LeapingFrogLady...can I please please please get one of those hibiscus plants? I have toying with the idea of tomatoes, I would love to get one of those toos. As for vegetables from me; I have some Purple Tomatillio seedlings that came up last week. still small but should be transplant size soon. Nasturtiums can be used an herb (real spicy). I tend to throw them in my salads to liven it up. I have plenty of those. Columbine seeds just germinated this week as well. I have a list of more stuff locate up top. Thanks zJoe This post was edited by zitro_joe on Wed, Apr 3, 13 at 14:32

Well, this thread has turned into a wealth of gardening information! Some of the plants I have read about, others are completely new, which is wonderful. Gyr_falcon, your yard and plants are gorgeous. I wish I had your gardening passion, it shows in your pics. I lived in SoCal most of my life and have never seen the plant species you have (that I can remember anyways), it's really lovely. MsRose. I too am jealous of your Echinacea, they are one of my favorite flowers. I see now that they can grow in our zone too! Beautiful roses as well. I was thinking about trying the double knockout, so I'm a bit disappionted to read kswl's and javiwa's posts about them dying. Robo!!! You just simply rock! You're so generous with your pictures, advice and information, thank you so much. I'm feeling pretty lukki that we're in the same zones too, your gardens are so pretty! I find it very hard to believe that you are a beginner and/or a lazy gardener! Our previous owner was a landscaper by trade and ignored his own gardens, add that we are not gardeners and had a ton of inside work to do too and here we are. During her first visit, my sister told me we have bleeding heart in the back which are in shade, then my dh found some berry bushes in one bed which are very thorny, we had hostas and day lilies in the front but I'm not sure if they will grow back this year. Some daffodils and tulips are trying to come up, but a guy who cleaned our leaves for us dropped them all in the beds and the are buried. We have so much clean up to do it is overwhelming. We did transplant some forsythia bushes on the side of the house last year and they are starting to bloom. So far on my list I have red twig dogwood with a base of lemon grass set along the border of the property to help with some privacy from the road, hydrangea under the front window, a mix of blooming perennials in front of the deck and I really really want a Japanese Maple which is my favorite of trees. There is just so much to choose from. I will look into the azaleas as well. hee hee. I drive for work and have had my eyes on the yards. Lots of flowers starting to bloom, it really is so pretty.

