Take care, Jay! Hope everything turns out okay in the East Texas area.

Thanks! We'll have to wait to hear how the Houston area fared.

On Monday a 30 foot tall hackberry tree fell on our house, but it was 20 feet away, so only the branches hit the roof, not the trunk. We had some very high wind gusts, and the tree was probably weakened from last summer's drought. It fell straight down our fence line, only knocking down one slat of fence, and knocked the electric panel off of the back of our house and did a little bit of roof damage. A couple of branches grazed our neighbor's roof, but didn't do any damage at all. We have 2 much bigger pecan trees in our backyard, too, and if either of them had fallen, the damage would have been MUCH worse, so we are very grateful, despite our 3 days and 3 nights in the dark. :-)

The tree service guy (who was there within about 2 hours - he even beat the Centerpoint truck!), looked at the pecans, too, and noticed that one of them was also showing visible signs of tipping, so we had him take that one down also. I was SOOO grateful they were both gone on Tuesday when the big thunderstorms hit!! I had been worrying about the trees in the backyard after the drought, but all three of them were budding, so I quit worrying.

Now I have a corner of the yard with no shade trees! Guess where the new veggie garden is going!!

Glad your house was spared, Marilyn! I think we're all going to have to worry about our trees. And as for your new veggie garden....."every cloud has a silver lining!!!"

WOW Marylyn. Like Sandi said - silver linings!

Speaking of veggie gardens...the little raised bed garden is planted and mulched. I'm still going to need to put some shade cloth over. One of the cucumber plants is already withering in the sun. Ugh.

Yes, glad it's not major damage. It's so hard to know what trees could fall...some are alive and still fall. I think I might have to take my peach tree out sometime...not because I'm afraid it will fall, but it has little holes in some branches and part of the tree seems dead. Probably won't produce many peaches. The flowers this spring on the peach tree were about a third of what it usually had.

Glad the trees didn't cause damage. That was scary I am sure. I would be in a frenzy if one of my trees fell ( even if was not on my house). I have so many precious shade plants that would need protection. I am glad you have an optimistic outlook.

Speaking of trees - I just spent a good hour trimming back the clump of cedars in our backyard. I'm only about 1/3 finished and still till to weed and till, but I think the hostas I plan to put in will love the location. I even spotted a very pretty butterfly that flitted around under the trees - had the camera but it didn't sit still long enough for me to snap a picture!

The bad news is the fire ant beds. They are EVERYWHERE in our backyard. I think Spectracide is going to make some serious money from us this weekend. They're in my rose beds, the veggie bads, and I found at least five very active mounds scattered around. I think there are at least 13 mounds total - four in one rose, 3 in the other, 1 in my veggies...and the ones I found today. There are probably more but I'm afraid to look!

Anyone else have fire ant flare-ups?

YUCK!

No fire ants here yet (knock on wood). Carey, have you been to the Akins HS greenhouse? All their plants are $1. They have all kinds of veggies and flowers too. They're open on the weekends all day, but only 5 to 7 during the week. I went nursery hopping with a friend yesterday. After a couple of places in town, we drove out to the school. My friend was sure the gh would be open. She used to teach there. On the way it sprinkled a little and as we turned onto Slaughter, friend's Jeep fishtailed. We landed crosswise on the median, front wheels in the street. Three cars stopped and the men got out and directed traffic around us. My friend was able to drive off the median and back around in the right direction, and we traveled on. Of course, the gh was closed, but we managed to hit It's About Thyme and have lunch before going home. DH was upset I didn't call him, but we weren't hurt (a little shook up, maybe) and the Jeep took it in stride.

I keep my hostas in pots. It's much easier to move them when it gets hot and sunny. They can still stay outside in pots when it's freezing, and come back in the spring. It also helps keep the bugs off them.

Glad you are ok. Was it that nasty road slime that got you when it started raining?
Are your hostas in big pots?

A very scary story. Glad you're both okay! I've had some close calls with wet streets in the past myself.

Thanks, I think friend might have been taking the corner a wee bit faster than necessary on a wet street.

Some hostas are in really big pots, others in 10" pots and larger. I took it as a challenge when told, "You can't grow hostas in central TX." I don't do anything special. They take care of themselves. Like shade, tho.

Sandi, I did not know about the Akins HS GH. That's sounds like a pretty nice place to visit, and since I have Fridays free... Glad y'all made it safe!

To add to the fire ants, that obnoxious squirrel from last summer is back. He's still eating my plants! It's not the deer! ARGH!

Carey
Tomorrow and Sunday is the Garden Festival at Zilker. I'll be in the ticket tent all morning. (Shopping all afternoon!)

http://www.zilkergarden.org/ab...

Yay Sandi! I plan to be there! I met a young lady at HD a few days ago and she wants to go so I don't have to try to drag DH along this time.

'Wish I had known you were planning to go. I had $3. tickets I would have given you. It's $8. at the gate. I didn't even keep one ticket. I gave my last one away since I was working the gate. Our garden club has "manned" the gate since the inception of the festival in 1955. It's crazy when the gates open, but so much fun to see so many people with the same love of plants. I'll look for you.

Might be a bit late: our hairy houseguest is back at the vet's office in Circle C again. She apparently has pneumonia.

Aw, poor baby! I hate it when pets suffer.
I just wanted to mention that Home Depot is having a "Black Friday" sale this weekend, 1/2 off on the Bonnie herbs and veggies as long as supplies last. Also 1/2 off on bags of Scotts potting soil...that I really needed. Other stuff, but that's mainly what I remembered.

Thanks Linda, I just saw this. bet everything's gone now in the veggies.