Joe where do u live? In Florida?

rosecanadian, lamarque is not in bloom yet, I promise to post a picture when it is. Here instead is "freycinet" A rugosa bred by a tasmanian rose grower, the same lady that bred burgundy and pink iceberg (Lilia Weatherly).

It was apparently a cross with Rugspin. It opens a slightly more red colour and then turns this magenta. Not quite as double or fluttery as Roseraie, but blooms are about the same size. The petals more "stiff". Very hardy, even more so than Roseraie for our climate.

Sultry - I googled saddleback caterpillars...they are beautiful and gross at the same time!!! They look so alien!! And they're venomous...which you found out the hard way. What did it feel like....did the effects last very long? And they love JFK leaves...bizarre!! That is lucky that you have many more females than males...that will help you build up your stock. I'm glad you can raise and eat your own turkeys...it makes me feel better about eating them. :)

Jo - I just looked up puss caterpillars - man...they are weird...suction cups for feet...really painful...worse than a jellyfish. Yes, the pure joy about first seeing the roses...it's like a drug!!!

Anti - lovely rugosa!! It's good to have an improvement...stiffer petals. Cool!

Rosecanadian, The Saddlebacks burn really bad it hurts worse than a wasp sting. It lasts hours. I haven't found a lot that helps it. I've tried different things. The best thing is, to be careful where you touch lol. They hide on the backs of leaves and stems so if you are plucking off dead leaves etc then they get you.

I havent cut they Sky vine yet..I need to, yet, I keep seeing cute frogs and lizards eating up gnats and ants. I was marveling at the long pretty chains of flowers this morning. They are light blue..my camera doesnt capture just how blue they are.

Click on Me!

Today's froggy Flowers

Frog Fort

Lizard Fort?

A Spirit of Freedom I recently put on this arch. I love the Spanish Moss background.

QuickSilver looking very mauve today.

The Poet's Wife

Crepuscule.

Butterfly Clerodendron and Amistad Salvia

Pat Austin

Banana Flower Fort

Abe Darby rain soaked this morning but still glowing.

Miracle On the Hudson..the leaves are edged with maroon and the flowers are HUGE.

Passiflora

Variegated Mickey Mouse Taro..still going

Did you know that Papaya flowers smell exactly like Fruit Loops?

Those red leaved hibiscus cutting are blooming already :)

Lilian Austin a gorgeous older Austin.

@Joe Moose, Zone 9A - Nice blooms, I like the coloration on both. Beautiful

@rosecanadian - They're definitely primitive, but they get to know you and trust you too. He looooved me it was pretty cute. They're really sweet animals when they learn to trust you and they're pretty easy to raise. He liked big salads like me too, not hard to feed or anything. If you brought him a big piece of fresh lettuce or kale, he'd be your friend hah.

@sultry_jasmine_nights (Florida-9a-ish) - I was planning on doing some rebar sculptures to let some ramblers get tangled in, but I've been thinking that same thing with rust. I think I'm going to try some fiberglass based resins around styrofoam and see how they winterize. There are certain types that do well outdoors with winter weather.

Your animals sound great. I wish I could have more animals. I'm trying to figure that out here since I'm lucky to have a good amount of land/space. I just worry about coyotes and fox. We had the most beautiful foxes last spring. The mom gave birth to a litter of four little guys somewhere along my woodline in a big patch of brush, and they would come out into my yard every day before sunset to jump around with the mom. We watched them grow up in the neighborhood all summer, it was really cute. Beautiful animals. The babies got used to us and even the dogs, and would just curl up on one of my less trafficked hills to sunbathe all day. Didn't come near the dogs, but would just lay up there watching us when I'd take the dogs out for their runs.

Turkeys are such cool animals too. We have them roaming the neighborhood a lot. Babies in summer and now they're all grown up marching up and down my street. They perch themselves up on my fence and look so awkward because of their size. Do yours get lots of grubs and bad bugs for you?

Aw no, I'm sorry about your small chick :( That's why I haven't gotten any chickens yet. The hawks get big here and circle my property (I'm hoping for bunnies or mice). They're one of my favorite animals along with the fox. Hope your little guy gets better.

