Oh wow!!! That's an amazing gift! What you need to do for now is remove the plastic (of course!) and do put in the eastern exposure. Water when the top inch of soil is dry and don't spray it otherwise. Only water from above - slowly so all the soil gets some and isn't disturbed otherwise. Don't fertilize for 6 wks, then use a balanced house plant type. Now, try to find a bonsai (not bonZai) club nearby because they're great places to learn. Next go to www.bonsai4me.com and read up on things there, plus join forums at www.bonsaisite.com and www.bonsaitalk.com - good places with lots of info. Don't think of your tree as a house plant, or treat it like porcelain - it's a strong tree. If a few leaves drop or yellow, don't fuss, it's just relocating pains. If a lot yellow, back off on water, but if they're crispy, look for spider mites (unlikely outdoors) or overly intense sun (especially in the first few wks of acclimatization). Once things are going well, and spring brings new leaves, you'll want to learn about pruning, root pruning and shaping, but those can wait for now. Good luck with your beautiful baby!

Donna, you simply have a gardener's "faith"...and a good heart! A lady at my father's church came up with the idea to raise money by taking donations for Tulips to be planted all over church property. I pointed out to my father he might want to remind her that I have to spray the Tulips at his house DAILY so critters don't eat them to the ground from the nanosecond the foliage breaks ground. So much for that idea...LOL. Instead they took donations for lights on a large tree in memory of special people in their lives who've passed. Deer/rabbits haven't eaten any of the lights to date! Garden lights, huh? Whenever I see them online I think they'd just help the critters find plants to eat as if they needed my help. Longer working hours for me outside sounds pretty darn good, though. Can't wait for the holidays to be over (sacrilege, I know) because I have more mulching, tender bulb storage and anything else I can find with growing things to get done. I keep checking my overwintering pots to make sure they're not suffering ill effects although I buried them in soil and have leaf bags around them. Each morning I feed the birds and then walk around my father's house surveying the plants and checking for deer tracks in the beds or to see who nibbled what overnight. Birds don't like me intruding in their space while they're having breakfast...LOL. Since this is first year I have plants of any kind to see through the winter I keep running to my computer to make sure which perennials are supposed to die back for winter and that it's fine...they just need to be pruned back come spring...as opposed to they're toast. It's like having kids to watch all the time! I just keep dreaming about how things will look in bloom next year no matter what survives winter. Once I chill out from holiday madness I've got to focus on winter sowing and trying to grow some things under lights for annuals and perennials with first year bloom. Oh yeah...and I still have to buy the light set up and anything electrical I need that goes along with it so I don't burn my father's house down. This should be interesting, to say the least, but I'm determined. Happy blooms and dreams of same!

