I have rescued many plants over the years and taken cuttings and/or diggings from many more. But I always follow certain guidelines. This is how I determine what I will take and what I won't, for what it's worth: 1. I never take anything from private property without permission. 2. I never, ever take cuttings from public gardens or botanical gardens, as those are display gardens. If everyone took cuttings, there would soon be nothing to display. 3. I am very cautious about taking wildflowers from the wild, as most don't transplant well. And if there is any chance they are endangered or threatened in the wild, I leave them alone so they can grow and reseed where they should be. BUT... 4. Anything in the path of a bulldozer is fair game. Like most of you, if I know an area is being developed, I figure I'm saving the plants that I take from certain death. That's how my mother got the beautiful butterfly orchid that I've had for more than 30 years now. 5. Plants that are obviously not natives but are growing in wild areas are usually just fine to dig and take. They don't belong there, anyway. Exceptions would be areas that have been deliberately seeded with wildflowers, etc. But I have found all sorts of neat things that volunteered in areas where they really didn't belong. 6. I have taken plants from roadside ditches, both native and exotics, for my enclosed ponds. I never dispose of any of them in any way that would release them back into our natural waterways. But I've snatched water hyacinths, water lettuce, pickerel weed, arrowhead, duckweed and more from ditches in the past. This is probably an activity that is punishable by fines, at least, since water hyacinths are such a terrible nuisance in our streams & rivers. But I know that any I take are "out of the system" for good, so I don't feel too bad. (Just be aware that if you are caught taking them, you could be fined, at the very least. The law probably doesn't care HOW responsibly you use them.) 7. And lastly, anything already broken off and laying on a sidewalk, or in an aisle, or on a path is fair game. That's going to be a goner if you DON'T pick it up and pot it, so why not? Just my thoughts. Found plants are a blessing I would hate to be without, but I try to use common sense and be fair to others. Marcia

NW facing is going to be a tricky situation, because most of the day will be shady (which would be fine for a lot of things like impatiens), but THEN, unfortunately, your partial western exposure is going to subject the box to the hottest sun of the day - a fairly brutal adjustment for some plants. The plants shown in the link are mostly NOT suitable for your NW exposure, especially the small conifers, which I can't positively identify from the photos angle - if they are either very young, dwarf Aberta spruces, or possibly stone pines, neither will get sufficient sun. (Incidentally, conifers are evergreen perennials, which will quickly outgrow the box, and require all-winter watering to survive.) The trailing purple flowers are petunias, which again may not get sufficient sunlight - in addition, to keep them lush and full, petunias like to be deadheaded regularly, a tricky task whilst dangling out an upper story window! The trailing chartreuse vine is a sweet potato vine (producing NO potatoes!) - once more, limited sunlight could be an issue. Here's my suggestion: expect to experiment this first season, but to be on the conservative side, choose annuals from a good quality nursery that are only marked "part shade to shade" (nothing that says full sun to part shade). If you REALLY like the trailing petunia and/or the sweet potato vine, then go ahead and experiment - but with just one of each in various boxes, to see how they stand up - if they don't work, just delete the experiment and other plants in the box will fill in. If you can find them (sometimes difficult, which is why I suggest a quality nursery), there are a few trailing coleus which are really stunning, and might hang down as much as 5 or 6 feet by summer's end (but you can easily shorten them) - it is my #1 choice for hanging pots/boxes in partial shade to shade. If you're familiar with regular coleus, the leaves on the trailing varieties are much smaller; also look for trailing torenia (purples) and even trailing lobelia (blues). Begonias "might" work there, but I'm concerned the blazing afternoon sun will scorch the leaves. Good luck!

Hey, thanks for asking. Well, I doubt that I can make it to the fling. It's just too far and both time and $ are tight. Jerreth and I are going to have our 30th anniversary this May and I'm hoping to scrape together a couple hundred dollars to do a two day float on the Buffalo National River, where we honeymooned. I need to hustle and call about prices. The distance for that is almost too far and well... I bet prices have gone up A LOT in 30 years. The job is going GREAT! I enjoy custodial at Northeastern State University, perhaps more than I easily explain. The work environment is wonderful, people are great and my bosses are the best. Pay is low, but benefits are very good, and, that's saying a lot for this area. Jerreth is now teaching English as a second language at NSU. Her pay, though not real great, is much better than mine. Between the two of us we still make considerably less than before my church let me go; so much so, when I filled out the FAFSA for one of our daughters in college, the web site flagged my drastic cut in income as a reason they might audit. Jerreth's job is pretty stressful. Plus, she has had to appropriate my computer. So most of the week I'm limited to an IPod Touch. Jerreth is taking 6 hours of classes at NSU to boot. Her work is paying half. We're making less and living better. The stress in our lives is lower than in years. Last year we really got to studying materials by Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University and it has made a difference. So, we actually have more reserves than before and the financial stress is way down. But, having said that, we simply DON'T SPEND money on almost anything which isn't necessary. We never go out to eat (no big loss). We almost never travel. And we dedicate a lot of our time and energy to "making do." Somewhere I read this (was it here?), and it's good for our situation: Eat it up Wear it out Make it do, or Do without We attended and even joined another church, in the area, and got close with the pastor and his family. And wouldn't you know? Politics reared its ugly head there too, and he's out of the pastorate now. We left the church and ended up starting a little home church, which has been very good. However, now I teach every Sunday, and prep time is carved out of my "free time." I clock in at work at 6 AM. Which means I usually rise at 3:30 and milk at 4:00 AM. Bedtime is rarely earlier than 8:45 PM. I get off work at 2:30 PM, which is nice. I'm trying to develop my beekeeping into a secondary income. That truly is like having another part time job. This week I heard from one of my former students from the Bible Institute where I taught, in Mexico (1993-2001). He's a pastor in Alabama and trying to get me and Jerreth out there to do a seminar in Spanish. He was hinting that it would be a better excursion than the Buffalo River trip ;) God only knows when we might actually make it out there. On top of that, we have a standing invitation to do a week or two of classes, in the sierra of Panama, both on the Bible and on dairy goats. I hope, someday, to save up enough vacation and personal time for us to go. The Panamanians offered to pay half our expenses. But it's going be tough for both of us to get time and time at the same time. So, life is VERY full! Thanks for asking. I'm only a little behind on the garden this year. My onions will hopefully get planted today. I have a few more potatoes to put out. We've planted more than ever before. Plus, I'd like to grow much more corn for meal and grits. George

I think I must be the original pepper grinder collector!! My parents always used a grinder and we got a couple for wedding gifts. One was china and it sort of matched my dishes, but I dropped it....then I got another in a sort of blue Delft...dropped it. Went through several of those wooden ones with the crank on top Old Thompson...just wore out....and i hated putting them on my nicely set table. Found a sterling silver grinder! Only holds about 2 teaspoons of pepper and grinds slowly....BUT it's pretty!! Meanwhile for kitchen I went through 3 pair of those tall copper (made in Portugal) grinders...and one of those Perfex ones with the crank on top....pretty well wore that out. Finally I popped for one of those Greek mills....and for 25 years it has been going strong. I try to set a pretty table...but good friends, and family come into the kitchen and get the Atlas mill and put it on the table. I haven't filled the Waterford pepper shaker in years!! I think a lot of people don't understand that pepper has a flavor other than hot. Linda C