We had a lovely, summer-like stretch of weather this past week - 70s and 80s, clear and sunny. It has been VERY dry, though, so I did a lot of "spot watering" with a can, and some kelp emulsion fertilizer. I did plant some things out (in the evenings, well watered), and watered them every evening after their daily baking. I also had to water my long shade bed - it wasn't dessicated, but it was definitely thirsty and lagging. I also had to open all my containers and check their moisture level every day; I had to water them several times. Yesterday we finally got some blessed, beautiful rain. It was accompanied by a prolonged rumbling booming slow storm, but I didn't mind that at all. The temp dropped 10-15 degrees in a half hour. You could practically HEAR the whole garden go "AAAaaaah. . ." as it soaked up the rain. Today I can just watch things grow. My DH will have to mow again this weekend, and put in the A/Cs (I enjoy the nice weather, but I have little tolerance for the humid heat in the house). I'm glad I direct sowed my nasturtiums yesterday - the Lord watered them in for me really well, lol. Laurel

Thanks so much everyone....The one thing I forget to detail was that yes, I do have humidity issues, in the sense that I have to use a humidifyer everyday when the heat is on, especially if it gets warm in that room..I even use water fountains..Sort of like a tropical oasis. I always keep it the warmest room in house with high humidity..I forget the humidity one day, boy do the plants rebel!! The things is, even when I use the humidifyer 24 hours a day, I still have to keep up with the pests..I keep the room at 70 or more percent humidity level. The windows do muck up. But the bugs still come if I don't spray on a regular basis... Every plant seems to love this enviroment except my meyer lemones...They are so stubborn. The leaves drop no matter what I do..But I have not tried the colder enviroment yet.. Funny thing is, when I brought 2 of them dying to work, where the temps stay cool, the air dry, and lots of sun, they came back, but still had to keep up with mites. This would be the first time I try a radical move from warm humid conditions all winter, to much cooler conditions, maybe without a humidifier. I guess I am a little scared you could say.....I was hoping some one would say exactly what I had to do to make it work.If it is possible to keep healthy citrus all winter like this.. Therefore the question...Less light if cooler conditions? Not as cold as some suggest though, like a garage..My garage can be below zero and has no light at all. I mean no grow lights, are just south facing windows good enough? Do you think my trees will be ok if I grow all winter at much cooler conditions like the temps I mentioned above, and less light?....I know the pests will certainly be minimal...This is my goal...Less pests, a lower electric bill, less worry about humidity, less leaf drop, probably less new growth too, what the mite seems to hit every year, they don't eat any old growth... I remember last winter when that room accidently reached over 80 degrees because my niece raised the thermostat, all the lemon meyer trees lost their leaves within days, and a couple died..Anyone confused yet? Lol I will re-read these posts and see if anyone has hit it on the head about my dilema. Been weary lately...t tired to think..sorry By the way, no worries about piggy backing, it can be a fun ride.. Anytime rhizzo posts, it is great to see what she has to say..:-)....Everyone else included... I will be quite embarrssed if anyone here has already gave me the answer I needed..

As usual you have ALL come through with great ideas. I will show the area as it used to be and then I planted it and now all these years later it looks the same...sigh...nature is telling me something and I am not listening :) But I am going to start listening. Ianna,prariemoon,lavender,serenae,new, irene and thyme,,,you are all equally wonderful for taking the time to help. The over all view is : don't fight mother nature...use pots and decorative features and droughty plants when possible. I am more and more agreed that it is the way to go. We had someone on here that used to post about " staring"...that is what I have been doing as I clean and trim and sweep and think. The funny thing is that I thought or hoped that I was done with that when I added lots of soil and amendments and planted all these things. sigh....quite a humbling experience. A gardener is NEVER done learning.They looked so good for 2 years. Ah well on to new and better ideas. It does no good to lament what will never be. I can't and really don't want to get rid of any more trees. I can't add anymore soil as it only encourages the adventitious roots. At first you think , OK I have conquered the roots....but they come on up and through and mat worse than ever. So other than " pocket planting" , adding lots of soil to the hole and not bothering to amend around the area, I am done with topsoil additions. I used to have a small pond , ianna, when we first moved here. It had koi and was wonderful. They knew me and came right up to feed. One Labor day a neighbor sprayed for mosquitoes and my fish all died. He never admitted it but you could smell it. I took out the pond. Also with the leaves it is almost impossible to keep it cleaned out. I have a fountain in the pool area it is wonderful and I am going to add another out here too as I think your idea of water and a feature is perfect. I don't know what kind of tree the " big one " is. Irene I had lamiums but they only lasted one hard freeze here...funny that they do for you and not here. prarie: there is enough hot sun in areas as the tree is very very tall so here in the SOUTH the sedums are happy. lavender I have lots of pots so that is no problem. Ok I hope I have covered all you have suggested. Here are some pics...this is how it looked when I first built the rock wall and started out...2-3 yrs ago . big tree ( second tree behind little house is gone too ) ....there is more in this area now than is showing but this gives an idea: this is how it looks with pots and my purple table and chairs that I salvaged a couple years ago: this is when it looked wonderful...sigh: other direction toward the small maple, there are only 3 trees in the back now ( I forgot the wonderful fragrant pineapple smelling tree by back porch) ...when it looked so good... another nice view: OK ,,,it was nice to see this and I am GOING to get it back to this. The rose campion still looks good and there are some grasses that are still OK. The salvias are so so...iffy. The sedums are OK. The pots are easy and some have roses that are OK as the whole bricked are is HOT sun for hours. There is nothing at all under the little maple now. 2 heucheras look sad and that is all. I had stone walks and took them out. Will see about putting them back... THANK YOU ....you have all helped me " get a grip". c

HH, with a lot of water you can even combine hostas and Sedums! I had saved some nice threads from 09, from hosta_freak Phil and hey_j, but they are beyond the max of 67 pages GW saves and their search function does not work for me. But this time of year it is good to bump up interesting older threads, I think. We will have 4 days in the 40s next week, wow!