Well, I just did the official count of roses after doing the annual June death march (to make a final judgment of roses that didn't survive the winter), and the present total came out to 1140 roses. I've officially joined the premium level of rose nut, which apparently hits if you have more than 1000 roses. Now as for time spent, I'm sure you're thinking that I either: a) spend every waking minute in the garden and have no other job, or b) hire out most of the rose care to someone. I don't do any of the above, since I have a more than full-time job and family with kids at home, as well as something vaguely resembling "a life". Also, I'd never trust my roses to any outside person, particularly the usual "mow and blow" services. We do our own lawn too. So what are the tips that keep me mostly sane? Well - as sane as anyone with over 1000 roses can be. 1. I don't spray anything. No spray is lazy gardening, and it makes the roses either shape up or ship out. I used to spray Liquid Fence once a year to discourage the bunnies, but I think they're so bewildered by the vast array of choices in my yard that no one plant suffers too much. Besides, my son complained of the Liquid Fence smell, so I don't even do that. Ditto for insecticidal soap - I've gotten a good balance between good and bad bugs and I don't see any rose slugs or aphids any more. 2. I get reasonably regular rains. As several folks mentioned, that is a key for successful gardens and a real time sink if not there. During our dry seasons in August (and this year, June) when we don't get any appreciable rain, I water all the garden beds for an hour a week each with overhead sprinklers. This involves setting the sprinkler on trips from inside A/C at 5 minutes a bed (maybe 1/2 hour total time). As I said, lazy gardening. I also plant all new roses with the Watersorb water crystals, so they have moisture reserves to protect them against dry temperatures. These crystals die down after a year or so, so they learn to survive on their own once established. 3. I don't weed, I mulch. As halloblondie said, there are few garden things that are more effective labor savers than organic mulch. For me, I can weed anything that pops up in my garden beds with two fingers, except dandelions or bindweed. 4. I make garden efforts do double (or triple) duty. For instance, I winter protect with bagged leaves rolled to the edge of the garden bed or stood around the particularly fussy tea roses in one bed. Those filled bags kill the grass at the edge of the beds, meaning I don't have to edge the beds. Then in spring, I spread the leaves around the base of the roses and other garden plants for mulch, and store extra bags for use later in the season. Leaves then break down lightening the soil and substituting for fertilizer by adding a little nitrogen. 5. Bundle gardening tasks, and make the roses mostly fend for themselves. I admire those of you who use the fish fertilizer sprays and things like that regularly, but I never seem to get around to it. I save milk jugs to fill with water when planting roses, and I have jars of fish fertilizer I always intend to use later in the season to perk up the newer planted roses, but I rarely get around to it. I sometimes add a little alfalfa, Ironite and 10-10-10 fertilizer once a year to the established roses, but I missed last year and haven't done so yet this year. If I successfully do the established fertilizer, it's usually bundled with pruning tasks in March/April so I spread the fertilizers around established roses before layering down the mulch. 6. Don't sweat the small stuff - roses are much tougher than you think. Chewed leaves, bugs, blackspot, wilting, lopsided growth - bah, you can handle it! And if not, you don't belong in my yard. 7. Monitor the important things. Canker needs to be dealt with swiftly and brutally in my yard, and Japanese beetles get no mercy and swift and (hopefully) painful death. 8. Enjoy the time you spend, and share the joy with others. Remember why you do this in the first place. You don't HAVE to work in the garden, you CHOOSE to. If it becomes drudgery, downsize and/or simplify. I agree with all of you that gardening is my #1 favorite activity in spring/summer and it's where I most want to be. 9. Take care of your body and listen to it. I have several herniated disks in my back, a hip replacement, rheumatoid and osteoarthritis, I'm in my 50's, and I'm allergic to everything that grows outside (so why am I a gardener??). I take care of my back by careful positioning and movement, stretching out frequently, and having treatments at home that compensate for full long days pushing my limits. I also make sure to stop and literally smell the roses, or hang out on the swing gazing at and appreciating a good day's work. Oh, and one of the two best activities to counteract arthritis?? You got it - GARDENING. The other is light weightlifting - both involve gentle weight bearing movement - and I get my weightlifting in my 50 pound bags of alfalfa... Movement is medicine, and I put it to its test. So how much time to I spend in the garden to maintain 1140 roses? Depends on the time of year: - Most of the summer into the fall, I spend maybe 3-4 hours a week on the weekend deadheading, cane monitoring/trimming, and taking pictures of roses. The latter occupies most of that time by far. I don't deadhead roses individually with so many blooms (like Darlow's Enigma), but chop off sprays when dead if and when I feel like it. Within this 3-4 hours is usually also monitoring and picking fruits and vegetables. - Spring pruning and rose planting season is more like 20 hours a week in the garden, usually long days both Saturday and Sunday. I also prune around 75 roses for our church, which adds another 20 hours I work in somewhere. The 20 hours in March/early April are pruning, inspecting, pulling off protection/mulching, and (maybe) fertilizing. The 20 hours in late April/May are planting and watering as needed (including the vegetable garden). - Late fall I return to 20 hours/week for a few weekends to plant the 1000's of bulbs I do each year, but the roses by then are on their own. After bulb planting is done in early November, I start collecting and placing leaf bags in my usual 3-4 hours a week max. See, it's doable! Not that I recommend this many roses for people who aren't insane, but I still have time for my family and work and church and cooking most of the meals, though I draw the line at cleaning house (that's why God made teenagers). Cynthia

We talked to 4 lawyers today, and they ALL said his lawsuit would be considered frivolous, and that his case would be thrown out. And none of them believe he will actually go through with suing us. One of them called the xmas guy an idiot for even considering suing. One lawyer said our case would be a "simple" matter to handle, only one day of work @ $750. I talked to him at length. Basically, he would say to dismiss the case against us since we made an agreement with the property owner, and if the son had any theoretical agreement it would only be with his parents. But I know this guy, and I have no doubt he will still sue us. We bought security cameras last night. They're expensive! Holy cow! Xmas guy was outside and walked to the property's edge and made a spectacle of himself watching dh put the backyard camera up. If he was trying to intimidate dh it did not work. Xmas guy also came over this morning and measured the tree trunks of only 5 trees, because the other trees are totally on our property. He didn't measure the tree lengths which I found surprising. He did take pictures. We just barely missed him, as we were outside 20 minutes before him measuring the lengths of the trees and taking more pics. We screen-grabbed his facebook page; he sells them for $6 a foot. 2 of the trees we cut were only 3.5ft tall! The others were around 7-8ft. What does he think he's going to get? Even if we pretend he's the property owner, then we would at least be entitled to half the value of the trees since 50% of each of the trunks was on our land. He would get less than $100 total. He'd be a schmuck for suing. One last thing, I talked to the building inspector this morning and he said xmas guy called him late last night (Sunday!) and screamed at him, and that he had to listen to xmas guy even though he was out of town visiting family. He said xmas guy doesn't have a case and not to worry. That's all I can update for now. Thank you for "listening". It means a lot. I was up all night last night worrying about being sued.