I yanked all my knockouts out this spring except 2, the original cherry red knockout roses that are growing in partial shade and add a nice punch of color, to make room for roses whose sent is as beautiful as its flowers. Winter kill on them was absolutely horrific, plus the JBs loved the pink knockout roses in my garden. Even my Buck rose "Folksinger" which has weathered much colder winters than this one suffered with winter kill to the ground, but being own root after pruning down to about 4 inches from the ground it is recovering beautifully and sporting buds already. I'll be planting some Austins for their luscious scent and exquisite flowers plus some other less fussy (hopefully) roses like Julia Child, Bolero, Macy's Pride, Zepherine Drouhin, Darlow's Enigma, which is bullet proof and smells so sweet, Cl "Compassion" and The Fairy. I have some Kordes Fairy Tale roses that did well over the winter and "Heritage" came through once again. I have too little yard space that offers the best sunlight for roses and am not willing to give up the space for such a mundane, and yes, overused, rose.

Thanks crunchpa, I'm laughing because the only daylily I have is Hyperion. It never occurred to me how they would look in mass like that. I have one lonely one that I just moved that I'm waiting for it to get a little bigger. My garden is pretty much full and not a lot of space left, so I'm not dividing a lot except I'm hoping to divide a lot of shade plants, ferns, heucheras, and epimedium in the fall for a few areas that need a bit more. I also try to plant enough to keep the weeds down, but my garden is so dry from so many surrounding trees that it makes a big difference to have mulch down. Yesterday in my travels, I thought of this thread as I passed gas stations and supermarket parking lots with daylilies of the ditch variety with ugly orange blooms sticking out of yellow ugly foliage. AWFUL! Definitely not the well cared for, hybrid varieties that I'm sure are in many of your gardens. And a single row of daylilies with nothing else, all the same color, along the front of a pretty wall, hiding most of the wall along about a 300 ft span in front of a new housing unit.

Hi Mike and everyone, Been away awhile, but badly needed a Citrus Forum "fix" during this historic winter! When I checked in, the first post I saw was a "name this pest" sort of question, and I said "That's CLM!" Lol, when I first came to this forum, I didn't know what a kumquat was...or a perched water table. This is a great place.... The rosemary oil is great! I have a key lime that the spider mites just won't give up the ship though. Even so, their occasional attempts to re-appear are feeble at best :-). I love the rosemary oil aroma, and I'm not concerned about spraying it in the house during winter if that became necessary. If you remember, I tried never putting my trees outside and it's been working for me, so far. SO....More snow on the way! I always said what "sold" me on citrus was seeing a ripe kishu mandarin hanging on my own tree, in my own window with snowdrifts in the background. Wow, I was sold! And sounds like I'll be re-creating that image with a key lime on Monday... Regards, Mary

Well I totally agree with Organic, when the child is in your care and you organise a babysitter then that is your business and not the other parents'. The thought of informing BM has never even crossed our mind! And she doesn't ring us about her babysitters either, which is her right. We expect her to look after the kids properly when they are with her, and it is her judgement whether this or that person is ok to have as a babysitter. And if that person is not to our liking than it's stiff sh*t for us really. We actually had a situation a couple of years ago when BM hung out with a bunch of feral people. She got them to look after the skids quite a lot at one stage, and the skids used to dread going to their house because it was dirty and they'd have to sleep on the floor with a thin blanket that stunk like pee. And no I'm not exaggerating.. So FDH offered BM that we can always look after the skids when need be, and we are only 10 mins up the road so it's the same time as to drive to the ferals' place. But noooo, BM was in control of 'her' time and she'd be damned if she'd give us extra time for free, THAT was NEVER going to happen! Very frustrating but you can't do a thing about it. When the skids are with her it's her business. And in Loves case they are NOT dealing with 2 normal parents, BM is a mess, and to inform her is actually endangering SS and the babysitter. That poor girl doesn't need to be harassed by crazy BM. Most of us are here because we are not dealing with a normal parent, otherwise why hang around here if things are fine and both parents are normal? Love don't give BM the babysitters number, no way! BM can ring you guys if there's an emergency and maybe SS can ring her before you guys go, so he's had his phonecall to his mum for the day. And I don't think it's normal she talks to him that much, our BM does the same, exactly the same. She'll neglect the kids when they are with her (used to leave them home alone, go on the piss, promise them heaven but always have a headache when it's crunchtime, keep them out of school, not take them to sports etc etc). But oh boy when they are with us! Constant phonecalls to check if they are ok (it being such a risk to be with us) and making sure we'd take them to sports otherwise she'll come and pick them up herself (MOTY), blabla etc etc. It is controlling and disturbing and I'm frustrated on your behalf that you guys are harassed by this woman so much that it interferes with your normal everyday life. Hang in there, big hug