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OK, you FReeper arborists helped identify the strange pod-bearing tree in my front yard (it's a Magnolia). Now I need help figuring out what kind of plant this is. It's a hardy ground cover that grows crazy fast. Bees seem to dig it, although it's not Bees' Bliss. I've seen something similar to it referred to as an icewine plant, but that's the only real reference to that name that I can find.

Five banks have gone into receivership this year, the latest of which is IndyMac which became the largest OTS-regulated savings and loan to fail and second-biggest financial institution to close behind Continental Illinois in 1984, according to the FDIC. Nonetheless, the FDIC is very fond of saying "No saver has ever lost a dime in federally insured deposits." That's fine and dandy but inquiring minds are looking ahead and asking "How much uninsured money is at risk, not just at IndyMac but in the entire system?" It's a good question, but first let's dig a litter deeper into what is...

Clint Brown began planting vegetables at age 4. His then babysitter, a retired gentlemen with an interest in gardening, got him started. Now 17, Clint has his own gardening business -- a venture that began four years ago with a bumper green bean crop and success at the Le Mars farmer's market. "He sold them so fast,"said Audrey Brown, Clint's mom. "I think that's what got him hooked." Clint's gardens are on his parent's Audrey and Steve Brown's farm west of Merrill. In April 2006 Clint got serious about his gardening business by building his first high tunnel structure, which...

June 2007 May was just about as demented weather-wise as a month can be! First—the cold, reinforced by drought, then wind and more wind. Rain, more cold, and some more wind from a different direction! It sort of felt like maybe we were actually in Auntie Em’s house, spinning round and round, being pelted by rain and buffeted by wind coming from every direction and wondering what in the world was going to happen to us. What few plants survived the frost, and didn’t succumb to the drought, gave up in the face of an extremely long and miserable nor’easter....

Please remember folks --- this article is from 2006! June is here, and along with it, summer. Gone are the soft pastels of flowering vines such as jasmine and wisteria. The bolder, brighter summer colors of orange trumpet vine and the tropical colors of mandevillas are on their way. The soft, new greens of spring have been replaced by the harder greens of maturing leaves. Crepe myrtles and gardenias and hydrangeas are showing off their colors. Now that the things we hate about warm weather are back in full force-all the mosquitoes, sand gnats, yellow flies, and various other nasty...

Four weeks after quadruple coronary bypass and with THAT story told, time to pay attention to things that bring about an upbeat attitude. Not to mention an emotion so strong that it equates to nothing less than what life is all about and the joy of being able to live it. First, the state bird of Georgia decided to build a nest in my hedge roses. I was just so honored. We've got pics of both the hedge roses what took over the world and the Brown Thrasher which so availed itself of that thorny bush. Second, a video garden...

5 foods it's cheaper to grow If grocery prices have you thinking about cutting costs with a garden, you may be on the right track. But be careful what you plant; a garden could raise your food costs. Whether you save by gardening depends largely on where you live, what you grow and how well you resist slick gadgets and miracle solutions. If you're looking to save money rather than to start a hobby, here are five garden crops likely to give you the best return: What about tomatoes? They require moderate care and vigilance, and in short-season climates, you...

My apologies to all for the lateness of this post --- it has just been a week from you now where here. As we all morph into this holiday weekend, I would like to remind you all to take a moment to remember why this is a "holiday" weekend. Yes, we're all going to enjoy our cookouts and the 3 day weekend (well some have 3 day weekends) but I do ask that each of us take a moment and salute those for whome this weekend remembers.

Apparently it mentions Donald Young, the murdered gay choir director of Obama’s Trinity Church of Christ. This is all getting incredibly interesting, considering the fact that Reverend Wright recently retired and the church is building him a mansion within a stone’s throw of Louis Farrakhan’s in Tinley Park. I haven’t read the globe article yet, but I know that people are circulating the flyers that I posted earlier. This is a grassroots movement - someone called Hannity and Colms and Colms said he was aware of the story, and the caller was so surprised he got through, he was rendered...

