Thanks for all your comments. I'm sorry I wasn't clear. My trellis that I use to support my climbing roses is near the back of my lot, near but not in the part that has standing water when it rains. The soil dries out in the summer and fall, and hasn't been that wet this year due to a dry spring, but is usually quite wet in the spring. The soil is clay, but we have amended it on each side of the trellis 2 feet wide and 18 inches deep around each rose. After a couple of years, the roses don't thrive, they seem to get smaller and weaker, even though they get the same fertilizer schedule as the rest of my roses, and don't appear to be as affected by black spot or insects as the rest of my roses, since I stopped using chemical sprays. They have fewer branches, less foliage, canes are thinner, fewer flowers, but no visible sign of disease. The roses are Scent from Above and Fourth of July. The thing that makes me think it is the damp ground is that the two in the back of the trellis, nearer to the area that gets a bit swampy in the rain, are not doing well at all, and I'm not sure they'll survive another winter. So I'm thinking of moving the Scent from Above's so I don't lose them, and was hoping to replace them with climbers that deal with the damp a bit better. If not, I could try the planters, but I'm not sure how having the roots above ground would work with our zone 5 winters. I'm not sure what French Drains are, but I'll look that up. The water issue is caused by the fact that all the water from multiple yards all drain to a storm sewer not far from the trellis (in another neighbors yard). So I'm not really in control rerouting all the water sources, I'm hoping that the research on French Drains will give me some ideas on what we can do. I'll look up rosa palustris. Thanks for all your ideas and any new ideas you may have!

Glad you had a wonderful time! Welcome back... although I don't think it is as relaxing and fun here as it sounds like it is in Homosassa. :)

Bon, Really, it isn't even time to put any warm-season edible plants in the ground yet except for corn in far southern OK, but I wanted to start some zinnias and basil and a few other warm-season things indoors. I don't even remember the OSU-recommended dates to start putting warm-season plants and seeds in the ground---probably April 10th for most things. Since I plant by the combination of soil temp, air temp and forecast, I don't remember the OSU dates as well as I should. I've got everything in the ground that I can plant at the present time except for a few flats of flowers I'm raising from seed, so I'll play around with starting a few herbs and flowers that I can put in the ground 4 to 6 weeks from now. Having had high temperatures this week in the mid- to upper-80s, I am worried we'll get too hot too early so went ahead and planted beans and corn this week. It is early for the beans, but we are unseasonably warm and so is our soil, so I think I'll get away with planting them early. It still is too cool for peppers, melons, okra, squash, cucumbers, southern peas and the like. Some years it gets so hot so early down here that plants that are heat-sensitive, like beans, start dropping their blossoms almost as soon as they start making blooms, so if there is anything I'll push in the ground a tiny bit early, it is bush beans. I don't rush pole beans or Lima beans quite as much as they don't seem to tolerate being planting a touch early as well as the bush beans do. Most of the veggie gardens we drive by on a routine basis on our way to town are either plowed or rototilled and bare, some with big puddles of water standing in them, so not many folks here have planted anything yet. A couple of them aren't even plowed or rototilled yet. I wouldn't have planted anything if I didn't have raised beds that dry out more quickly. I wouldn't dare put anything in the grade level soil yet because it likely would just rot. Even folks near us who usually get their onions in the ground here no later than the OSU recommended dates (and often much earlier) don't have onions in the ground yet. As far as Fred and I know, I'm the only person who's planted onions already, and it is getting terribly late in southern OK to plant short-day types. This may be the first year I've ever had my onions in the ground before everyone else. I just keep an eye on my soil temperatures, my air temperatures and our 8-10 day forecast when making planting decisions. I won't plant if the soil is too cold for whatever it is I want to plant because seeds won't germinate and transplants won't grow while the soil is too cold. Our soil has been shockingly warm this week in the raised beds, which made planting beans and corn possible. I need to tackle the weeds growing in the mulch in the grade level areas because those areas are too wet to work so they haven't been touched since autumn and are growing a healthy crop of cool-season weeds. It is warm enough that 4 o'clocks, daturas and the dreaded bind weed are sprouting. Ugh. I hate bind weed. Today is so windy and cold that I may not go out to the garden at all except to harvest asparagus. I might spend tomorrow catching up on the weeding in the grade level soil if it is dry enough. It it is too wet and big clumps of soil come up with the weeds, I'll just have to wait another day or two for it to dry out more. I will tackle the clean-up of the back garden next week. It is all grade-level soil with no raised beds, so has been too muddy for me to venture into it at all. The perennials back there are up and growing well, though, so apparently the constant moisture hasn't bothered them. So, what's a gardener to do when they can't garden? Starting seeds indoors is about all that's left to do on a day like this.

Yes, always. DD will cook me a lovely birthday dinner and back my favorite Wolferman's Rum Cream Pie instead of a cake. I will receive gifts, only 1 or two and fairly modest. I always cook DD's birthday dinner and I bake an angel food cake for DD and two local grandsons. There are also modest presents. DS lives too far to do this but I do send presents to him and his children. This year, he couldn't figure out what he wanted, so decided that I should take him and his children to tea (my treat) in London next week. That will be an expensive Bday present as a really lovely tea in London is quite expensive, but it will be a special treat for all of us. We've never been "go out to dinner" on Bday people - my mother cooked my dinner, I cooked my husband's and children's and fixed their favorites.