Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Signing her up tonight for swim and dance classes at the University today. Trying to get Mrs. No to participate too, but all she has agreed to is to take the Ball Room Dancing classes with me. Sigh. Now that I have learned that I can say No and she won't hate me, it is easier (not that it has ever been difficult). Would not trade the experience of her 'unconditional' for anything. Even this website! And I know she does not qualify as Garden Junk, but I don't care. I have made too many friends here to switch to a Grandparents forum (is there one?).

I found almost all of these (esp. in part 2) to be quite lovely but I do understand that we all see things in a different light. Me being relatively new to daylilies I gulped at the thought of them being discarded. Hopefully they went to new homes? (If not I'll give you my address for next time...:). I haven't been growing daylilies long enough to be tired of any of them yet and seem to love just about all of them, short scapes and all. BTW, my Lavender Heartthrob has scapes much taller than 22" and my Rapid Eye Movement had to be divided after just one season it was so robust. So sometimes it could be just the difference in gardens/climate I guess. I 'get' where you're coming from though about tastes changing or not being able to put up with certain faults. I am that way with roses. I was such a rose fanatic for so many years that at the beginning I couldn't fathom shovelpruning a rose, ever. Now about 100 of them have gone, mostly because the japanese beetles are a plague here but some went because they weren't vigorous or had bad foliage. I enjoy your blogs a lot, especially the photos. And that kitty is a DARLING. What a beautiful face he has! Celeste

So, I am not nearly as fun as bayareafrancy or sayde, but I am one of the ones who was posting for a while and then stopped--a) because I got discouraged by initial quotes for our reno and decided we needed to move, and b) because I got extremelt busy with work. I would love to tell evryone here all about that--I just don't know what GW allows you to say about personal business--the short version is that I sold my first novel to a major publisher!!! Anyway, along with doing revisions, we also found a wonderful reasonably-priced GC and are now about 2/3 of the way through a reno of the kitchen, mudroom and family room. I am really excited and can't wait to post pictures. And I will also be posting wioth some questions before too long... anyway, that's where I've been. I have learned so much from the forum and I think I reference it several times a day when working with our GC. (please forgive typos--I broke my arm adn typing is still tricky)

Did I mention, db, that my other affliction is violet giftitis -- giving away my Optimaras is a bad habit of mine. The other day I gave away all my practice leaves and babies to a friend -- I thought they were all just noids so I didn't bother labeling any, so now she's going to have a load of surprise violets when they bloom. The thing is, I'm starting to learn that some of these Optimaras are actually scarce and very desirable to collectors. And yesterday's Lowe's haul was actually to replace 2 of my 3 Chicos I'm gifting to some people. They've grown into some of my most prized plants but room is at a premium here (now that I'm starting to collect some named varieties). And do I really need 3 of them?! Besides, I get a lot of joy out of sharing some of my plants with others. I started to tell myself that Optimaras are a dime a dozen, (okay, they're actually $45.48 a dozen but they're still meant to give away, lol.) My hairdresser and the Macy's saleswomen I met are next on my list. This giftitis is getting outta hand, plus it's kinda itchy. So you are all right, I need to start collecting more leaves. Some of these Optimaras are quite special.