Don't cut that sky vine hah! How beautiful! I wish I could get a flowering vine like that to climb tall up my house. I love the flowers and rich green leaves. The flowers are like giant tropical morning glories....and then with the frogs! Hah oh man I would let that beautiful frog hotel take over my yard. I love that picture of the anole (?) lizard under the leaves. Those were my first 'lizard' pets when I was really little. My dad would always have to stop by the pet store to get them crickets. Cool little animals.

Your spirit of freedom is beautiful on that arch, I love the big fluffy flowers. I have 2 coming next spring from DA :) Can't wait to see how they do. You'rs looks amazing with that big weeping tree as a backdrop. Abe looks cool, I'm excited to try him next year. How does he do for you?

PASSIFLORA! Those are one of my favorite plants :) My first, and favorite houseplant (don't tell my succulents). I love them and grow them every year outside, even though they don't survive winter here ;(

I stopped growing them inside because they go a little crazy in my sunroom. One grew across a giant window in the sunroom......a good 20 ft at least. The thing attached itself to the windowsill and walls somehow. Was insanely beautiful with all the flowers, and insanely messy hah. It did that all in two years and then I had to tear him down and bring him outside for the summer. He gave me some fruits too when he was growing big across the window, but I never tasted them. Beautiful color though. If I lived somewhere warm, I'd collect all the varieties I could find and let them take over my yard and house. Such cool plants. I love all your other plants too, the colors on your hibiscus are beautiful, and I like Lillian Austin too. Hadn't heard of her.

@sultry_jasmine_nights (Florida-9a-ish) Nah, I'm in Texas! If you know where South Padre Island is, I'm about 30min. away west. Also, your photos are amazing!

@rosecanadian Yeah, those are downright dangerous. I see one, and I have to clip the leaf set it's on, and toss it. With gloves of course. :D

Sultry, Do you really live in Florida? I think you live in a tropical paradise on a enchanted island somewhere, full of wonderful wildlife and stunning plants that I've never seen before, much less smelled (papayas smell like Froot Loops--who knew?). The Sky Vine is so beautiful, I could never cut it down, and it's the habitat of so many froggies. I love your hibiscus with red leaves, which is no doubt the tropical type. They always have a little extra something that the hardy kind lack. I got a laugh over the Mickey Mouse Taro--I could see those ears. And to think you can grow beautiful roses, too, that are still growing and blooming, while I stare out at the dreary, wet mess outside. I hate leaves.

B. we have many a wild animal around here, particularly hawks, coyotes, quail, badgers, deer, and the occasional cougar. Up until several years ago, we had lots of dwarf rabbits, and dwarf crosses, which did little damage to anything. They were too small, and ate mostly grass and the occasional cosmos. Then the foxes came out here in the hills. They were brazen and trotted down the sidewalks like they owned the place. Well, they ate every last little bunny, and then moved on to some better pickins. I used to like foxes until that happened. Dwarf rabbits are pretty much endangered, especially in Washington. Now there are fewer of them. I loved your story of your iguana pal. How long do you think they live? I'm curious because the iguana I knew of (more later about that) had to be decades old--he may still be alive for all I know. He had a protected habitat so that may have led to an extra long life. This thread has been such an interesting discussion. Diane

The changing faces of the alchymist!

Ro, love your Alchemist series. It’s a breathtaking rose!

Alchymist is wonderful.

Wow sheila, just ...wow!!!!!

Sultry - how strange to have such a painful insect hiding out amongst the leaves. There's nothing like that here. Your Skyvine is amazing!! What luck to be able to grow such amazing vines!! And the frogs are adorable! Is the lizard an anole? Your Spanish moss makes the area feel like a cathedral or grotto! Lovely!! I love your butterfly plant and your Quicksilver!! Is there a critter hiding in the banana leaf fort? I love your Passiflora and the variegated leaf plant...so cool that Papaya flowers smell like fruitloops!! And I love the curled tendrils on the plant!!

