Some gardeners de-bud the new plants (take off all the buds) for the first few months or even for the entire first season--supposedly so that the plant will concentrate on growing a good, dependable root system instead. Most rose gardeners I know do not do that. My roses settle in fine and grow good roots and put out beautiful blooms without all that fussing. Another reason that some people selectively take out one or a couple buds is because they are "exhibitors" at the rose contests and selective de-budding like that encourages the rose to produce bigger, and hopefully award-winning, blooms. If you grow roses primarily to be enjoyed in your own garden--like I do--you actually want to do the opposite--you do everything you can to maximize the number of blooms -- so that the roses will make a big show in your garden. Different strokes for different folks, you know. : ) I advise you to just make sure the roses are watered and getting enough sunshine--and after they start putting out some good healthy leaves, feed them with a fertilizer like Rose Tone or Osmocote. Hope that helps. Kate

Hello, Jim. They definitely look normal from a bloomage standpopint! No need to worry about that. My first thought when reading your message was iron chlorosis but your pictures clearly show that the veins are not dark green but light greenish. Then I observed that the leaves in direct contact with the sun are a lighter shade of green than those leaves in the interior. It is hard to tell if that is caused by shade in the picture or not but, it made me think of sunscorch. When the leaves in direct contact with the sun get too much sun, they turn a lighter green and eventually look all yellowish (including the leaf veins). Down here in Texas, I provide shade starting around 11am to 12pm to prevent that. But I once had a storm damage a tree that provided shade to the leaves and had to dream a contramption to give them shade. I would not use the fertilizer for this problem. Generally speaking, fertilizer applications on stressed plants are not recommended. Besides, hydrangeas are not heavy feeders. In the northern half of the country, you can do with one application in June (I am guessing that is where you are located); see the link below. A cup of compost, composted manure or cottonseed meal per application should be enough. Have you ever had a soil test done? Soil tests can indicate mineral defficiencies that can make the leaves turn yellow and which are not easily diagnosed by us gardeners. For example, nitrogen deficiency can make old leaves turn yellow too. Luis Here is a link that might be useful: Fertilzing hydrangeas

Hi, Lucky you to get a built in garden! You don't have to do anything to raspberry bushes, they grow fine on their own. Some people prune them and try to make them stay in a certain spot or grow between guide wires, but that isn't necessary. Just pull out or mow the ones that come up where you don't want them. Bugs don't really bother raspberries. Grapevines should have some pruning done to them every year or two, but if you ignore that for one year (sounds like your yard might be overwhelming) there really won't be a problem. Unless you have trouble with them they don't need spraying with anything either. Fertilizing around the vines with compost never hurts. The Fruit & Orchard forum is a good place to ask for advice about berries, grapes, and apple trees. For the apple tree, you should be spraying with something after the blossoms fall, if you want to prevent bugs from getting them all. I have an organic fruit tree spray (powder) I got from Gardens Alive! and a 1 gallon size sprayer that I got for about $5 at Menards some years ago. There is also a dormant oil that you can use to spray stuff on so it sticks better and suffocates the worms I think. Please don't kill any plants until you are sure it isn't 'something.' Offer plants you don't want to neighbors or on freecycle. The people who bought my house killed almost everything (10 fruit trees, raspberries, rhubarb, asparagus, thousands of flowers, etc.) They left one pear tree and the next owner took that down. It hasn't even been 3 years since I moved, sigh. Between the 2 sets of plant-hating new owners, they killed thousands of dollars worth of trees, shrubs, and flowers. I tried to talk to both sets of owners about the plants, they had no interest. If your previous owner is still alive, I am sure they would be glad to give you some helpful hints on what was where and how to take care of it. Try calling or writing them, gardeners usually love to talk about their gardens! You could at the least get some good plant IDs from them. Good luck! Don't worry too much, remember that nature is good at growing things regardless of your help. Marcia (hosting the SE WI plant swap on May 20th)

Ditto what Ron said about the situation: What's code here and what's a best practice are two different things. I don't think that the bar should be set at "what's code" in this situation. You will have to push your GC, but the standard here should be "what's serviceable" above and beyond "what's code". If GFCI nuisance tripping is shutting down your office, that may not be a code violation, but it shouldn't fly. Outside outlets have to be protected by a GFCI. Nuisance tripping of an outdoor GFCI is an easily foreseeable issue. Your office outlets should not be down stream of that (best practice). Do as suggested and make each outdoor outlet a GFCI (and don't connect anything on the "Load" side). That way one tripped GFCI doesn't take out all of the outlets AND you know which one caused the problem. Your laser printer can use large amounts of current when it starts printing. Using 8-12 amps isn't uncommon - primarily because of the fuser. Code requires that circuits be designed so that permanently attached loads not exceed 80% of the rated capacity of the circuit. A well designed residential electrical system takes into account likely uses for non-permanently attached loads (things plugged into outlets) and gives plenty of extra capacity (best practice). Things like a hair dryer / curling iron in a bedroom, a space heater in a room with lots of glass, electric lawn mower / hedge trimmers or holiday lights outside are all very easy to anticipate. So is electronics / laser printer / AV gear in an office or spare bedroom. Any one of these loads could put you near 60-80% of a 20 amp circuit all by themselves. I'm an advanced DIY - but when I do residential electrical work all general outlet circuits are 20 amp (code allows 15 amp). Circuits used for outlets are limited to one just one room (Bedroom 1 outlets, Bedroom 2 outlets, Living Room outlets, etc.). Some large rooms get will get more than one circuit. Outlets in a hall may be on a circuit with the nearby room. Outside outlets get at least 2 circuits - again for decor / power tools. These are my general guidelines. Some rooms (Kitchen, bath, for example) the minimum circuits are proscribed by code.