Hi Mrs. B, Just wanted to let you know I received your BEAP several days ago and have not forgotten you. I'm all torn up here, having tiling work done, but should have your seeds ready to go out Mon, Tues at the latest. I'll let you know for sure once they are headed your way. Included in them are Black Cherry and Garden Peach.. ROMEO and Striped Stuffer...in case that might eliminate some of your tomato order. Sue...behind here

Love their violets. Their hoyas are tiny, though. I would recommend SRQ Hoyas and Gardino's (though I haven't ordered from Gardino's yet, I've heard great things) and skip Violet Barn. For hoyas, anyway. Again, great violets and other gesneriads, but not impressed with their hoyas. I received the one I ordered from them with only 4 leaves, and one leaf promptly fell off shortly after receiving it, so I was left with 3 leaves and a plant about an inch and a half tall. That being said, it's doing pretty well, but it will be years before it is big enough to flower, I'm pretty sure. It's not the worst thing, but when they're that tiny, it just gives you no leeway. You have to be really careful with watering and care until it becomes established enough to weather occasional neglect. And there's no way to take a cutting to save the plant if it starts going downhill, because there's really nothing to it. I have received cuttings in trades that are about 5 to 10 times the size of the hoya I received from them. It was healthy when I received it, though, I will say that. And like I said, it's doing well. But I am not so patient that I want to wait years and years for it to even grow big enough to flower, let alone the wait for it to be happy enough to flower. I'm okay with this one, and I did know what I was getting into by getting it from them. If my whole collection was that small though, I think I'd freak out from impatience ; )

I placed a large order for Lilies this spring at the Hallson's Gardens. The bulbs arrived in very nice shape. They were packed well, with plastic labels in every package (I always appreciate that!). The communication with the owner was also superb: Chris answeres all questions promptly and in very friendly manner. Overall, I highly recommend Hallson's Gardens. Good luck!

If your town or city has anything like a home and garden show, the folks from Angie's List usually are there, and the price to join is much lower at the show than if you just Google'd it and joined that way (the membership renewal prices are lower at the shows, too). Yes, it costs to go to the shows, but usually there are newspaper and Groupon-type coupons available. I've ordered from Footsmart before; they're OK. I also order from Zappos -- just compare prices. Some items I've seen on Zappos were more expensive than other places even once you factor in shipping (I believe that Zappos' prices are slightly higher here and there because of that).