The older I get, the more I worry about my eyes. Glad you had a couple of good doctors.

DM likes to make me panic by mentioning all her health ailments. She's on Restasis for dry eye...which if untreated, can cause blindness.

THANKS MOM.

Hope everything is doing better for you Linda!

Sandi, see you in the AM!

Hey, I just e-mailed you on other spot. Hadn't heard from you. (I wrote this morning to "let me know for sure.")Thought you weren't going. See you at 10. Bring lotsa money!!!!!

Sandi, Green Gate was the cat's meoooow. Wow. DH loved the cookies and helped me empty the car.

Juli and Brian enjoyed meeting you. I hope it doesn't rain on them tonight! I was told not to take the "drug dog's" pinch collar off. I waited till their car was down the hill and started googling how to remove it. It looks too uncomfortable, and he's just a dear when he's here.

I'm getting up really early to get everything planted.

Bruce wasn't at all surprised that I got us lost going to the second nursery! If we'd gone the right way, we'd have missed that great little restaurant!

I hope Juli and Brian and Tyler didn't get too cold last night. It got rather chilly! I'm glad we stumbled on
that little place! Getting lost is the best way to find stuff (if that makes sense. lol)

I'm about to head outside to do some damage myself.


Question: for my pit in the front yard, what's the best item/idea to use for weed block/grass block? We had 2 or 3 types of centipede grass, and I really don't feel like pull them. I have landscape fabric in the bottom, but what can I use on the sides to deter the grass/tree roots and other weed roots?

OH - and Sandi, the plumi stick I picked up at ZBG Fest - and is currently on the counter, waiting to be potted - is sporting an inflo. I guess they do better when I forget about them totally!

Uh, did you not see all the bermuda grass coming up in my lantana in the Hell strip? I'm not a good one to ask about weed block! Why don't you post the question on the All Things Gardening forum. Someone will know the answer, I'm sure (and then I'll know too).

Great news about your plumeria! See, they surprise us all the time! Just don't overwater it when you plant it.

I'm going back out to plant some more impatiens. I don't know why Bruce insisted on buying so many. I have to move pots out of the side garden before I plant anymore of the border, or I won't be able to move them until fall.

I forgot to ask at the counter the names of the salvias I bought. Only the new purple one had a small tag. I cruised thru the plant files this morning, but none looked like these. I'll have to post them this evening and see if anyone can ID them for me.

I was just thinking about something. This is becoming a big year for certain species of insects. Just as an example...the Genista Moths that use the Texas Mountain Laurel and the Eight-Spotted Forrester Moth that uses grapevines and Virginia Creepers as host plants. Now, sure we have had pretty good rain (until this month, which has been fairly dry here) and that means more vegetation growth. But I have never seen the population of those two species reach numbers that are starting to remind me of biblical plagues before. Just a little exaggeration there...I think! And it's occurred to me that some predator species that normally eats those species might be missing or severely limited in numbers because of the previous droughts and such. Wasps, maybe? I've seen very very few wasps! Really, I'm seeing that second kind of caterpillars crawling all over everything...I often see them crawling on the ground. And we have lots of TML here...seems like all of them have caterpillars all over, even little bitty plants have them, even plants less than six inches tall.

Linda you have a point. We have some grape that grew up under our fence from our neighbors, and that thing is cleaned of any foliage - it's never been that chewed down before. It was loaded with the forrester moth cats. The mockingbirds have been happy in my yard for all the caterpillars. I've been finding half eaten shriveled corpses everywhere. Ew.

I don't have mockingbirds here, but maybe Cardinals and Scrub Jays might eat the caterpillars. On the other hand, maybe I feed the birds too well and they're too lazy!

Okay, does anyone else have trouble with squirrels eating their plants?

It doesn't matter what I put out - that little &*$%^%& eats it. Sandi, remember the photos I sent of my little baskets by the mailbox? Well, the one had both marigolds dug out, AND the cedar sage is now about 3" tall. The other just got topped on all three plants. WHY?? It also ate all of my callas (all three) down to nubs. I'm almost afraid to put anything in my front beds! It doesn't matter that we've had oodles of rain and our neighbor waters constantly - that little tree rat comes over and eats all MY plants. ARGH!!!!!

Guess I'm going to pick up a casket of habaneros for some pepper spray and sit on the front porch with a bb gun.

I don't mind gardening for wildlife, but not all of my plants are for THEM.

I'll trade you thousands of pill bugs for your squirrel. I tried to have a vegetable garden. The wood that was decomposing turned into the Rolly Poly Motel. They ate all the seedlings. the only things left are parsley and tomatoes. I give up.

Get one of those have-a hart traps and catch the little rodent. I know a nice new undeveloped subdivision you can take him to.......

Let me know when you sit on the porch with the BB gun. I'd like to get a photo of that!

Have you tried feeding them? I have a bird feeder they eat from all day long (seems like). Then I only had to worry about the peaches (in past years they'd get some of them). Of course, the coons were worse on the peaches! But I don't have any peaches anymore because the tree is too badly damaged and is going to have to be removed.

Linda, this is despite bird feeders, greens left out for them...whatever. This particular little PITA likes to dig things up and chew whatever I put out in the yard (only in the front yard, mind) within 36 hours of its appearance. His own little smorgasbord. I only know for sure it's the squirrel because I caught him digging to china in my front bed once. ARGH.

Sandi, where can I get one of those traps? Should I just use my begonia or squill as bait? grrr.

I'll let you borrow mine to try, but I'll need it back soon for obvious reasons! See if you like it, then you can find one at one of the feed stores like Callahan's or Tractor Supply. I already had the bigger one for my raccoon population, but I got the squirrel one as a Xmas gift Ha ha. My entire family has weird sense of humor.

Sandi that sounds like a deal - in return I can give you a manfreda and a chunk of stapelia. Of course, I promised you those anyway...

And you can get the butterfly vine and Hot Lips salvia.

Fantastic! Found my salvias, by the way - the one that is so fragrant is Salvia clevelandii - apparently a CA native (love it!) http://www.mountainvalleygrowe... The one I bought at Green Gate is "Wendy's Wish"

Very cool!