Also, from elsewhere on the site, it showed that a separate pack holding the seeds was inside the folded art pack. It looked like the art pack could be easily unfolded and framed. "First, the factual. Each art pack unfolds to reveal a seed packet full of seeds. On the seed packet, you will find specific planting information. The number of seeds allows you to plan your garden, the number of days helps you figure out when to plant. The short paragraph gives specific information for each variety--the type of soil they require, the amount of water and sunlight. There is also a description of how large the plant will grow and what to expect out of a single planting. As far as fun goes, the information printed on the back of the art packs is the stuff of interesting dinner conversation. Each art pack has the variety name in English and Latin, as well as the artist's bio and a bio of the seed variety." Here is a link that might be useful: Scroll to Art Packs: New and Improved

Sorry if I came off as so negative with my advice, certainly you have gained a wealth of personal experience that has now elevated you from a "newbie" gardenener to one more experienced with the trials and tribulations of invasive weeds, and poor winter drainage. A bit more about using Roundup in case you didn't know: 1. Works best when bermuda grass has not been cut back, but is full and lots of surface foliage 2. Apply when bermuda grass is in active growth(usually once it has hit 75F temps for a couple of weeks 3. Roundup works best when you have consistent warm weather so that it actively gets translocated to the roots 4. When bermuda grass is invading from the neighbors gardens, you need to do regular weed patrol to keep on top of runners that spring up from under the fence, probably at least every couple of weeks About the annual bluegrass: 1. If you are planting out small seedlings that can't effectively compete with weeds, try cutting an 18 square of weed fabric and pinning down at the edges around any new seedlings, this is what is typically done with revegeatation seedlings/trees planted out in grasslands, they need help creating a clear zone so that they can get large enough to compete with the weeds/grasses 2. Mulching deeply to keep bare soil from being exposed greatly helps with inhibiting weed seeds that need light to germinate, such as the annual blue grass 3. If you are trying to reseed poppies and other wildflowers, you can keep smaller areas weedfree and scatter saved seed, but will need to be vigilant about weeding seedlings of weeds as they come up Watering new plantings; 1. Standing with the hose and giving things a splash of water just isn't enough with valley heat and small seedlings with their limited roots 2. Better to give things a really good soak twice a day if starting seedlings when the weather is still hot, and use mulch to minimize soil evaporation 3. You might consider creating temporary shade structures using bamboo stakes and shade cloth if you can't resist starting seedlings outside the ideal fall planting window 4. Ideal time to plant out small sized native species is in the fall, once it starts to cool off enough in your area that you won't be getting any more 75F and above days, this makes a huge difference in heat and water stress for small plants Drainage issues 1. You are absolutely right that if you didn't know how poorly drained your intended garden was going to be, you wouldn't have known that it would be a problem. 2. You now know that it may be worth investigating first before you start planting; ie, look to see if there are rain gutters or downspouts off the roof, where they drain, if there is enough slope to the ground that water can drain away, etc. It may also be helpful to ask the neighbors, landlord, former tenants, when you have a chance to do so, if there are any drainage problems with the site Weeds; 1. You now have the experience to be a better judge of whether your intended garden area is surrounded by weeds, and if so, you now also know that it is always a good idea to try and get rid of the stored seed bank before you start planting 2. Getting rid of entrenched weeds may mean using Roundup at the right time of year to effectively kill them(and use the full strength applications and repeat usage after clearing away killed weeds, watering for at least a couple of weeks to initiate new growth, wait until weed regrowth is at least a couple of inches and spray again. You may need to do this 3 or 4 times over 3 to 4 months to get rid of all the weeds. 3. It may be useful to cultivate/disturb the soil several times to expose weed seeds to light, hoe them off or spray with herbicide, and repeat several times if you suspect you have a real weed problem. This could even mean that you don't plant your garden until 3 to 4 months of weed treatment. Dogs and new plants 1. it may be preaching to the choir, but small plants and dogs who aren't trained to be careful around small plants, or don't get enough walks/excercise to keep from being bored when left alone all day, are not a good mix with new plantings, especially at small vulnerable sizes. It only makes sense to give the plants some protection from dogs if you can't mitigate their behavior, dogs will do what dogs want to do without work on your part. Maybe I have just been lucky with the dogs I have owned, but I started training them very young to be careful around the garden, and not destroy young or old plants. I also had the time to take them on long walks every day, and burn off all that excess energy, which is important when you have a labrador retriever. Now if I could just train the raccoons not to damage plants in my garden.. You have gotten some valuable experience in gardening by the "trial by fire" method, but it can also be useful to ask questions when you aren't clear on the methods, take classes, and keep reading up. Obviously there isn't just one way to garden, and I certainly don't claim to know all the answers, but over 40 years of gardening, over 30 years of them professionally, mean that I do have a very good handle on how to handle weeds, drainage, soil amendmending, etc to fit within the budgets and efforts of my clients, and can tailor solutions that will work within different circumstances. It is always about tradeoffs, and I am not against using weedcloth as a first line of defense to be set underneath deep mulch when I can't eliminate the weeds in the first place, it has been my only workable method to minimize bermuda grass and Oxalis pes-capri infestations when I didn't have the time or budgets necessary to really control them before new landscape plantings.

