Ianna - what kinds of fruit trees did you keep in pots? I'd be interested in hearing about your experience. I'm in zone 7B, and am keeping fruit trees in pots for several reasons. I haven't been doing this for too long, so it is a learning experience. I'm in a duplex apartment, so things must be reasonably mobile. With fruit trees, it may be some years before seeing fruit (if ever), but I have several citrus (from a few inches to a few feet tall), several guavas (which seem very well-adapted to containers), feijoas, coconas (Solanum sessiliflorum). I keep trying other things - naranjilla, tamarillos, cherimoyas. They are attractive plants, and it's a lot of fun to research the plants, their needs, etc. There are a lot of folks on these forums doing fruit trees, but apart from citrus, there's very little discussion of fruit trees in containers, even though it is certainly doable with many plants. I think a lot of folks only consider the value of fruit trees if they are bearing fruit; however as houseplants, citrus, cherimoyas/annonas, feijoas, certain solanums (my cape gooseberries are blooming now!), and guavas are beautiful, striking plants, fruit or not.

I have about 6 or 7 flats started and mostly doing well. I have 28 tomato plants just put into separate pots (3 varieties: Black Krim, Iidi and Padova). Also, there are 3 flats of coleus, one flat with cuttings from last year's favourites and the other 2 with new seedlings. I'm trying for ones with a lot of yellow in the leaves but not having much luck. But I do have one rather small and weak one with almost completely black leaves. Probably the colour is why it's not growing very fast (not enough chlorophyl),but it seems healthy. I also have lots of baby primulas of 3 kinds. Two sets are in the cold frame as they are from last year, and the others are auriculas from this year. I got the seeds from France and had quite poor germination so I'm watching the plants I did get really closely. For unusuals, I have seedlings of things I collected in parks and nurseries locally. They didn't care if I collected seeds, so I went wild! Now I have red yuccas, pineapple lilies, phormiums, pearly whites (a local wildflower) and eryngium agavafolium.I also have 3 different kinds of penstemons, but while growing, they're very slow and tiny. Let's hope at least some of them survive!

Well. I'm saying this with the utmost respect and kindness, but: y'all have nothing on me! I just came inside from planting my last 80 bulbs. It was fun, actually (although my feet are now very cold). The ground here is frozen about an inch down. So I levered up frozen slabs with a shovel, added amendments to the cool but unfrozen soil underneath, plunked in the bulbs. I replaced the frozen crust, then jumped up and down on it a few times to settle everything. Easy--and I'm sure all of my non-gardening, home-on-vacation neighbors found it highly entertaining. Tomorrow, I have to finish my "fall" cleanup. I left the hose out--thankfully, I had the sense to disconnect and empty it--and the garden is strewn with a variety of pots, some planted and some not, all of which have to go...somewhere. Then there are a few things left to plant: a peony division, a few day lily divisions, and so on. It's not my fault! :) I suffer from the delusion that I live in northern England, and I learned a lot about gardening from a former neighbor in Cambridge (MA, not England). This lovely, intrepid/crazy lady routinely planted bulbs in late December and had a collection of vines growing up supports she's super-glued to the apartment building next to hers. She planted her bulbs in the "verge" (area between sidewalk and street), which was prime dog-walking territory in that neighborhood. No matter, she had a grade-school-age relative draw graphic pictures to illustrate a number of "This is Not a Dog Toilet!" signs. Anyway, her garden thrived, and mine does, too. I like to push a few limits in it. So you can all relax, and feel very organized and on-schedule. Amanda - And hey--I've got pansies blooming!

More great ideas - thank you! Newhomebuilder, I'd love to see your updated shelves if you wouldn't mind posting pictures. I see what everyone is saying about using primarily books and adding little accents here and there and unmatted, smaller photos. I also like other suggestions to use some larger objects so it's not too cluttered or random. I've edited the shelves down a bit. All but one item in the police collection went in DH's office and my Bell glass jars found a nice place on my dining hutch where they seem to complement my green milk glass. I'm definitely not one to just buy home decor items just to fill up space so I won't rush out to buy anything all at once. Most of the ones I do have I found while antique shopping or they were handed down to me and new things aren't as appealing to me as old. For now, I'll leave most of the pictures up and replace them with more books as time goes on. I like the idea of using the matted framed pictures as a display on the wall (love ttodd's picture wall) or on pictures shelves down the hallway. Lord knows I go up and down that hallway several times a day since the laundry and kids' rooms are at the other end! I'll have plenty of opportunities to enjoy seeing them :-D