I've seen a couple of horses on the loose, a cow & couple of weeks ago choppers went around & round for a couple of hours! Found out on nightly news that we had a huge cock fighting business just a few blocks away with 2000 chickens & some had sharp barbs of metal on their legs to harm their opponents. The opponents that day were animal services & police & some of them ended up going to the hospital. All of ones they caught were killed,very aggressive, weren't good for eating or anything as they were so pumped with steroids unsafe. Several got away but while I've seen feathers I haven't seen any chickens. I would have thought the smell would have driven the neighbors crazy. We still have horse property around & 1 family has had a giraffe for years.My neighbor clued me in that I have 2 huge raccoons that jumped from my block wall unto awning & from there made it to the roof, must have smelled the oranges in back yard. I haven't seen any evidence of them but know old neighbors used to feed some.

I'm interested in your Amaryllis belladonna, Echium wildprettii, Pink Rainlily and Watsonia seeds. Please take a peek at my (miraculously!) updated list and see if something is of interest. Grow well, seedmoney

Your mature plant must be beautiful in bloom! The flower heads should be removed just below the head as they become spent, but this plant does not respond well to heavy pruning (especially below foliage). Planning for size at planting is better than trying to contain them with pruning. It is generally recommended to allow some heads to drop seeds for replacement plants, or to purchase new stock, so they become established as the original plant reaches the age of decline. Then remove the older plant. If I recall correctly, there are some cultivars that are more compact.

Lazy gardeners, abandoning your plant babies to the freeze; how could you? In zone 9b even! You could keep your plants from freezing there by breathing on them. Well, it's a matter of choice. Love the callas and keep them looking great all winter, most years (once in a while a freeze surprises me, then I'm sad, and my garden reflects it). In dry season, it's hard to give the callas enough water to keep them happy and they eventually go into dormancy, then come back gang-busters with the rain in October. Brand new, beautiful lush green leaves, big white lilies for winter arrangements. In my sunny-site garden, the calla reigns as a winter plant. Where I live it only drops below freezing a few periods a year. We plant in the fall for bigger and better plants the next spring and summer, but then they do better if protected from freezing. Otherwise, plenty of them die! With our cool summers many plants (especially peppers!) often don't put on a lot of growth in one season. It's discouraging to nurse peppers along all summer (no use planting them earlier, they don't grow at all), then have a 10" tall plant in the fall with a couple peppers. So DH wants to protect them this year, and see if they bear earlier and more peppers for us. No electricity needed (unless we get a record 23 degrees, but that only happens here once a decade). It's good to know about the Christmas lights option. Pepper plants, at $4.00 plus tax for a six pack, or for ONE 4" plant, along with everything else, adds up. It's cheaper to protect the perennials from a few cold snaps a year. The frost blankets can keep the plants up to 9 degrees warmer, and they last for years. I just lay them over the plants, maybe put rocks on the corners so they don't blow off. Old sheets would work nearly as well. Tarps being heavier, we provide support besides the plants. It's hard for me to go out in January to take care of my roses, if the garden looks neglected. My not yet reached goal is to have a really beautiful winter garden. Primroses; I'm trying one (again!) this year, and it's limping along. But from what I read, it needs protecting too. We put in some Iceland poppies, but they're not blooming yet. Maybe I don't put them in early enough, but the warmest and sunniest part of our year is usually autumn. Does anyone have a wildprettii echium? Mine is from Annie's Annuals. This is my first year growing it. Looking forward to that big spike of red jewels next year. How does it handle frost and freezing, and winter rains? I'm reading widely varying info. How about your perennial status? Mine were looking so good, 3' tall, blooming away, but I didn't cover them, the first night, then they suffered; I read they're damaged (or lost?) at 27 degrees.