You'll want to put this one in "Vegetables".

Andie: Not sure where you are in SoCal, but I'm in San Diego. So, my few years gardening experience might help. And Yes --gardening is addictive. Yo be honest with you, if your area gets below freezing(AT ALL), the peppers, tomatoes and cukes just aren't going to survive. Even if they do, they won't THRIVE. Those are WARM weather crops. And they need lots of sun -- something that even the mild winters here just can't supply. Don't get me wrong. If you start those veggies between March and June, you can get nice harvest all the way up until November and December. But STARTING them this late won't yield much of anything. I like to start my peppers and tomatoes in January indoors, under a shoplight with "daylight" flourescent bulbs. Cukes can be started in Feb. or March. Or I just wait until the nurseries bring in transplants around late March. There's actually more veggies that you can grow here in the fall and winter here - lettuces, spinach, root veggies, anything in the brassica family(broccoli,cauliflower,Kale,cabbage, etc.),snow peas, etc. Do a search in google for: vegetable planting guide along with the name of your county. You'll get a general idea on WHAT to grow and WHEN to grow them. You can still get some COOL weather crops in the ground, but you're probably best off finding transplants at Home Depot or (even better) your local nursery. All I saw at MY Home Depot was lettuce. I DID find some broccoli and cauliflower at my Walmart though. Good Luck. Kevin

MadGallica, it is always surprising to me how little I know and still stumble along. [g] And here I was feeling guilty that I hadnâÂÂt gotten that rose in the ground yet, when I could have waited two more weeks. Yes, I realize the delivery wasnâÂÂt too early for the usual spring, I requested last week of March for delivery. My ground was still frozen and I had snow on the ground when they arrived and they had to wait in the refrigerator for 10 more days before I could plant. I only potted up one and then decided the rest had new growth on them and IâÂÂd just wait it out. The other bare root roses were planted in the ground weeks ago and are all growing well so far. I donâÂÂt know if it is a grafted rose. I ordered from Pickering and it is a David Austin, âÂÂBrother CadfaelâÂÂ. On their website they discuss that they use R. multiflora as a rootstock, so I assume that means they are grafted? And I found a drawing of where the graft is supposed to be planted [below] and IâÂÂm pretty sure mine is too high. I also am planting in an exposed area and would like to give the plant a little more help with winter weather and wondered if I should plant it a little deeper. But there are leaves growing low on the shrub now. In the drawing below, they show the soil mounded up around the bottom of the stems and the graft right about at ground level, is that right? Well, Sunday IâÂÂll try to dig it up and IâÂÂll post a photo of the rose so I can get it right this time.

Congratulations! It is very fun to raise them. Do you smell the scent after the osmeterium come out? Some people smell it very well some don't. My husband used to complain from across the house "are you messing with those zebra caterpillars again?". I think is smells like fermented cheese doodles. No, you don't have to cut the leaf down. Find a younger leaf. They prefer them anyway. There is one study out there that discusses how the zebra butterfly population went up after a large population of paw paw sphinx moths. The sphinx moths defoliated the paw paws, which grew new leaves. These were preferred by the zebra caterpillar. No water in the container unless you do have an older leaf. That is one of the reasons caterpillars prefer younger leaves, because they have a higher water content. Keep changing the leaves at least once a day. Change the napkin if it is more than slightly damp. If it is consistently bone dry, either add more leaves or a drop or two of water. The trick is to maintain some humidity but not too much. One thing that we haven't discussed for a while is cleaning leaves. I think zebra caterpillars are particularly susceptible to diseases. In particular nosema, a single celled fungus. For any caterpillar I feed, I always rinse the leaves off with tap water. However, with zebras, I actually will wash them in a very mild bleach solution and then rinse the leaves off. You can collect a bunch, clean them, and then store them in a baggie (with a paper towel) in the fridge. Make sure you clean the bleach water off very well. This also helps sterilize the leaves and they last longer in the fridge. Good luck, Elisabeth