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Schreiners is certainly "iris central", if you want catalog ordering. Be aware however that with irises it's even worse than with most flowers, in terms of the pics being um not extremely realistic and with the colors often rather firmly tweaked ;) (Schreiners' catalog isn't as bad as a lot of...

There ya go, that's definitely it... #1 is for sure a golden barberry. Now I can sleep tonight LOL. I believe I actually do see several thorns in the photo now that I know it's a barberry <g> As far as which spring-blooming white spirea #2 is, in my opinion it doesn't really matter a whole lot...

Ohhhhhh. Gee, I wish I'd known they were bareroot when you started this thread. My take on planting bareroot fruit trees is that if they are absolutely first-rate quality *and* were picked up personally within a few days of being dug, as opposed to mail-ordered, then it is ok to plant them...

The "getting the same amount of water" makes me go hm. It seems pretty unlikely that trees in the ground should need the same amount as ones in pots. Without knowing your soil, I won't guess which way the difference is (if they're in clayey soil they may be too wet; if they're in sandy soil they...

#1 is bugging me, I am pretty sure I know what it is but am drawing a blank. Let me think about it. A golden boxwood maybe? Although it does not look 100% right for typical green boxwood leaves. #2 is definitely *not* a privet, the leaves are wrong and the flowers of privet are in a broad...

Aiee, I'm sorry to say this of a tree with sentimental value, but I agree with Steve, I think your only real choice is between slow lingering death versus do it now and plant something else immediately-adjacent as a *new* pet memorial. It looks as though it already had some significant...

It may well BE a red maple, the leaves are usually pretty much regular green (in the species anyhow), tho the petioles/twigs/keys/etc are reddish and the leaves turn a good red in the autumn. I'm having a hard time envisioning the damage -- could you possibly post pics? Pat

I don't know about other places, but most places I've ever lived (in US and Canada) it is not at all difficult to find a salad spinner at thrift stores or garage sales, for $2 or less as compared to a LOT more brand-new. Highly recommend the thrift store or garage sale approach :) Pat

Yuppers, cutworms! In addition to collars for prevention, it can be worth carefully poking around in the soil around your plants to see if you can find the culprit, otherwise if it manages to defeat your collars (or you don't get them on right away) you will lose one plant per night per cutworm...

I'm not a serious iris geek but bear in mind that there are lots of cultivars that look alike (and some that one might argue *are* alike LOL), particularly if all you're going by is flower pics rather than also foliage behavior/type, bloom time, etc. So even in teh best case scenario all you...

Absolutely :) Pat

The two best gardens I've been privileged to have, or to harvest from, have been 1) on the site of a long-standing goat pen, or 2) on the older portion of a goat compost pile. Wowie were they good for growing things. A month might well be old enough for all except the most sensitive plants or...

I would really not suggest fertilizing it. If it's not growing, there's a REASON. It's unlikely that your existing soil has insufficient nutrients but if that SHOULD be the case then the trees are doomed anyhow so no point in prolonging the agony :P Infinitely more likely that they are...

Hmmm. Technically speaking, "possibly". It depends where you live and when "end of season" is. For most people tho by the time the full garden season is over, it's too late in the year for solarizing to do much good. (Exception: if you live somewhere REALLY southern, or if we're just talking...

Fairly sure it is Kolkwitzia, "beauty bush", a good ol' victorian-age standby and relative of honeysuckles. Pat

If you put manure on a tarp for 9 months, several things will happen. 1) weeds and grass roots will invade the manure and establish themselves. 2) the tarp will rot and you won't be able to get it back out. 3) and therefore you will have tiny blue streamers of tarp decorating your garden soil in...

Once they are in the ground, the hardening-off process is not over. You have to still protect them from excessive wind/heat/drought/sun at first, if you don't have the ideal "week of mild cloudy weather with sprinkles". But, live and learn ;). And probably SOME will make it and you will get...

Take the lid/handle off, and use the basket, either removed and held under the faucet, or swishing around in the water-filled salad spinner bowl. I use the basket of the salad spinner for harvesting the lettuce too, in fact -- I take it out of the bowl part, bring it out onto the deck with me...

No no no, IME mulch makes slug problems WORSE (it gives them lots of places to hide during the day, in addition to your lettuce plants I mean, and to breed) They say that sharp sand, or diatomaceous earth, sprinkled around the plants helps repel slugs; or you can go the copper barrier route if...

Good lord. I wonder how much that makes the shady bed near the driveway worth -- you figure 5 stems can't possibly take more than, what, maybe 0.5 sq ft to grow (probably less), times it's not even a very large bed so let's say 100 sq ft of lily of the valley, times $25 -- woo hoo, $2500 if only...