Those spring buggers pretty much *decimated* several flats of tender seedlings that I'd set out to harden off. They ate all curibits and punkins to a nub, Most everything disappeared virtually overnite! Newbie, do not succumb to thinking they are Cute. Lacking other predators - it's kill-or-Consequenseces. This time it's serious. Do not be fooled! It's now fall, and THAT means it's Slug-egg-laying season. As if that wasn't bad enough, the BIG boy hermaphrodites are having orgies on my property, and WORSE - they also out there devouring my WISC 55 tomatoes, just before they turn ripe. I'm drawing a line. Time to get out the Sluggo and dust the perimeter. I hope it's not too late, as I'm planning for more Dahlias in Spring, and I *insist* on a more diverse palate of veggies next season. The buggers got my multi-color eggplant & pepper seedlings, Okra and much more. I *will* win in '06! Hey mindsmile: Thanx for the Slug-bait recipe! I'm a cheapo & prefer not to buy bait, but I'm also among the many Oregonians who think using a decent microbrew on depraved Slugs is nothing short of Alcohol Abuse. No matter how gratifying it is to discover 5-6 bodies dead in one's pool of beer, that method just doesn't cut it in a prolific organic garden with ample mulch, compost and planting (er, Slug-birthing) mounds. Slug-Death it is. Survivors however, do have permission to winter over in my compost piles. By Spring, however, it's Last Rites for Sluggo. I'll be back.

I think it's worth a try. I live in your area and I just got one in a trade last fall, but it had been recently divided and I put it in my greenhouse over the winter rather than in the ground. I'm going to plant it out and see what happens. I looked at several web sites and I couldn't find a hardiness rating for it, although the other Thamnocalamus species have hardiness ratings in the range of 0 to 15 F. Typically, if you go below a bamboo's hardiness rating for more than a day or two, you can get death of the entire plant. And damage to above ground growth will occur well above that temperature. A lot of people grow bamboo in harsher winter climates than ours and get total topkill each year, but their bamboo will re-shoot...as long as they haven't exceeded the hardiness limits. Also, one other thing you should know about hardiness ratings: they are approximate. I grow Borinda fungosa, which is also a mountain bamboo originating from some of the same areas in Asia as the T. crassinodus, and it has a hardiness rating of about 20F. The first 2 winters the aboveground growth got whacked pretty well, but last winter it did just fine. I got my division from a friend in W. Seattle who has a huge, lush clump of it and it never gets bothered by winter. But he is in a slightly different micro-climate. As for the T. crassinodus, you'll only know if you try it. If you have a sheltered location next to the house it may be helpful. Please report back next year if you decide to try.

Last winter's gardening: Hack ice off roof and gutters with shovel Repeat, every few hours Search everywhere in vain for a snow rake to get snow off the roof Watch the roof trusses sag and make permanent indents in ceiling Pray the roof doesn't cave in Watch the snow falling, falling, falling, day after day Watch the temperature drop drop drop Watch the magnolias get decapitated by the ice weight Saw the damage off the trees Watch trees bend to the ground under snow and ice Watch many trees and plants frrreeezzzzze to death Pray the electricity stays on and the pipes don't burst Spring and Summer afterwards: what's alive? what's coming back from the roots? Endless clean-up from winter Try to figure out hardier species for replanting that will survive another winter Try to figure out more drought-heat-tolerant plants after just going through the longest hottest heat wave in PacNW history Don't dare look at the water bill after way below average rainfall and terrible drought Think of moving to a place with more moderate winters and summers

Not a builder, not a pro. Am someone having a house built who knocked down the old one and started in October of last year. I live in Vancouver and it rains all the time. No one stops here because of rain. We did hit a cold stretch that caused us some grief but we don't have ongoing cold to battle. In our case I'm glad we started when we did because we had to amend our drainage plan and also work more with a geotech to manage run off water and a creek under the lot. Much of this could have been hidden in a drier time and we would have been screwed come a wet winter. So for us it was great building in the worst times as it really made us feel secure in our water tightness.