I still have the metal stake identifying where I planted Crown Imperial bulbs last fall. That's all I have since they never even sent up foliage. I planted them on their sides since I read that recommendation which said they don't like moisture accumulating in the center "hole" but there may be too much root competition from yews right behind where I planted them. Had to hack out roots to plant all other bulbs in that bed. I sowed various Zinnia and large cream Marigold seeds in front and behind bulb spots to cover foliage that still hasn't browned and died back. It'll also delineate where I can add more Tulip bulbs come fall. I sliced into bulbs AFTER I'd moved crocus & other small bulbs that were overwhelmed by "atomic" daffodils from mixed bag. Small bulb foliage disappeared and I neglected to mark where I'd moved them. I marked where I moved all the Hyacinth as I put them all together in a makeshift raised rock bed. Love that fragrance! I sunk broken off pieces of plastic spoons covered with mulch to mark where each bulb is so I know where to add more this fall and put a planted container held up by rocks over them. Garden "planning" on the fly!

I'm having the same trouble trying to plant Sunflowers and while I haven't seen them, I'm almost positive it is the squirrels. We don't have deer or rabbit. It might have been a groundhog, but he would have eaten a lot of things and made a huge mess. I've sown the seeds three times already. After the first set of seedlings disappeared [all but two] I sowed more seed and put hardware cloth down over the seed area and some of those edges were sharp. They still managed to get in between them a little but it looked like they gave up. But, to get back at me, they pulled out the two remaining sunflower seedlings that were about 6 inches tall already. After the second set of seeds germinated, I didn't want them to grow up through the wire, so I took it off and weeded around them. Back they came and did the same thing. So I've started the third bath which are already up. I've kept the wire covering on and bent it up a little to allow the sunflower seedlings a little room to grow. This time I am not going to weed around them because I think disturbing the soil at all, is a trigger for attracting them to the area. I even left the pulled sunflower seedlings right where they left them. If this doesn't work, I'm going to try using the netting I have over the strawberries, that seems to be working fine for the strawberries. Maybe that way I can get them to a decent size before they can get at them. I hope.

That happened to me once on another forum. Somebody not following directions that is. I gave a recipe for a dessert dish that had always gotten raves in the past---including from me of course. This lady decided to make it for a get-together with her in-laws, then complained that they didn't seem to be impressed. THen she went on to mention all the substitutions she had made, eiher due to not having a particular product and/or her own "creativity". I guess it didn't help that she clearly wasn't her in-laws' favorite DIL, as apparently they raved on & on about the other DIL's dessert contribution that day. So, in the end, it really wasn't MY recipe.

Lol. Well there are some nurseries I frequent that I don't care, others I feel like I should at least look half way decent. I had to sort through the packs of allysum, some only had two plants when they were suppose to have three (which is why I ran out in the first place). I casually mentioned it to one of the clerks and he just laughed and said, "Yeah I find that sometimes too". duh. I was kinda hoping he'd give me a break on the price even tho it was only $.99 to begin with. This particular nursery hardly ever has sales and usually has lots of plants, trees, and shrubs left at the end of the season. I don't understand how they make a go of it unless most of their business is to landscapers. Bought a bag of mulch too. Normally I use my shredded leaf mulch but for some reason I thought the bark mulch might keep the moisture in better. It's triple shredded, pretty nice stuff actually. Not many wood slivers. I use it in the edging around my boxwood hedge borders. Which is another job that should be done soon.