B - how sweet!! They look so scary and fierce...yet they're vegetarians. I once watched a show about how pets eat/kill their owners. This one guy had 5 nile monitor lizards. They had the free run of the his house. They ended up eating him. Shudder. But, of course, chamelons couldn't do that. Oh! That sounds amazing to have fox kits grow up in your yard! Did you take a lot of pictures? Any to share? Watching turkey chicks grow up in the neighborhood...wonderful!! I'm so jealous!! :) So, passiflora have fruits that you can eat? Wonderful! :) :) That's pretty amazing to have such a giant of a plant growing in your house! LOL And I love "frog hotel." :)

Sultry - maybe you could put up a sign that says "Frog Hotel." :)

Jo - so unusual to think of insects that are dangerous. We just don't get those here.

Diane - awww...the foxes ate every single dwarf rabbit? :( I guess they're just not very fast. Or maybe they moved somewhere else.

Ro - GASP!!!! Your Alchemyst pictures are exceptional!!! Soooo beautiful!! SWOON!!! Amazing that the possoums could maneuver like that! It's amazing you have any roses with possums and wallabies around.

Sheila - GASP (again)!!! Wow!! I love the orange and pink colors...and talk about a TON of flowers!!! :)

Ro and Sheila, I had no idea Alchymist was so beautiful. Like Carol, i am especially impressed by the rich colors. And Sheila, your setting just makes everything more special. What a lot of beauty. Diane

Sheila has gopher and rabbit problems, though. And those can be bad. Diane

@Diane Brakefield - Sounds like even more wildlife than around here. I've never seen a cougar but they've always looked like beautiful animals. Sometimes we have bobcats and bears. This summer there was a black bear cub wandering around a lot. A neighbor down the street also just texted me a picture of a beautiful little skunk that has decided to play with her newspaper every morning it's delivered at the end of her driveway.

Dwarf bunnies are super cute. I can't believe you have them around in the wild. If we had dwarf bunnies I'd like them more and probably set up some areas for treats. Ours are annoying jack rabbit types that want to eat nothing but what's new in the garden ;) I had 2 dwarf bunnies when I was young, a yellowish blonde girl and a gray toned guy. Really cute animals and so soft. That stinks about the fox.

I'm not sure how long Spike lived. He was a cute guy but grew too big. We had him for a long time but once he started hitting the 4 ft mark we put him up for adoption with a man who collected exotic pets that my dad knew. He lived at his house in a tank that spanned a big wall. I'm a bit hung up with keeping animals in cages at this point in my life. I tried raising a chameleon and he was also really attached to me, but scared of everything else. After less than a year with that guy (Cam), I gave him away to a guy who raises lizards. He was a beautiful chameleon, and really interesting to watch, but was so stressed out whenever the dog was in the room or making noise. I just didn't feel right keeping him in a stressful environment. It's hard enough for them to be in a cage, and I felt wrong for having him so stressed.

@Ro theAntipodean - Ro, beautiful pictures of Alchymist! I have been debating trying that one, but I think your pics just convinced me to order today. Do you grow him own-root?

@Sheila z8a Rogue Valley OR Your pics were the final nail in the coffin for me and buying an Alchymist hah! What a beautiful plant and setting for it. I love the color shifts, it looks painted or tie-dyed. Is yours own-root? That first photo of the flower close up is amazing with the blush swirls.

@rosecanadian - Omg I would never want monitor lizards hah. That's insane and reminds me of a few stories I've seen of people keeping chimps and other exotic animals that end up attacking/killing them. I love animals so much, but the older I get, the more I realize how uncomfortable I am keeping anything more than a dog or cat as a pet. Bums me out to see people keeping wild animals that haven't really been domesticated. The animals will act out naturally and usually be put down or something terrible. Eventually I'd love to have a salt water aquarium that focuses on coral and anemones...but that takes a lot of time (and money). I attached some pics of the fox kits. They're from far away though, so not very good pictures. They lived in this giant brush/bush mess at the edge of my property by the woods. So I could watch them but didn't ever get close. I never know how mom animals will react with getting close to their babies (like deer) so I kept my distance. I think the mom liked it in the yard because it's protected by a deer fence along the woodline...so there aren't really many other animals inside the yard, just some rabbits and tons of birds (accidental turkey included when they hop over the fence hah)

Passifloras make passionfruits....but I never tasted mine inside because I was using a chemical fertilizer for those pots at the time. Didn't know what was in it. But really, a beautiful plant. If you ever seen one at a nursery, please give it a try. It likes damp, warm conditions and does well with rich but good drainage. I had mine in a rich peaty mix and put some of my seltzer cans in the pot for air and drainage. I try to recycle those cans by using them in my pots :) It's easy to get passionflowers to stay small as plants, but I thought it would be amazing to have my sunroom look like a jungle from floor to ceiling and let them grow giant. Once they started dropping their flower buds and older leaves everywhere, I changed my vision hah. They're kind of like tropical clematis, lots of colors and varieties and similar growth.