Greetings Everyone! I just wanted to say thanks to all of you who replied to my post... seriously, I can't express just how thrilled I am to have recieved such a positive and encouraging response from such a welcoming and friendly bunch! And what great, practical advice, too! You guys are really something. Thanks a million. Taking into consideration what was mentioned, I spent a couple hours out in the garden today just looking at it and turning ideas around in my head. I've come up with a loose gameplan that puts prepping the soil at the very top of my to-do list, and my husband is happy to do all the hard work for me... I just have to tell him what to do (I like that!). Before letting myself get too engrossed in choosing what flowers to use, I thought it would be practical to also roughly outline where I want my beds to be, etc. We are backed by a big forest that we frequently take walks in and it occured to me during today's excursion that all of the big pine branches littering the ground would serve perfectly as temporary flower bed markers... free, and sturdy enough to stay put during the winter. How nice is that?! Tomorrow, hubby and I will haul some to the garden and test them out. We also brainstormed ideas of what we'd like to be able to do in our garden space. Along with all the flowers, it will be nice to have a bit of functional usage so that we can better enjoy our garden and warm spring and summer evenings out in it. We thought a small patio area would be useful; a place to put a table and chairs, as well as a barbecue, and so that will be factored into the planning of the garden layout, too. We found the best place to lay a small vegetable/herb garden, and will make sure to mark that as well. So, once we mark the positions of the beds, patio and garden, as well as account for walking paths, I can get into the actual planning of the beds... what flowers to use where, what colors, textures and heights would be appropriate for the space and the amount of sun exposure, etc. I can do all of the 'fun stuff' (ogling flower pictures and dreaming of color.. yay!) here in the house, as I'll make sure to make a detailed sketch of the garden arrangement once we've laid the main design out. I don't think I'll actually begin the seed sowing until around February, or so. The winter starts out quite rough here and I think I'll have too much going on with the new baby, but from what of WS I've read it sounds like I'll be able to sow when I feel like it and when I'm able, rather than having to meet a strict deadline, etc. I'm happy for the flexibility. So, soil will be prepared asap, and I'll also pop my spring-blooming bulbs into the ground once it's been roughed up by my husband. Then the beds and other such features will be mapped out and marked. After that, the only thing that I'm really needing to focus on is saving containers and choosing seeds... atleast until the actual sowing begins! Speaking of containers, I think I've got just the ticket... Here in Finland, raw meat is sold in these sturdy plastic containers - as opposed to the styrafoam trays - that I've found extremely reusable in a lot of ways. I've been exasperated over these containers, though, because they just kept accumulating and piling everywhere and I wasn't able to use them up fast enough. I thought it such a shame to waste such good containers, but because they were clogging all the space in the kitchen I've just been throwing them out. Apparently, that's what everyone here does. You keep a few for leftovers and such, and the rest find themselves in the trash... that's a lot of plastic, though! Every kind of meat is sold this way, so we wind up getting atleast 3 or 4 each week... Well, I'm not throwing them away anymore! WS has solved my dilemma with these plastic containers and my guilty conscience is now eased. They will be perfect and from simply buying groceries each week I'll be able to stockpile a huge load of them, not to mention the fact that I can start having the In-Laws save their meat containers for me, too! Here is a photo of what I had just sitting in my cupboard: One quick question... Any ideas about what to cover my containers with? I don't think regular plastic wrap will be sturdy enough and the majority of the containers are too big to be put in baggies. I'm sure some of you have got suggestions about what to cover these topless containers with. I'd appreciate any ideas! O, people, you all have got me so excited that I am just jumping up and down... My husband thinks I'm out of my mind, but he's on board with this thing, too! I know having the baby will make this much more of a challenge, but I'm so thankful my husband will here at home through March (working on translating a book from Finnish to English). He's vowed to help me with everything as much as he can - both the baby and WS, lol! - and I do all my work from home regularly (I'm a jewelry maker), so I don't have to worry about trying to fit all of this into the perameters of a 9-5 job. Whew! I stumbled upon WS at just the right time. :) I was really quite worried about doing this garden when I didn't know anything about WS. The Home & Garden stores here here are super expensive - most everything is much more expensive than in the US - and so I was thinking I'd have to build the garden just a little bit each season... maybe after YEARS I'd have something close to what I was hoping for, right? Ha, well now it seems I'll achieve my goal a lot faster, much less costly, and in a way that seems like so much more fun! I feel quite confident right now about taking this on, (heck, I just spent almost two hours reading the whole FAQ, as well as trudi's website!!!), and I'm sure if I have any problems, questions or concerns, that I can get just the answers and advice I need, as well as moral support, from this great forum. Thanks again everyone for advising me and I'll keep updating my progress, as well as reading the posts in the forum and trying to participate as much as I'm able. stage_rat - That 'Maltese Cross' plant you suggested looks fantastic! I wasn't familiar with it and when I googled an image of it my breath just caught in my chest. That color is exquisite! I simply must get some, and from what I read it's a native of Russia and Siberia, so I think it will do more than fine in this much 'milder' region. Thanks for introducing me to a new plant that I just gotta have! And, thanks to everyone else who suggested particular plants to try. I'm considering everyone's advice, and I just love trying new things!

If you are going to be undertaking gardening as hobby (and watch out - it's very addictive), then I'd add to your list of tools: - a pair of good quality pruning shears. Probably the most important gardening tool I own! And very necessary if you plan on growing roses. - a garden fork. Like the border spade but with a forked end. Extremely versatile and useful for incorporating soil amendments, transplanting, dividing heavy clumps like iris or daylilies, or digging out the rooted remains of the plants you are eliminating. Other than digging new planting holes, I use my fork far more than my spades. - a short handled rake. If you can find one with an extendable handle, so much the better. - some sort of cultivation tool - circle hoe, hula hoe, three prong cultivator. You can either get these short handled for close in work or long handled. I have a selection of each. Invaluable for weeding in and around existing plantings. - last but not least, a garden cart or wheelbarrow for hauling things around or transporting soil or mulch. Added to Linda's suggestions (all of which I use regularly as well) this may seem like a long list but gardening is much like cooking - you need the right equipment to achieve the desired results :-) And having the proper tools makes the tough chores so much easier.