Hello, I know this is a long time ago that you posted this, but I want to say THANK YOU for posting this! I live in Ontario and want trees along a fence line that provide spring & fall interest, I know serviceberry trees are native here and would do well in their eventual home in our yard, which has clay, moist soil (hard to find low-maintenance shrubs that will grow in the soil conditions, plus we're zone 4, plus I'm just learning how to "be" a gardener/homeowner...) Anyway, I was going to plant serviceberry shrubs in 4 large containers (25" x 25" resin Suncast planters) I have on our patio, let them grow a bit for a year or two, then plant them once they were big enough to earn the respect/space of the lawn care crew out back... If I wait until November/December and then drag the pots into the garage until the frigid temps have passed... I know I could also line the pots with insulation (have a can of spray foam insulation I may use to cover the inside with an inch layer or so, like putting icing on a cake, but on the inside of the pot?... anyway, I'm sorry you didn't get many replies, I'm glad to see your plant did flower with some more space. If it is still in a container, or if you were able to transplant it into your yard, I would love an update to see how it was doing, many years later! I think the stories of saving little seedlings and letting them do their thing are great stories. Anyone can buy beautiful shrubs from a nursery, but little sentimental stories like this are why I enjoy gardening. Cheers!

They were probably looking for salt. Occasionally I'll have one land on my arm to 'tank up' before flying off to the next blossom I suppose. Miracle-Gro soils are known to burn some plants, fertilizer salts are suspected to be the cause. This post was edited by saltcedar on Mon, Jun 3, 13 at 9:30

Impossible to tell s a photo, but my guess they were all "puddling", liking something in the Miracle-Gro soil. When you covered the soil c mulch, they went back to their nectaring, mating and laying.

We got Canadian thistle under control glyphosate (studies that do not have friends of Monsanto involved or other conflicts of interest show it as 'carcinogenic' or 'probably carcinogenic' - it just wasn't worth the risk to my loved ones and neighbours). We moved into our house 5 years ago - 100' x 50', so the thistle seemed to take over our little yard. It was a nightmare. They grew in hardpan here, so pulling up WITH their roots is literally impossible without heavy equipment (the roots supposedly can grow up to 20' down). Here's what we tried: 1) On advice from experts we tried cutting them back when they were still young. They kept growing back, and more - probably from the roots getting stronger. 2) On advice from more experts we tried cutting them down just before flowering - the theory being that all their energy goes into flowering and they will eventually die this way. They kept growing back. Options 1 and 2 were very time-consuming and only a band-aid to the problem, so I tried number 3: 3) I did extensive research and found that the USDA did a study in 2002 and found that 20% vinegar (acetic acid) killed 80-100% of Canada thistle. So we sprayed them - young/small and old/large. I even tracked some that I sprayed to see if they regrew from the same roots, and those did not. For the really large ones (3-ish ft tall), I cut them back to 6" or less, then sprayed. Needed to hit them a few times because their root systems are probably very strong. I even sprayed a 3' tall one through the fence, in the neighbour's yard, and it worked - that one surprised me! For the first 2 years, we had to spray all summer because there were so many. Now we only need to spray weedlings occasionally - mostly in the hottest part of summer. Most of our neighbours still have a problem with them - they either don't spray with acetic vinegar or only spray after they have a lot of mature thistles. Canada thistle is now my least problematic weed. Still haven't gotten those dandelions under control, and oh, the horsetail weed! I know this is an old thread, but hope this helps anyone who finds it in search of help for this tenacious weed.