Here's mama fox with the little guys (from afar sadly).

I added a picture of my dogs out with me this morning at sunrise since I have no roses to share. I love the deep color during winter sunrises. The colors for sunrise/sunset are always so much deeper and more saturated in the cooler temperatures here compared to heat of summer. Kind of like my roses actually. Maybe the temperature really effects color depth. My roses had such deeper colorations when it cooled off this fall.........maybe I've had too much coffee..............

Bzone, Yassss! I will make a sign ..

that says: " No Tell Frog Motel"

I dont think rebar rusts here too bad. I use it for garden stakes and it gets some surface rust but doesnt rust all the way through like my thin metal stuff. I think you could use rebar there successfully. We have salt air plus sulfur well water..thats death for my cheesy metal structures..boo because I love them. I've coated them with Rustoleum paint etc and they will still rust out.

What state do you live in? Are you by the ocean?

I think cement stuff does best here. Theres an Ace Hardware Nursery that has a lot of cement sculpures marked down sometimes. This is my favorite.

Chubby Mermaid ( aka Manatee)

I am so in love with your foxes 🥰

Joe, Wow South Padre Island..even 30 min away, I bet you get some hurricane damage there!

Diane lol..I do wish I lived on a tropical island! I make duevin NE FL by having a greenhouse just to kinda shelter my poot truly tropical stuff in during our scant freezes which are becoming less and less. If sea level keeps rising, who knows, it might be a tropical island pretty soon. The frogs and plants will be thrilled!

Ro & Sheila, Alchemist has to be one of the most beautiful roses there is. It has been on my "list" for so long. I dont know why I haven't got it yet! It must be a good bloomer..it blooms once a year right?

Its a turkey trot

Sorry not great pictures but it is pretty foggy.

2 different groups just came by. A total of over 30

Diane. Do you still have your quail coming around that you feed? I love the quail !!

Here's my poor little rooster that had the 5 sutures put in his head a few nights ago. He is feeling more like himself today, strutting around crowing. He has to stay in a large dog carrier for awhile until he heals.

Another rooster I found this morning sporting nearby Rubens rose!

Rubens is such a great rose for me..always blooming! I think Cori ann turned me on to Rubens..glad I got it!

Spirit of Freedom opening looking the very Pinkest I've ever seen her. I like it!

Found the kitten in my veggie garden this morning..His name is now, "itty bitty" ..because he is lol.

Momma nearby in the top of the raised bed taking a bath in the sun. She's kinda smashing my pea vines but oh well..lol

In the crazy vine hidden greenhouse today...

I heard a lot of rustling coming from the top..and I thought. Oh Snake! Nope..some crazy kitty pretending to be a jungle kitty!

@sultry_jasmine_nights (Florida-9a-ish) Hah No Tell Frog Motel, do it! They're so cute, especially in that gigantic beautiful climber. Their colors pop nice with the blue-purple flowers. I'm in NY, so no ocean nearby. Next goal is somewhere warm near the ocean.....not sure when that'll happen at this point hah. Some day! You're right, cement always does the best. I think after I try some small scale sculptures for outside in resin, I'll try coating them in some quick dry cement. See what happens. I LOVE your manatee. I wish my stores around here had cute sculptures like that. It's mostly benches for sale sadly ;( Manatees are such awesome animals too. Now I have to go google manatee garden sculptures.

@Kristine LeGault 8a pnw - Cute! I love how they always travel in packs. They're such strange birds, so big with the small heads.

