I've mostly gotten rid of my sunflower hedge as it was becoming wildly invasive. The Max's really took off here, apparently loving the clay. I interplanted Silphiums (rosin weed/compass plant), which weren't as bad, but they were thuggish after a few years. Their roots grow very deep. I've left some scattered clumps (aka "giving up"), but I'm watching them like a lazy distracted hawk. Johnny is disliking the Scotch thistle and fuller's teasle I have planted with Poncirus 'Flying Dragon'. Only the hardy bitter orange is perennial, but right now nobody with any sense is coming near that bed, which had a history until now of getting trampled. (We had someone light firecrackers on our porch, so next year the thistle and teasle will be growing near the windows. Johnny already put in cameras.) I've tried grasses, but only the Miscanthus species have done well. There again, one large clump of M. floridus is proving difficult to get rid of. Some is still growing, in mid-air, in the compost. I did plant some along with Arundo donax (giant reed) around the chicken run for shade, the hens can tear both of those up as much as they want. Ironweed (Vernonia) has been a good mixed hedge plant, it's not invasive here. I've had some tall asters do well too. The taller goldenrods have been something of a mistake as they reseed like crazy. Who knew goldenrod could be such a weed? ; ) I've been admiring my still young hedge along part of the back yard this year. I've mixed various elderberries with a butterfly bush, a chaste tree, one of the jujubes, two Decaisnea bushes (deadman's fingers), a short persimmon, and a serviceberry tree. It's coming along fairly well. The elderberries would be less manageable if we had more rain I think. I would have an Illinois Everbearing mulberry too if an otherwise cute groundhog hadn't eaten it. A hedge along part of the front is proving more difficult. I planted a dwarf oak to anchor one corner and hopefully the che fruit trees will continue to fill in part of that hedge. I'm still trying to get something else to fill some gaps (I'm still trying to find something that will LIVE, I don't lack for ideas). Another line of hedge is mostly cherry bushes and assorted other bushes with similar heights with tall flowers in between. Honestly, it looks like a big mess now. I'm thinking I may just go with mulch between the maturing bushes or one very short ground cover. Once the bushes get a few more years on them, it'll look less like a scraggly line of weed trees. We can grow rosemary here, but it never really gets all that large (the largest bush I've seen locally was maybe 3' tall). I think that or Russian sage would be gorgeous. Good luck with the Ceanothus, I keep hoping some brave gardener will try some around here. They do sound tricky. I bought an Osmanthus to try here, I figure it'll survive a mild winter. kent

Morning all, Just had to post onto this thread. About a week ago the wife calls me while I was on my way home from work. You didnt take my little turtle and rabbit garden statues did you? I says, nope, but she knows that I am not above relocating them and kinda tucking them into someplace outta the way. Well this really irked me badly. We have really worked our butts off this spring to make our place a head turner and to think someone had taken some of our things just made me madder and madder the closer to home I got. WELL, pulled into the driveway and got out a can of paint and made me a couple of signs, and posted them on either side of the flower bed where the little statues were taken from. We went out for dinner and came home about 2 hours or so later and lo and behold, the little statues were tucked into the front door. The next day, a guy came to the house and asked if we had gotten the items he left in the door. Told him yep, said he and his wife had "found" them in the weeds over by the local park. (Made me suspicious, taking a walk in the weeds???) But anyways, told him thanks for bringing our things back. So why not make a little sign up, and put it out in the front yard by the sidewalk. Use the company name, and cite the infractions. When their business starts dropping off, maybe they will get the message that thievery is totally unacceptable. Give it a try, it may just work out for you. Roger South of Chicago

I received my wonderful box from Margaret this week having received my red shrimp plant a couple weeks before. Poor box - he was in "priority" mail for 6-7 days! All arrived well though, here is what I received: Six big beautiful succulents Spring Pot Percher Snail Pot Hanger Pruning Shears Bag of GREAT seeds that I wanted and the cutest garden turtle ever Thanks so much Margaret I love everything! Sue G

Sir Thor just turned 14 and is at that with awkward growth stage. Little Miss is now 11, but looks 17 in build, stature, voice and height. It's genetic. About 2 months ago they arrested a local pedo middle school teacher. I thumb my nose at all those locally who dissed me for homeschooling. Both kids are safe, organic, happy, overly creative and big enough to take on responsibilities. They'll be enslaved to technology for the rest of their lives and I want to give them a chance to be free as much as possible and to continue to learn simple wisdom from the garden. From the garden, not me. LOL Thank you everyone for satisfying my curiosity and helping me focus on our climatic challenges. The only other pervasive thought I had was, "I bet Dawn is having a great cool crop season!" Sure nuf. You present an excellent argument for row covers and other protective measures. With my memory of struggles, bug problems and more compared to your wealth of gardening knowledge, you infer to me that my focus should be on symmetry, irrigation, protection and cleanliness. I have my Big Red Bucket sitting in my kitchen right now. She's all clean and shiny and ready for her tools. I fired up the second frig and its freezer is already full from processed for-sale groceries. The compost bucket is back in use and the mated pile is fortified. I continued my compost obsession for almost a year after cessation of gardening. I found that using a tarp over a moist pile surrounded by CMU blocks to bring the most satisfying results. The bigger the pile becomes, the less I need a tarp. We are far too windy here. Last year a 3rd of my back yard was a blanket of black eyed susans. Was hard to mow some of it down. Here's to potential A+ gardens in 2019!