"Ralph D." wrote in message
...
I'm in the same general area... heading into the Laurel Highlands... and
I'll just say that you might want to be very careful in these parts when
it
comes to this stuff. We get a lot of false starts and spots in the middle
of
winter where we have mild weather for a few weeks only to be followed with
single digit F and lower temps. Poorly established perennials and those
that
are borderline between hearty and not often try to come alive in the
middle
of winter and then get walloped... often not making it.For instance, I
have
a row of dianthus that, if planted a few miles away up the mountain, or
further north near I-80 might be annuals... nonetheless some nurseries
here
sell them as hearty. I mulch them now as I got so used to seeing them in
that bed that I just had to put them in again when they died.

I know that there will be many here who sneer at this, but it has proven
over time to be the least risk for me he I layer my maple and ash
leaves
heavily over marginal stuff in the fall. If it is a new plant that I put
in
while very young or if I look at the temp range and see it is close I pile
it on, generally. Until this year I saw two real risks... hitting just the
right window to take it off so as not to subject them to one of our famous
late-March 70deg stretches and cook them under there, and still watch out
for one of our famous late April 20 deg or lower nights. I start removing
the leaves about now and then put a thinner coat back on. Sounds crazy...
but it seems to work for me. The other thing is fungus that can get
started
under there, so I usually spray with a dose of Fungonil a few times in the
spring. Leave the leaves or some other heavy cover handy... even if it
doesn't look good until after Memorial Day, just in case the last minute
evening news suddenly calls for a drastic and previously unpredicted dip
overnight... and make certain you are watching the evening news *every*
night.

Seems to be a number three these last two years, though... fricking moles.
I'm not sure if you're in one of our rural areas, and soon it won't
matter,
but the area is under a severe infestation of the things. If you are you
know that there aren't enough havahart traps being made in all of China to
nab all these little *******s. I've been poisoning and shooting as has
everyone for miles around since the beginning of last year and I thought
that I had them seriously on the decline where I would only have to stay
on
top of new holes this year. Now that I have looked under the mulch I know
that not to be such a promising outlook. Won't be long now until I can't
put
any widely applied chemicals on the property due to run-off to the
pastures
the cattle will soon be moving to. More birdshot in an extra clip or two
and
scoops of poison in the individual holes is all there will be left to try.
I
understand that the geniuses are going to try something to eradicate
them...
but that generally worries me even more SHUDDER

At any rate... if you're new to this, it truly is a learn as you go deal
around here. Someone else replied to take notes... I can't stress how
important that is. Keep tabs on how certain things respond to your
location
in various scenarios and you will learn how to approach our wildly varying
climate from one year to the next.

Of course you could just plant only large healthy plants from major
nurseries with lots of hard earned cash... making certain they are hearty
from 110 above to 30 below. I find great sport in scouring the garden club
sales and garage sales and flea markets and out of the way eclectic shops
for small cheap and unusual oddities and then give them everything I've
got
to see if I can make them grow.




Thanks, Ralph. Your input (and Doug's admonishment to take notes) helps a
lot. I've actually lived in this area for 10 years, so I've learned how
unpredictable the weather can be. I remember wearing a turtle-neck the
first week of June a few years ago. I hope as time goes on I'll get a
better understanding of what my plants needs, like you seem to have.

Funny you mention moles. I'm in a semi-rural area (small town surrounded by
farms, and I * have* noticed that the mole population increased
dramatically. I've been debating what to do about them. I can't use any
chemicals because my cats go out in the fenced-in yard. One of them has
made it her personal mission to eradicate the little buggers, but she can't
keep up.

I'm considering applying milky spore to control Japanese beetles, under the
assumption that destroying the moles' food source will make them go away.
However, I haven't seen many Japanese beetles, so I'm not sure what else
they're eating, and what an appropriate treatment would be. If you fnd a
something that works, let me know (other than shooting them - I don't think
my neighbors would appreciate it :-)

Jacqueline
Carmichaels PA