@sultry_jasmine_nights (Florida-9a-ish) What a pretty guy, I hope he gets better with his sutures. Poor guy. Lucky to have you to help him. I like that Rubens rose. He's one of my favorite painters...and that rose looks like it has lots of twists and turns in the petals, just like the curves in his paintings. Beautiful.

Oh wow I just saw your new pictures...that last pic of the kitten in the jungle! Amazing photo and so cute hah. I love your spirit of freedom! So glad that I switched my 2 Mill on the Floss roses to SoF instead. Hopefully they'll do well here.

Bzone, Ha you are an artist! I didn't even realize Rubens was named after an artist. I had to look that up 😆

Well, I keep posting pics and they keep disappearing. Houzz shenanigans at its finest this morning. So I started saving my posts, in between posting photos, then going back and editing the post to add new ones. That was actually working out really well for awhile. Then my whole last post has disappeared! 🤣

Kristine, I love your wild turkeys photos! Do people try to shoot them for Thanksgiving?

I need to take some new photos of our turkeys. They were raised by a Key West chicken mom (long story lol). I think, they think, they are giant chickens :)

Fire Opal this morning..so peachy and sweet.

Sterling Silver ruined due to rain but still smells nice.

Quick Silver

Sweet tart smelling Double Rangoon Creeper still blooming..usually done by now here.

Monstera deliciosa fruits

The monster Sky Vine musta heard me saying I was gonna cut it down..this is the first time Ive had seed pods on it. It wants to take over the world!

Lichfield Angel

Bzone..this is a long Monkey Tail cactus hanging from our shed eaves almost to the ground..Its not getting enough sun, due to another crazy vine lol. It has soft fuzzy 'spines' you can pet it without getting stabbed.

Here it was before it got sun blocked by the vine

@sultry_jasmine_nights (Florida-9a-ish) Oooh I love the monkey tail! I've always wanted to grow one but they're hard to find around here. Has it ever flowered for you? I think I remember the flowers being really beautiful

Sultry, I bet once those turkeys are cleaned thete probably isn't much to them. They are pretty scrawny. There are a couple of Toms that I have seen only once that are more impressive

Right now at one of the grocery stores when you buy $100 worth of groceries you get a free turkey so I think the neighborhood gooblers are safe

I cant believe all of the unique plants and critters that you have

Rubens is such a fabulous rose!

My Alchymist has one long bloom and is own root. It seems pretty healthy and strong here. I think mine came from ARE. I tried RVRs first and got an attractive yellow/orange/pink I think HT that looks like Fred Howard. Attractive, but not Alchymist.

B - I had no idea that iguanas could get 4 feet long!!! I know most of that is tail...but still!! Yeah, I've seen just about every show on people that get killed/maimed by exotic pets. They're crazy to have such dangerous "pets." And don't get me started on chimps. Yikes! I love your fox pics! Foxes are SUCH beautiful animals!! So is your whiteish dog a catahoula leopard hound or a young merle great dane? Or something else? Cool dogs!

Sultry - awww...what a cute manatee!!! Looks so relaxed...he needs a drink on his flipper. :) :) No Tell Frog Motel...clever rhyming name! Awww :( poor rooster! Did you know that the jungle fowl (original chicken) is the closest living relative to the T-Rex? So maybe you could call him Rex. :) GASP!!!! Your Ruben flower is EXQUISITE!!!! What a masterpiece of a rose!!! And that's a fabulous SoF!!! So large!! Itty Bitty is sweet!! And Jungle Kitty has such an intense color...and what an acrobat!! I sent that last picture to my daughter!! And drat Houzz!!! That can be so frustrating. Giant chickens!!! So cute!! Man, oh man...I love your Quicksilver!!! What a stunning bloom!!! Fire Opal - so special!!! I've never heard of Monkey Tail before...what an apt name!! LOL

Kristine - I always love your Turkey Trot pics!! I sent them to my daughter...she gets a kick out of your pics!

Ro - What a GORGEOUS rose!!!! Totally stuffed and muddled (that's not quite the word I want.) with that tint of yellow in the center...I am Amazed!!! Does it have fragrance??

