Maryl - So when you saw Midnight Castle and When Royals Dream almost together, which did you like best. I've always thought When Royals Dream looked like a fabulous purple too. When the heat index is 100, SC Francis Busby fades a bit. It is very bright in the "red bed." With scape blast and one of the Julie Newmar seedlings taking over the seedling bed and robbing the others of shade, I can't get accurate stats on Valentine Sweetheart. At this point, VS has better increase and reliable rebloom but a bud count of only 8-9. The sib has developed rebloom and has a bud count of 14. Since they do have differences - one with the gold edge and the other with the white, I might end up introducing both of them as some point. VS had one fabulous scape developing before the blast, and I thought it was going to develop the lateral branching. Because of the rain wave followed by the heat wave, I could not risk moving VS to the new evaluation bed I made. If I ever get than one in good soil and enough sunlight, we will see what she can do. Both are shorter than I would like - 24 inches tall.

im wondering about the crazy stone patio .... and about the tree looking telephone poled .... and what would happen to the patio.. if the tree fell over ??? the bark may have lightened due to increased sun since pruning.. normal and irrelevant ... ALL evergreen plants shed needles.. its basically cyclical ... according to the plant ... and also ... as it probably is in this case.. increased due to stress .... not to mention increased sun on parts were newly exposed to sun due to the injury and pruning .... if you note as fall progresses ... around town.. you might notice it happening on various pine trees ... with varying degrees .... there is only one thing you can do about it ... and that is focus on the growth tips.. and if those are properly green.. and look OK .. then you are all set for next year ... if the tree trunk was buried significantly.. when ever the patio was built.... the tree is probably dying in tree time.. and removal is probably the only option ... but counting in tree time .. decades.. this might happen a decade from now .. who knows .... again ... there is little you can do about the tree .. and the decision might be more about the patio ... and its possible destruction .... this MIGHT all happen in very slow motion ... and i am addressing a consideration ... i do not mean to make you flip out and worry about it .. its not like its leaning over the house ... ken

Hi Julie , after preparing for the worst, (predicted highs of 15 to 20 cm. of snow possible with streamers off Lake Huron capable of dumping much more ) , ....thank you "weather guesserators! " we only got about maybe 2 inches . Winds were high though and temps bitter ( they got that right at least between -20 and -25 Celcius) . I went out to water and feed my chickens saturday morning and when I looked down to the farthest part of the property it looked as if it had snowed and then someone had run up and down with a snowplow and removed all the snow ....you could see the grass through the snow . So I am guessing with nothing there to stop it the snow was just blown away by the high winds . Very odd as the snow was left everywhere else..

The good news is that most if not all of your hostas will survive, the bad news is that for this year they are going to look somewhat the worse for wear. The ones that were flattened to the ground will mostly stand right back up in a couple of days, the resilience of hostas is amazing. Be sure you leave all the stems and leaves in place, they may look terrible, but are still going to provide nourishment to the plants. In a few weeks you can do some judicious trimming as needed. You will probably have higher light levels in some spots, so keep an eye on plants that may need additional watering.