On Tue, 11 Apr 2006 16:04:47 -0400
"madgardener" wrote:

snip and prune and whack
Bill

Voles? Do they climb? The witch hazels I saw were almost 7 feet high.

About the roots asshole.

Bill

Asshole? Hmm. Seems like everyone's drunk tonight. Is this the way you
spoke to your family when they asked you things like "We just made
popcorn. Want some?" Is this why they all left?

nahhhh he was just assuming again. I'm not drunk, I'm high on
Spring........and voles live in fear around Fairy Holler. I have felines
that adore capturing them, interrogating them to bloody proportions and then
leaving their battered bodies for me to toss into asshole's yard across the
shared driveway. felines don't eat voles, poisonious, but loads of fun
nevertheless for kitties to learn how to hunt proper. no voles, no chewed
roots and the like.........(they also eat worms and such, and I kinda like
my worms, they can have all the grubs they can manage to snatch on the run
from my cats)

Speak for your own felines! My daughter's cat catches 2-3 voles/mice
per day, and eats them all. Of course she throws them all back up
again too... bleh.

I have a couple of young witch hazels in full vole colonies, they
seem OK so far. Hadn't heard about voles causing a problem
for the roots.

As for the Hellebore subject, they are notoriously difficult to
grow from seed, though perhaps not as bad as something like
Paperbark maples that need 2 year stratification and have a
1% success rate. Personally, I'd buy established plants.

Don't know about growing them in colder zones though. I'm in
what passes for 8, and mine took a real beating this winter.
They're only just blooming now, usually we have them in january
if not earlier.

-E

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Emery Davis
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