Ro - since it has a wonderful fragrance and looks so romantic (5 corners LOL)...I was going to put it on my list. But it's a noisette and a climber...(hmf)...so I'll just live vicariously through your pictures. :)

We were writing at the same time. LOL

LOL!!! You should start a thread called I'm a Serial Rose Killer...and ask people which roses they've killed multiple times. For me it is

- Life of the Party

- Oklahoma

- Firefighter

to name a few. LOL

Oh, and congratulations for finally getting her to grow for you! :)

@rosecanadian - The whitish dog is my sheepadoodle with his new haircut. His haircut schedule is all messed up because of quarantine, and he had gotten so fluffy over summer. Wanted to clean him up and let him regrow for winter. He looks so different when he's shaved down, poor guy hah.

RO- Sorry about your Alchymist! Looks like a beautiful plant, hopefully I'll give it a try.

B - Oh!! Of course! You are so right...he looks like a totally different dog!!! So do mine...I always get my dogs' hair cut right down like that. So much cheaper and easier.

Ro - I triple dog dare you!!! :) :) (short pause)...oh! You did start it already. I'll check it out!! :)

@rosecanadian They look so cute and strange when they're shaved short right? Strange in a good way......but definitely odd. Like a totally different dog is now in my house.

Have you ever used your pups hair in the garden? I thought it was a ridiculous idea, but I think it's helped keep the bunnies/voles/deer away this year. I keep all of his hair in a big bucket after he gets cut and then tossed it around the roses :)

B, I’ve done the dog hair thing (I have two labs so we have hair aplenty) but it just seems to blow around the yard. I should probably try covering the clumps with rocks to anchor them

I remember the year I used kitty pee balls (from clumping litter) in little plastic containers propped among my roses. They stank, looked awful, and the deer didn't give a !@#$. and chewed on things anyway. Nor did said deer give a hoot about various soaps I hung around the bushes; or the dry repellent featuring predator pee. I have found a fairly effective repellent now, and along with the pest proof bird feeder, and a blockade around the feeder, things weren't bad this year at all. That means I'll be punished next year. But the deer did totally flatten my beautiful Jupiter's beard not long ago by sleeping on it. Repellent, bamboo stakes, and blue flags didn't help at all for that. Diane

But gophers and voles dig tunnels to reach roses' roots, which they eat. So only the top of the rose is left. And we have 100s of quail running around in back, excavating their dust baths next to the roses roots, and the dirt flies everywhere. Then they scratch the slope until nothing grows there, and the erosion gets worse. They also eat all my expensive seed, and if something happens to germinate, they eat that, too. I live in the desert hills outside of Boise, not in town. Thank heaven for badgers because they eat the gophers, and the cats kill the voles (which they don't eat, and we get to dispose of the bodies). Still, they don't get them all. Diane

Our deer are huge mule deer, not very small and cute in my estimation like other species. Diane

@oursteelers 8B PNW - my guy has really thick crazy sheep-like hair so it kind of catches on the mulch or roses and stays. Sometimes I put it into a bush with gloves on. Who knows if it's working but it seems to help with less chewy critters.

@Diane Brakefield - Agh, sorry about all the animals. They can be so frustrating. That landscape looks so beautiful.

Here are some things that worked for me with smaller and bigger animals. If you tried already, apologies, but after getting frustrated in the spring when my new roses got eaten to the ground, I try to spread repellent ideas that have worked for me as much as possible :)

-Cracked eggs/eggshells still with egg on them

-Dog hair

-This one worked even for my new cherry trees: Dunk a sponge in eggs, hot sauce, beef bouillon, urine(optional...gross I know) and hang the sponge from a stocking or sock in the tree or plant nearby. This can be used as a spray too if you just pour it through a strainer first. Sponge just lasts longer with rains/weather.

-Fish/Seaweed spray on the roses - Wouldn't see chipmunks or animals near them after doing this but only lasts so long.

-BEST one was either tossing Milorganite around the bed, or filling a nylon socking or sock with it, and hanging it in the bed or tree somewhere. I wouldn't throw a lot, just kind of toss a little around areas at first, then started hanging them. But I swear the deer and animals kept away from my entire front fence line because of the stockings hanging/hiding on the fence. I have 8 climbing roses on the front of the fence, where animals could just walk up without hopping over...but those roses didn't get touched by anything all season. My roses inside my fenced in yard got eaten to the ground by the rabbits, but the deer wouldn't come near the fenceline for the first time ever.

