literally an accident waiting to happen. (Really - I had wind, the only "gust" that day, blow a full sheet of plywood onto me.. Hit me in the back of the head!). I'm so glad to hear that I'm not the first person to do this type of thing - thanks, all - for sharing your stories. Carol - I read about your flooded house in another post - I'm so sorry for you, glad it was a rental & not your home - but a disaster is a disaster, taking your work, time & money that I'm sure you have other plans for. Brickeyee - that's exactly what I'm worried about! I only know enough to know that I don't "know enough". This is going to be... Interesting, at best. Oh well, ceiling needs painted anyway. I've never finished drywall, & I realize the texture-matching is going to be a bear. I'm (almost) 5'3", so a ceiling is the LAST place I'd choose to start learning. However - it could be worse. I could've actually broken my femur... & it could still be too hot for jeans, forcing me to explain why the entire back & side of my thigh is black/purple, to perfect strangers that would inevitably ask. (& I would start making up different crazy stories, each time, but it'd be hard to come up with a story more crazy than the truth - I fell through the ceiling? Who'd believe that?).

I'm going out to paint our new picket fence this morning. I've never painted anything in my life, ever, so this should be interesting. I'm sure our neighbor will come over and say hello while I'm out there. He told me the exact paint to get and he'll want to check on how I'm doing. He comes over anytime we're out, and not in an annoying way. He's a nice guy, and we'd have been lost without him for the last 10+ years. His vast knowledge about all things construction, his willingness to offer help when not being asked, he's a good person and dh and I like him very much. Having said that he really is being competitive, I'm not imagining it. It's all lighthearted though. He comes over and walks around and looks at all my lilacs which are small, and then he says how large his have grown. My lilacs have filled out more than they've grown taller They have grown taller don't get me wrong, about 6 inches taller, but they have filled in more than anything else.