You may want to google this. I found an article stating that it blooms on new wood, so pruning shouldn't hinder the flowering. It does state that you should prune in late winter early spring, so I would think what you did would be fine. Maybe it just needs a little more time to get acclimated, or mature?

Will deadheading Oleanders after they have bloomed (in July) promote a second blooming?

Not sure my image is accessible here. Anyway, you can click on this link to see the picture. My neighbor says that it is "anise" and I say "Italian Parsley."

Thoughts?

http://home.comcast.net/~john.andliz/sweetsmeller.jpg

Hi Erna,
I'm glad to hear that you found the magazine helpful. Cobaea scandens is a tender perennial that can get very large but only in areas where winters don't get cold.I think that in your Montana garden an 8 foot trellis is fine - if it gets a little too tall you can always loop the ends back through the trellis. As for coming back next year - I don't think it would make it unless you brought it indoors.

I usually just pull the spent blossoms off. Some varieties are better about dropping spent blossoms ('self cleaning') than others, too. If the plant is getting too leggy or blooming only at the tips and not at all in the center, you can try cutting the stems back a bit to encourage new growth. Again, some varieties are better about this than others.

Seed catalogs usually have good information about the differences between each of the varieties they carry. You may find some of those same plants for sale at your local garden center, or try growing your own from seed. They're easy to grow, although they need to be started about 8 weeks before your last frost date.

Hi, I'm new here, but I'll jump in. I have 2 elderberry bushes and have never noticed Japanese Beetles on them so I did a search and found that Elderberries aren't plagued by them. The site I found the info on is:
http://agebb.missouri.edu/hort/meg/archi...4/meg2.htm

Go to your County Extension Agent (in the phone book's 'blue pages' for King County if you're in Seattle proper). You can get a kit from them that will tell you how to collect a soil sample. You return the soil sample to the extention agent, tell them you plan to grow fruit trees where the sample was collected, and (for a fee) they'll analyze it and make recommendations as to what amendments you should add to optimize the soil for your purposes. King County is pretty big (I used to live in Seattle myself), but you may be able to do it all over the phone/by mail, rather than driving into downtown or wherever the Extension Office is physically located.

Try insecticidal soap. It only affects soft-bodied insects like aphids (and, yeah, caterpillars), and shouldn't be any problem for the ladybugs. As for the caterpillars, I believe the insecticidal soap has to coat the insect in order to kill it, so if you try spray only areas with aphids and skip any leaves with the caterpillars, the caterpillars should be OK.

My understanding is that the insecticidal soap clogs the pores that the insects use to breathe, thus suffocating them. If the bugs eat the stuff, it doesn't do anything. You may want to double check this last bit, but I'm pretty sure it's correct.

Hey dirtdevil - I am in Oly, WA and also have a small space, with 1/2day sun, for vegie gardening. Want to see something that will really increase your area?

PLANT UP!!!!
http://www.theolympian.com/apps/pbcs.dll.../NLETTER01

http://vh10018.v1.moc.gbahn.net/apps/pbc...00&title=1

Trumpet Vine? This vine has beautiful flowers. I have two. One I have been trying to kill with no success (interfering with my climbing rose). The other is on my back fence and is so lovely. It does like mild acid. 6.1-6.5 You could lower the acid levels of your soil around the area of planting.