I just remembered, at the beginning of spring, I threw a handful around my hostas in the front yard and finally saw them grow beyond 6 inches.

Hope this helps!

We can't get Milorganite around here, Don't know if I would try it, anyway. Is the fish spray pretty smelly? We don't have chipmunks or squirrels here, thank heaven. The repellent I use has some of the tasty stuff you put together in your egg mix. Most repellents use rotten eggs, but the one I like also has oil of peppermint and oil of white pepper in it. The oils seem to make it more effective than other repellents, and peppermint oil mutes the stench some. I'm willing to pay the outrageous price for the stuff, though I still have to mix it up. The ready to spray stuff is even more expensive. Diane

Just beyond the hills, not very far at all are the mountains with a totally different climate, lots of conifers, and acid soil. We have a ski resort about 21 miles from here. It's the elevation, which rises quickly, that causes the change. The only trees that grow down here have been planted and are irrigated with a sprinkler system. There are trees growing naturally along the rivers, though. Everything in this valley is dependent on irritation which is a very successful system. It starts with mountain snow melt runoff, filling streams, then rivers which are dammed to form reservoirs. The water pours through the dams turning turbines that generate our hydroelectric power. Then the water is released to the river again as needed (and tubing on the Boise river is very popular); then the water feeds canals and finally ditches. Farming is a big industry in the area due to the great irrigation systems all around the valley. I remember the eucalyptus trees in California when I lived there for a few years. There were also gingko trees, too. I looked up the rainbow eucalyptus and couldn't believe the amazing thing. Are you sure that gnomes don't paint those trees? Diane

Ro - I'll keep the triple dog dare (Christmas Story movie) in mind....you never know where it will pop up! LOL I still think that's so clever of the possoms!!

B - I don't get critters that eat things in my yard...so I don't bother. I have thought about cleaning the hair and knitting with it. LOL...but I never will. You can even collect it and send it away to someone...they'll clean it, spin it and knit you a blanket/sweater, etc. I should have done that for my two dogs that died. Maybe I'll start collecing now. ???

Diane - oh, I'm laughing....kitty pee balls!!! LOL At least they were worth a shot, hey? LOL I'm glad you found a way that works. :) I didn't realize/remember that you had hundreds of quail!!! My goodness!! You need a coyote!! I'm not really a fan of trees (sort of)...my favorite terrain is what you show in your first picture!! I just love that type of area!!! Diane...you have really tried about everything there is to try! I'm so glad you found a way!! That is EXCELLENT!! Your night winter picture reminds me of Christmas!!

Hi Carol, those two snowy photos were taken in previous years. i was just trying to show the different look of the seasons and how close the mountains are. Most years we don't have much snow. I still haven't been able to clean out leaves from the flower beds, though son in law got the worst of the yard today. We've had snow, rain, wind, nice weather, but still wet, then more wind and even hail. It's been impossible to get those leaves cleaned up. We do have many, many coyotes in these hills. They are the mascot of Jemma's college--The Yotes. Somehow the canny quail outwit them, though I know plenty of quail end up coyote food, along with people's cats, unfortunately. You can hear them howl at night around here. My beloved Persian cat of many years was brushed every day, and I collected a huge bag of her fur, thinking I'd have someone knit something with it. But after she died years ago, I couldn't even bear to look at that darn bag, and I threw it out. I still have her ashes in a special kitty tin with a little kitty figure that looks just like her and wearing a halo, sitting on the tin. This is inside a cabinet--no, I don't see it everyday. I'm weird. Diane

Thank you very much, Ro. I can tell you're an animal lover, too. The echidna's love you, you lucky thing. Just as long as you don't touch them. They have the cuteness and appeal of the European hedgehog, which is another favorite of mine. Who could not love "Mrs. Tiggywinkle"? Diane

Man. This reminds me of when zoie died. I buried her in her bed. The thought of her being in the cold, wet dirt when it rained ...killed me. I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t sleep, I changed...I went on a trip to Brighton with my family since my sister was moving there to study, and I don’t remember a thing. I was a zombie. I took some hair from her when she died, from the spot on her neck close to the area behind the ear where I loved to stick my nose and cuddle her. Writing this still makes my heart hurt. Pets are family, sometimes the best family we ever will know. The best love and the best friends we will find, the purest and the most genuine. I miss her so, so much. Totally understand why you can’t watch it Diane. And I totally get why you cried a hole into the ground, Ro

@Diane Brakefield Diane, what beautiful views! I love the light/color with the snow. I'm sorry you lost your cat. Persians are such beautiful animals.

