I have talked with a number of professional landscapers and Landscape architects about this topic in the past. The information I have is that these folks do not use software designed specifically for landscapes due to the limitations you have mentioned. I did see an article somewhere that recommended a product from Broderbund, but I do not have experience with it.

I'v not had much time spent on propagation, but I believe that to do so successfully you need to take cuttings certain times of the year. Like the butterfly bush for example take cuttings in spring and summer. They also say that not to put them into soil only, but to have a sand mixture with the soil, or sand it's self. Keep moist. If you see that you have tiny buds starting to appear on the stem, then I would say you have roots starting.

My Night Blooming Jasmine has lived in a 12" pot for 15 years. It's outdoors all summer and indoors when other potted plants go in. I prune it when ever it becomes too unruly which is often. It blooms on new growth so watch for flower buds before you prune. As it tend to drop leaves when moved from indoors to out and visa versa that is usually the best time to prune hard. My jasmine blooms both indoors in the winter and outdoors in the summmer. Aside from what I mentioned I don't give it any special treatment. As to whether it is poisonous I raised two boys and numerous dogs and cats around it and have never had any problems although I've heard that it is slightly narcotic if the leaves are smoked.

June 2000 issue no.33 has a great article on cutting garden,you can also go to home page click garden plans and do a search and it will bring up lots of infro for your ideas!

Something that looks kind of like a pepper corn. Late summer and early fall, providing the flower was properly pollinated.

Wait until the bulbs foliage is yellow and dying before trying to dig them up and transplant them. This will mean disturbing your other plants but it needs to be. Digigng and transplanting bulbs before then disturbe the whole process of making next years flowers and storing the nutrients needed to grow next year, unless you take enough soil with the bulbs so the roots are not distrurbed.

I found the article, and it wasn't really planting them in bags, just lining the hole with plastic. I decided to do my own test case, and dug up about half of them, lined the holes and added some of these moisture crystals that absorb water and expand (I've used them in hanging planters, and they never seemed to make enough difference, though I added much more than the directions said to!) to the soil before putting them back in the bed. I'll let you know if the ones I replanted fare better than those I didn't!

Does anyone know where I can find seeds for the blue pumpkins sometimes know as Austrailian Blue pumpkin or Jalhrude pumpkins?
Any help would be appreciated
Thanks so much!

A large rat trap.

The recommended testing method is to dig a 12" hole, fill it with water & see how long it takes for the water to drain out completely. If the water is still there the next day, you have slow drainage and 2 options: 1) grow plants that like wet conditions there, or 2) amend the soil with sand and/or lots of compost to improve drainage. I suppose there's also 3) build a raised bed with lots of good topsoil (probably not stuff just dug from another part of the yard) and, yes, more compost.

If the area is flat you may be able to use the more imprecise, but lazier method of eyeballing the area after a heavy rainstorm: no puddles=very fast drainage (amend with peat & compost, or use arid-loving plants); puddles that are readily absorbed=good drainage; puddles that stick around forever=very slow drainage. Of course, this only tells you what drainage is like at the soil surface, not so much what it's like down deep in the plant's root zone... Good luck!