Wow! What an arctic blast! Can you remember a colder Good Friday and Easter? It wouldn’t be so bad if it had been cold all along, but to be in the high eighties and then wham! Frostbite! And then, to add insult to injury, it stayed miserably cold with repeated heavy frosts until at least the tenth of April! Condolences to all of you who had your warm season gardens planted. The weather will swing in the opposite direction like a demented weathervane soon enough and we will be miserable with the high temperatures. Sure doesn’t look like we’re going...

May is a wondrous month, bursting with life and growth and energy, with color and scent and sound, a bittersweet taste of what the Garden of Eden must have been like before the fall from grace. Flowers are coming into their own, birds are nesting and hatching their young, puddles are full of tadpoles. Everything is celebrating the passing of winter and preparing for the long, hot summer ahead. With it’s perfect weather, May is the month to enjoy just being alive. May is time to plant the vegetables that need warmer weather. The soil temperature needs to be at...

I am pro-life and pro-death penalty and I am perfectly comfortable with that. I am against aborting an unborn baby except in the most rarest of circumstances. I believe that if left to Mother Nature, every fetus will become a normal human being. I find the practice of sucking out the brains of babies pulled almost all the way out feet first is an abomination and is morally reprehensable and indefenseable. I believe that too many times, abortion proponents, like Planned Parenthood, encourage abortions in order to bolster the argument that women want abortions. I am for capital punishment, the...

I have had a week from Hades and will be perfectly honest with you all.........I completely and totally FORGOT about this thread yesterday. And so you all have my heartfelt apologies. My brain is pretty much just mush at the moment and so I am just going to share some of my favorite links.Edible LandscapingYou Grow GirlNational Home Gardening Club

Taking an early morning walk this time of year is a singular treat, like Dorothy stepping out of Auntie Em’s house into the color and sound of Oz. The same things that are always there, only instead of Winter‘s drabness, Spring’s full and glorious color. Each walk is accompanied by a symphony of birdsong, a riot of color bursting everywhere. Fallen jasmine blossoms scatter themselves on the ground like the famed yellow brick road, and blooming things pop up everywhere like the fabled Munchkins. And then, as if the colors and sounds aren’t enough, just to add a little spice,...

April is a debutante’s ball for green and growing things! Young foliage garbs the trees in gauzy, pastel gowns of gold and green and russet, like a watercolor by an old master. Their subtle color is a poignant reminder and a future foretaste of the fall’s bold leaves of orange and yellow and rust. The wild azaleas will be blooming soon, their delicate apple blossom pink petals shining through here and there and their honey sweet fragrance filling the air. The violets, from the large purple ones with heart shaped leaves to the tiny, almost invisible white ones with lance...

Seed swapping Q. I have a backyard vegetable/fruit/herb garden, and every year I wind up with lots of leftover seeds, more than I can possibly plant next time around, yet throwing them away seems like an awful waste. Is there any established way to share, trade, or recycle seeds? - Jacey, WY A. Absolutely. Seed-sharing has been an officially time-honored tradition since at least 1989, when Canada and Britain founded their respective “Seedy Saturday” and “Seedy Sunday” swaps. And in the US, the last Saturday in January is “National Seed Swap Day,” so start saving your seeds up for January...

Wow! February was sure a weather rollercoaster. Not just for us, but for most of the country, and indeed the world, with record snows and cold temperatures recorded in many places. So much for glo-bull warming! Face it, scientists-who-think-you-know-everything! Weather is weather, and mankind has no control over it, no influence on it whatsoever. We can record it, and complain about it, compare this year to that year. Bottom line is—the weather and the climate cycle as they will, hotter sometimes, colder sometimes. Wetter sometimes, dryer sometimes. All the hype, whichever way it goes, sounds suspiciously like a retelling of...

I was surprised to find out that ducks cant fly. Growing up in a small Missouri town of 800 people I was sure that I had seen ducks flying. My father would tell me that he was going duck hunting, and while I never went duck hunting many of my friends also said they had went. They told me stories of how they would go to the lake, set up their duck blinds and wait. They would wait for the ducks to come flying in and then take their shots. Little did I know that they all where in on...

Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, I know.......many folks are still covered in snow others are facing other horrendous weather issues. They are all in our thoughts and prayers. HOWEVER - at 1:26 Eastern this afternoon Spring officially begins. Trying to find articles about the first day of spring was practically an impossibility. Oh sure, there were some out there but most of them were real downers, so I decided today might be a great share some of our favorite gardening websites. The categories of gardening and seed catalogs on my favorites list are both as long as my arm, but I grabbed...

Hey all! Since my computer decided to eat a couple years worth of my articles, and I’m too lazy to dig out the papers and retype them, I thought I’d just give you a rundown on my greenhouse and answer some of the questions a few of you have been kind enough to ask! I don’t have any formal training, other than a few years of horticulture classes in high school FFA. My grandparents and parents gardened, and I grew up following them around on the farm. I do have a great love for the land and of growing things,...

Web report To help gardeners plan for the coming season, the editors of The Old Farmer's Almanac's annual All-Seasons Garden Guide ($3.99) forecast several trends for this year. "More gardeners want to be environmentally friendly. They want to work with Mother Nature instead of fighting against her. This includes using more natural products, more indigenous plants, less water," says Janice Stillman, editor. Also: -Low maintenance, high-drama gardens: Gardeners are looking for ways to make the most out of their time in the garden. Some solutions include easy-care or self-sufficient plants that are natural beauties. -Lawn-free landscapes: More and more people...

March is blustery days and bright sunshine and rain and the smell of warming soil. It seems a magical thing—soil is always there, so how come the right combination of sun and rain and warmth lets us know that it’s time once again to garden? The technical name for the way the soil smells is geosmin—literally earth smell, but magic is close enough. Geosmin is a magic all gardeners are well aware of and accept without question, no matter what you call it. In reality, the smell is caused by a type of bacteria that grows in the soil, called...

Americans finding soaring food prices hard to stomach are battling back by growing their own food. Home vegetable gardens appear to be booming as a result of the twin movements to eat local and pinch pennies. Although the 2008 planting season is still largely in the planning stages, it appears vegetable seed sales will be up significantly from year-ago figures, said Barb Melera, president of D. Landreth Seed Co., in New Freedom, Pa. "I just came back from the Southeastern Flower Show in Atlanta and we sold three- to four times the amount of seed packets we did the previous...

Need help from you arborist FReepers in identifying what kind of tree this is. Right now it's got a bunch of pussywillow-esque buds on it, but from what I've seen online of pussywillows they look more like bushes, not trees. During the fall it produced a weird-looking pod of some sort. Sorry, don't have a photo of that.

February used to be close to the tail end of our cold weather, any more it seems to be the beginning, with the cold often lasting into May. Enjoying our mild January brings to mind first—thankfulness—and then—memories and tales of past years when the weather was not so nice, and how very fast it can change. Christmas of 1989 comes to mind—shirtsleeves and bare feet in the morning and snow by nightfall, with temperatures staying well below freezing for a good many days. Tales of even colder times, and people’s helplessness against it. January brings memories of the Chrissie Wright...

I seriously tried to cheat this week, because I'm running late, but the only source I found for the article I wanted to post is a prohibitted source, so I'm winging it! My 9 year old daughter loves to help in the garden and has her own spots for whatever she wants to plant (she is much better with flowers than mom!) The National Gardening Association has lots of ideas for getting kids interested in gardening at its Web site, Kids Gardening. This month's feature on the website is a "Parents' Primer" which is chock full of ideas...."find out how...

Aren’t you glad that February is our shortest month? Whoever designed the calendar knew well what they were doing. February is dark and drear, cold and melancholy. A time for staying indoors and hiding like a bear, dreaming of warmer weather and sunshine, of flowers and green, growing things. The sooner it’s over, the better. Maybe this February won’t be so bad. Can you believe that some of the trees still had leaves well into January? On the other hand, did you notice how heavy the hollies and pyracantha were loaded with berries this year? Wonder if that portends cold...