Fish/Seaweed only smells a little when I pour it into my spray bottle. Once it's watered down and sprayed, it doesn't seem as noticeable. I got sick of spraying the roses with the egg mix I was making and just stopped at one point over the summer. It's hard for me to say which repellent idea has worked best....I tried to mix them up. I read somewhere that if you throw deer off of their paths through your yard, they'll remember and stay away once they've changed their path/direction. I'm hoping that my yard stays on their "rotten egg/fish/milorganite avoid!" radar for at least a few more years ;)

Earlier this summer after spraying the roses and putting milorganite down...I was 99% sure it worked. Hadn't seen a deer all spring when they're around most. Then one morning I woke up and saw a big deer up up on the outside of my fence, right in front of those 8 climbing roses on the fence line. Went outside and the big deer moved slowly into the woodline and then I noticed a little baby deer curled up. I backed off and kept my dog in the backyard for a week or two, let the mom raise the baby deer. Every morning I'd look out my windows and make sure the baby was still there curled up in the grass. The mom would come back every sunset to feed it and sleep with it. Eventually the baby could walk and marched into the woods with the mom. They never touched the roses though.... even if they did, I would have had a hard time getting upset with the two of them.

@rosecanadian - I would looooove a blanket or sweater made of my sheepadoodles hair! Sometimes when I'm petting him I have to remind him that he's lucky I'm not Cruella. They have such soft hair hah.

Brendan: Many years ago Roseseek (Kim Rupert, the breeder of Annie) .. told a story about his parents having a clump of rosemary .. and deer avoided that path with aromatic rosemary. One of the ingredients in deer-repellant is mint. One year with lots of rain deer came to eat my roses. Stinky egg-wash with fish-sauce was messy & didn't work. curry-powder worked but that burnt leaves under hot sun. So I cut my invasive mint & shredded them and sprinkled them all over my roses. No more deer. Deer and rabbits didn't eat the roses with mint around them either, but the mint got so invasive that I pulled mint out, and rabbits start eating my roses.

The spearmint is extremely invasive, but the chocolate mint (small & round & tasty leaves) and the peppermint are less invasive.

Straw, very interesting. I remember reading that about mint and threw some of my mountain mint clippings on the roses and it seemed to help the voles and animals that were ripping the leaves/branches off. Thanks for the tips! Next year I might try adding peppermint oil to my foliar feeds to see if it helps.

Diane - I totally get it about throwing the cat hair out. When my two beloved standard poodles died within a month of each other...the vet sent us in the mail (without telling us) an inked paw print that they had taken. I screamed and then sobbed when I opened the envelope...it was horrible...I would have thrown them out...but my husband kept them. I still would hate to see them. Oh, I love hedgehogs. I have cast hedgehogs (3) that I place in my rose pots. When we were younger, I would hide them all over the yard...and while I would work in the garden...my kids would hunt for them. And a few years ago, I found a place at a farmers' market that made thin/flat clay ornaments for the tree. She had two hedgehogs...and I got her to write my daughters' names on them. They're adorable and have such a wonderful memory. :)

Ro - it's really, really tough when they die. And I still think of them every day. But, now in a bittersweet way...with mostly sweet. :)

RaeAnna - yes, this is making my heart hurt too. But, that's okay...we're honoring them.

B - well maybe now is the time to save your dog's hair and get it done while he's still alive. It might be too painful to do it afterward. I know that sucks to think of though. I love your fawn and your mama deer story!! Adorable!! I sent it and the picture to my daughter. She loves this sort of thing!

Straw - really?!! How cool....that sounds like an easy fix...plant mint in containers and place them around the roses. Or plant mint in containers and harvest them and place the cuttings in the garden. Excellent!!