Susan, I love your light stand and always will love it. I realize it was the best solution for you, but if I told Tim I wanted to buy one of those, he'd hand me a hammer and tell me to build my own....which is why I have the one that I have. : ) Mine is hidden away out of sight in a room where guests rarely venture, although anyone who knows me and who knows I raise my own seedlings always asks to go upstairs and see it in the spring. So much for putting it out of sight....I just should have set it up in the dining room or breakfast room or something.... I am sure you'll be deliriously happy with it and will have many wonder seed-starting adventures and I look forward to hearing all about them. I think you got a great deal considering it was Gardener's Supply. I never buy anything of theirs for full price. They have sales often enough (and especially in November when, I think, some of us gardeners are shopping for ourselves) that a person can be patient and get a good price during their periodic sales. I've noticed that prices often are not as good in December when gardeners' spouses or family members are doing what I call "panic Christmas buying" and cannot afford, time-wise, to wait for a sale. I don't think you were repetitive at all. The more we all share about what we do, how we do it and why we do it (as well as pointing out what didn't work for us!), the better for all of us to learn from one another's experiences! Carol, Our weather is just like yours. Our high was 70 degrees yesterday and it was so gorgeous outside I could hardly stand it. I wanted to jump up and down and scream "Spring Is Here!". That was exacerbated by the smell of the orange blossoms on my little orange tree. However, I controlled myself because I knew it was a false spring and that winter was returning today. It was 56 degrees around 7 a.m. here at our house and now it is 36 degrees and we have had very, very light rain but lots of thunder. Phooey on winter! I think you showed those folks at the co-op that one benefit of being a gardener is that it keeps your muscles and joints strong, healthy and fit. I'd rather "work out" in the garden any day, than walk on the treadmill or work out on the weight machine. Who wouldn't? Trees, Nope, sorry, I just haven't gotten to it. I am trying. Watch for it in a couple of hours or in the morning. I'm about to start typing mow after I close up the chicken coops, put out the deer corn for my favorite deer, refill the bird feeders (those little birdies are eating nonstop today trying to stay warm), etc. I'm kind of dreading going out into the cold wind but I need to do it now before it gets dark. I have to warn you that I don't use the same planting schemes every year because I don't want to get stuck in a rut, but I'll try to mention some of the planting schemes in my usual rotation. Dawn

My husband was in michigan this week and that was one of the flights he thought about taking on thursday night. He flies a lot and it just hit close to home. Clarence is not far from where we live. We are a little more out in the country. Big sigh of relief. When the news came on at 10pm they announced at the end of the broadcast that a plane had crashed by the airport, but they didn't know anything yet. By the time the 11pm news came on, it was not until after the weather that their news crews made it to the neighborhood and they announced it was a commercial plane. WIVB broadcast without commercial break until I went to bed at 2am. When my husband called to say he was alright i was so grateful. (wipes tears and sniffles) Fran, Could i have the blanket flower, please? BTW, DS#3 watered my keyboard once, its still a little iffy. We set it in from of the blower on the woodstove for a week. Just FYI those of you sowing in the keys LOL! Thank all of you for the prayers. Families here are esp. close knit and things like this are difficult for anyone. Praying for your FIL, too Nichol. Fleethart

Another santa thrilled to be able to ride with the Rudolph Rangers again. Rudolph has promised to stick to Iceland Moss and not browse the following next summer - any flowers for summer color; I love blues in a partially shaded garden with shrub roses; Hope to make a white/moon garden in partial shade behind the house; love white/blue/orange and related hues on side and front gardens with more sun. Amsonia hubrichtii Cleome hassleriana white Dictamnus albus Impatiens glandulifera alba, or any species excluding walleriana or balsamina or capensis Hemerocallis (Daylily) - seeds from any Late, Fragrant ones, but prefer white, cream, pale yellow, sherbet- or burnt-orange/apricot or very dark dusky reds or purples Papaver (Poppy) - any low, ground-hugging species, like Papaver triniifolium (already have P. alpinum. Lower cultivars of Papaver nudicaule would be wonderful. Papaver rhoeas 'Dawn Chorus' or 'Angels' Choir' - includes taupes, dusky colors, tiny sharp apricots, doubles Petunia - fragrant; including velvet dark purple or white or veined or Aladdin's Lamp Salvia arizonica (z5, dry shade, long-blooming) Salvia azurea grandiflora white/alba Salvia chamaedryoides (silver leaves; blue or white flowers) Salvia cyanescens - blue or white flowers Salvia greggii or its hybrids - white or near-white flowers Salvia guarnitica Salvia hypargeia Salvia jurisicii Salvia rubescens Torenia - bicolor black-purple with violet-blue or similar Tropaeolum (Nasturtiums) - cream, yellow-tinged white, apricot, orange, black-red; prefer trailers; any unusual species, as well as more common ones - - - - - - - - - - - Woody Plants - Daphne mezereum alba Prunus mume - - - - - - - - - Vines Trachelospermum jasminoides

Here is my wish list taken from my more complete GW list: VEGGIES Bean - Holy Spirit, Italian Rose Lettuce - Cimmaron or any red variety Cantaloupe - Sugar Cube, Swan Lake, or other sweet ones not on my GW list Pepper - Marconi Purple, Mohawk, Spanish Mammoth, Yellow Giant Bell Pumpkin - Jarrahdale, Winter Luxury Tomato - Big Red, Gypsy, Mountain Gold, Tasmanian Blushing Yellow, Vorlon Watermelon - Blacktail Mountain, Dessert King, Oranglo, Yellow Moon & Stars Winter Squash - Queensland Blue, Rugosa Violina Gioia Butternut, Tahitian Butternut FLOWERS Any annuals that cascade or trail for hanging baskets Alyssum Easter Bonnet Blue Asclepias Carmine Rose, Purple Dove, Silky Gold Aster Peony or Pompon Black Eyed Susan Chocolate Orange Blue Daisy Calendula Apricot Twist, Bon Bon Yellow, Golden Emperor, Kablouna Deep Orange, Porcupine California Poppy any except Orange Celosia Cramers Amazon, Burgundy, Cristata Orange Peach or any orange, Giant Red Clarkia Coreopsis Incredible, Red Frost, Rising Sun, Solar Flare, Star Cluster, Sunfire Cosmos Antiquity, Chocolate, Dazzler, Pink Popsock, Towering Orange Double, Picotee Delphinium Delfix Blue English Daisy Four O'Clock Terra Cotta Foxglove Gaillardia Dwarf Yellow, Razzle Dazzle, Red Plume, Sundance Red, Yellow Queen, Tangerine Heliotrope Hollyhock Antwerp Simplex, Apricot Double, Black Current Whirl, Chamois, Giant Danish, Halo, Happy Lights, Queeny Ice Plant Lobelia Lychnis Marigold Copper Canyon, Flagstaff, Golden Gem, Mumsy, Park's Whopper, Snowdrift Morning Glory Sunspots or any Japanese Moss Rose Peppermint Nasturtium Black Velvet Nemesia Nigella Persian Red Poppy Peony, Venus, and pink or purple Rock Cress Cascading Blue Rudbeckia Chim Chiminee, Chocolate Orange, Maya, Moreno, Prairie Glow, Rustic Dwarf, Santa Fe Yellow, Solar Eclipse Salvia Silene Velerian Verbascum Viola Zinnia Aztec Sunset, Benary's Giant Wine, Candy, Inca, Gumdrop, Salmon Queen, Swizzle Cherry & Ivory