Howdy folks!!! I originally planned to wait until tomorrow (Friday) to get this going, but it is such a damp, dreary, plain old yucky day here on Virginia's Eastern Shore I decided to do it now --dreaming of spring, so to speak! One of the major topics that seemed to arise last week dealt with "zones" and how even people living in the same "zone" will have different growing conditions based upon location. Also because we are all so spread out the different zones do matter when it comes to planting times and plants. GardenGirl and Diana in Wisconsin are...

2006— January is a resting time in the garden, for us and the soil. A brief respite- a time for reflection and planning, a time for winding down from the holidays as well as a time for beginning to gear up for the coming spring. Looking back on the year just passed; can you believe the weather extremes? Copious amounts of rain, a late spring and an even later fall. Hard to believe we didn’t get a killing frost until well into December, that even in December there were still leaves on the trees. As for reflecting and thinking back,...

Today we had snow and ice to usher in Advent,but something special had happened !

It's a final review and roundup of the Fall 2007 competition of Dance With the Stars. Winners, losers and pics and video you'll find nowhere else on the Internet. Plus, a rose plucked from my garden on Thanksgiving day. True! A pic and some thoughts.

Entropy: A measure of the disorder or randomness in a system. The second law of thermodynamics states that entropy of a closed system always increases over time. This means that energy is being transformed by the mechanics of the universe into uniformly-distributed heat energy. What this means is that even a chemically neutral process will increase entropy. There is no way around entropy… no matter how green or chemically neutral mankind intends to become. Quote 1: Is it better to be feared than loved, if you cannot be both? --- Niccolo Machiavelli Quote 2: War is an extension of politics...

The gardens begin to wane as autumn blooms. This is the time of year, however, when the indoor plants come back in after summering in the outside gardens. They are huge, folks, and beautiful. I'm going to start selling them. Plus some Delaware notes because what with the University of Delaware caught in the act, let's look closer at just how taxpayer money is awarded to nonprofit groups...on what basis and is the transaction transparent?

The days are getting shorter while the mums begin their bloom. We've got a visit to the Fall gardens of 2007. Plus some Delaware notes. Beginning with the Delaware Military Academy Scandal plus thoughts on the "Happy Harry's" Alan Levin announcement. Finally, it's the home of the "crab bomb". A review of Lewes, Delaware's "Jerry's Seafood".

"Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) takes an inconsistent position on eminent domain. He supports the Atlantic Yards Nets Arena scheme in Brooklyn, while opposing the New York Regional Interconnect (NYRI) upstate." "Why would Schumer oppose NYRI and support Atlantic Yards? It should be obvious that private property rights, the market economy and individual liberty are not supported by Schumer and his odious philosophy. Let us summarize Schumerism. "Government will support voting blocs essential to electing Schumer and his allies.""

It's smack dab in the middle of the growing season and we've got a smashing, genuine video tour of the gardens. Also, an intro to "Big Brother 8", a guest writer tells of the greatest gift of all and a personal email from the world-famous Pennsylvania Hand Band with video from "America's Got Talent" 2007 to accompany.

Kaitlyn is coming to visit Grandmother this week but it was during a recent visit that she tried on and modeled her BRAND NEW PONCHO, made by Grandmother and proudly displayed in this post. Also, a garden update for the mountain of hedge roses are abloom and we also have...TADA...a video garden tour of Serendipity Shore!

A review of two beauty pageants, one with dogs, really. Of course a dog wrote the review, yes she did. The other has female human lovelies vying for Miss Universe. Yes she fell down yet Miss USA STILL came in number five! Here's an entry re the gardens of Serendipity Shore mid-spring 2007. For the roses and peonies bloom wildly and we've got plenty of pics. With pics of them all that you'll find nowhere else on the Internet.

Time for a little Pop Culture so don't take it serious. First, the oldest rock band in the world performs right on this Blog post. Also, Starbucks' stupid coffee cup idea, the HBO wife-beater, some Oscar trivia, some famous last words, and Dave Hasselhoff-another celebrity that shouldn't have children. Plus a premiere garden post of growing season 2007. The buds promised and they bloomed. With pics.

