Hey, thanks for sympathetic shoulders, I do appreciate them. You know, at first I was kind of in shock taking it in, after having an incredibly gorgeous start for all my plants this spring and working so hard on weekends getting things spit-spot, but was thinking as I went to pick up my kids for dinner, about how a quite-venerable account of a guy named Job put it in perspective. Here's this scenario in chapter 1 where his livestock get rustled by the local thug-gangs, all his baa-baa's become black sheep when lightning does the "insta-mutton-on-the-barbie" thing out in the fields, a tornado visits the house of his oldest son while all the kids are having a birthday party there and whisks them off to Oz, only there's no Glinda or ruby slippers bringing them back, and he didn't shake a fist at heaven, just remembers who gave him all his gifts in the first place. So I said his words out loud for some attitude reshaping (a little redux of v21, second half) and was glad for all the stuff that's still alive and will get back on its feet, maybe delay a harvest or so, but that's okay. I'm entrusted to bandage up some bruised figgies and berries, and sweep up one heck of a lot of debris. Plus hope we don't see another repeat for awhile! fruitnut, you may be more used to it down there in Texas, but honestly, we folks in central Indiana are bewildered by the amount of damaging hail this spring, there's been more incidents of it within the last two months than I can remember for about twenty years of living here! The stuff truly packs a punch (sorry to hear about the greenhouse, doesn't seem like plants can be safe anywhere once the sky starts falling), and all we can do is be thankful when it's less than baseball sized and our cars aren't caught in it, also. I'll give them first aid tomorrow, for now, sleep's a must - glad you could empathize with one of those gardener's nightmare stories, of which I hope we all have _very few_ to share, now and in the future. Sherry

It is my understanding that cats and foxes do fine together. But not coyotes or fishercats which are pretty darn vicious and will tear cats into fluff balls. What I cannot understand, since New England and other north eastern locations are long settled areas, is why there is such a deer and coyote population inside the small towns and city suburbs. Down here, of course, we have no problem of deer in the towns. If they showed up, some Cajun would be boiling rice and it would be on the table for supper. Most we find are the smaller wildlife creatures, like possums and coons, squirrels and a few rabbits, and of course snakes and a few alligators. Rats? well, they hang out in clumps of bamboo. Since they feel safer at night, the owls are helpful in controlling their numbers. With the movie Ratatouille I had a dilemma because the "hero" was a rat....not a mouse, which seems more acceptable .... but an animated RAT. It was a good story though.

Here is a picture of my Fried Bananas with Regal Splendor. It is located on the southwest outside edge of a multi-stem crabapple, so it receives quite of bit of sun, but also some shade from the spreading branches. I grow a variegated sedum and Stoke's asters right in front of this hosta. Grows very fast, no slug problem, sweet smelling flowers. Picture taken this June. Here is a picture taken last year a bit later in the season showing it's setting and size after a few years. FB is on the left side.

I think Bkay and I had the same issue with some of our pots last year. I put them up too dry and they were in a protected area, off of the ground (on shelves). I was so worried about them rotting that they didn't have what they needed to successfully overwinter. Them being off the ground allows moisture to wick away even better than when they are lower, it seems. I also experimented with cloth pots last year and that allows moisture to wick away from all sides, so lost those. I think I lost about 10% of what I had potted up. That's an ouch, in my books. Basically, some of the smalls and the cloth pots. Live and learn. Didn't lose any that were larger and in quart-size plastic pots or larger. Bob Solberg told me to put them up "soaking wet", which is contrary to what I had heard elsewhere "damp, but not moist". I think zone is a HUGE factor in how you overwinter in pots, as well. Humidity in the air, ambient temps., etc.