I'm happy for you. I would say you're fortunate that rust did not over-winter, and wise to discard the susceptible plant. Probably half of my plants will not support rust unless there is a high pressure spore source nearby, so maybe you got lucky. For the last 10 years, the consensus is that if you are in zone 7 and north, it usually gets cold enough to kill foliage, rust and spores. Zone 8 and south, rust will usually over-winter on rust susceptible evergreens. Ed

Jeanie, I fully agree that this is a horrible year. My pastures are all crunchy and we're going to be faced with buying feed. I imagine the market for livestock is going to bottom out pretty soon, when ranchers have to begin to feed them to keep them alive because the grazing is all gone. I never thought I'd wish for a western-style wheel irrigation system, but this year is enough to bring it to mind. Our well seems to be holding up so far, but I'm nervous about it. I can't risk running it dry by watering lawns and pasture except in an emergency. The Rose of Sharon is all sparse and shriveled looking, half its normal size, and I'm afraid I've lost one young maple tree completely. The hydrangeas are still alive, but I'm afraid they are so stressed that they won't come back until next year. Yesterday they were all but lying flat on the ground. The young lilacs seem to be hanging in there, and the wild polyantha roses seem to be okay, but the tea roses are a mess. The hibiscus are not happy campers and seem to have quit blooming as well as being limp. I completely lost the annual dahlias, and may have lost all the young perennial baby's breath I set out recently. It's usually pretty drought tolerant, but the root systems were not large enough to make it through this heat, in spite of watering, Even the zonal geraniums have quit blooming. I just came in from watering the cantaloupe, which I hate to do in the middle of the day, but it was so limp that I had to do something. I have a soaker running in the wilted strawberry bed while I'm writing this. Even the leaves on the pepper plants are hanging limp. Someone mentioned that this La Nina effect can go on for another year? I swear, next year I'm going to put in the veggie garden in western raised hill and trench style, so I can flood irrigate; start the water at one end and let it flow to the other. I already have a big V-shaped hoe, so it makes the job fast and easy. I can only hope that deep watering every few days will make the roots go deeper and be more effective. I've used the method in west coast areas that have summers like this every year, so I can only hope. It's infinitely cheaper than buying enough soaker hose to do the job, and putting in a drip system for the veggies is out of the question. I may even put in modest trenches around the roses so I can really soak them. I agree that it's way too hot to stay out there for very long. I've hit a point where I only go out and do minimal weeding and enough watering to try to keep things alive. If I didn't already have a drip system in my flower bed, I don't know what I'd do. Lose a whole big bunch of plants, probably. Pat