This fellow had female friends and wives falling and getting killed on staircrosses across the planet. Could they all really be accidents? A review of Lifetime's premiere move "The Staircase Murders". And read this now for I shall watch no more. This TV reality show is not funny, though "Thank God you're Here" purports to Be. Finally, finally it's spring. A visit to my early spring garden with more promise than flowers. All with pics.

Zatta Melon

Scientists have run high-tech tests on harmful bacteria in local rivers and streams and found that the majority of the germs in the Potomac and Anacostia rivers come from wildlife dung. The finding has put the Environmental Protection Agency in a quandary. “I was out in a wilderness area last week,” said EPA Public Information Officer Forest Greene. “Everywhere I looked there was dirt, debris, and decaying vegetation. I ruined a good pair of shoes stepping in some animal’s dung. These creatures are fouling their own nest, so to speak. This really throws a monkey wrench into our perspective on...

Totalitarian killers in pursuit of a murderous utopian agenda can always count on the New York Times to transform them into noble representatives of the popular will. Whether Stalin or Hitler, Pol Pot, or Mao, Fidel, Che or Arafat, the Times will humanize them. The archetype was cuddly Uncle Joe Stalin as seen through the eyes of Walter Duranty. Count on Duranty's successors to enlighten us about how personable these tyrants are...

As is the case with a group think machine that is only interested in discushing shared ideas and beliefs without respect to reason or facts, the people involved with the Free Republic are dictated by their own sets of preowned views and beliefs. Anything that implies the USA to be wrong in its foreign policy is considered unacceptable and the member who made anti American remarks is swiftly banned from the forum. I am sorry to say this but most of you in the forum are low lifes whose knowledge and world understanding is distorted at best and hence you...

Just yesterday I was talking about this issue with one of my chickens. We were trying to figure out the nature of evil - where evil lies in the hearts of NAIS and men. On the one hand we have the beef exporters who push NAIS so they can reach foreign markets like Japan. This was the origin of what has become known as the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) which is the USDA's proposed plan for tracing the birth to death movement of every animal in the United States. I point out that Sam Sarpy, a rancher in Montana,...

The USDA and state Ag Dept. officials like to claim that the big producers are united behind the USDA's proposed draft of the National Animal Identification System (NAIS). This is not true. The reality is more and more of the big producers, breed organizations and other large stakeholders are resisting NAIS. The “Livestock Marketing Association, along with other industry groups, is letting Congress know there is a lot of dissatisfaction with this program, and there are many questions about it that need answering before we can move forward." - Robinson of the LMA "Regarding animal identification, members approved by a...

It's deep in the heart of spring and the wren's nest in the pig planter is coming along fine. With a little help from a very protective robin. Oh, a baby blue jay is saved and a snake story that will make your skin crawl. Time for a Garden update. With some pics of the gardens growing and a new flower that promises glory of "funeral" proportions. Heh.

FTER becoming one of post-communist Russia’s first millionaires at the age of 24, German Sterligov lost no time building a financial empire with offices in Wall Street and Mayfair. Now, at 39, he has tired of life in the fast lane. He has given up the two private planes and the fleet of luxurious cars, the four-storey Moscow mansion and the Manhattan penthouse. In their place he has acquired a horse and a tractor, and moved his wife and five children into a three-bedroomed wooden house with no electricity or gas on a patchwork of fields surrounded by forbidding forest....

Here's a Garden post with some pics of the new container garden and garden evolution. It's been a beautiful spring here in Delmarva. So why was I so worried? ========= It's been a busy bird spring and we catch up in this Bird post. A baby grackles refuses to leave the nest, house wrens eye up a pig planter and collect dog hair. A mockingbird takes on a crow. Oh, and don't forget the baby bunny.

The Grannys Strike against Peta. Like David and Goliath Linda and Karen threw rocks at Peta in Norfolk Va.