Cindy when it is open it looks pink to me. When it is in the process of opening it looks orange but absolutely no red. But then it is only the first flush. Color is suppose to get more intense with the second one I believe or? Daniella thanks. I am waiting for it to get later and hoping they will open by the morning the latest. They are looking good so far. Even the falling over did not hurt them today.

If I had to do it all over again, and know what I do now, I would recoomend the Black & Decker BV9000 Leaf Eater (at Costco for $79.00) verses buying the $300.00 Yarkworks 'chipper' for $199.00 at Cdn Tire. You can make alot more 'mulch' with leaves than you can with sticks & cones......in way less time. (and keep that little extra money to put towards that self propelled lawn monster that's on sale now at Home Depot or towards a new snow blowing machine you know you really really want and just haven't decided on which monster model you simply must have.) Costco's Black & Decker Leaf Eater comes with the attachments for blowing, vaccuming, shredding, over the shoulder bagging and added value at Costco is that it also includes the $30.00 garbage bin collection system, and an extention cord all for $79.00 - BV9000 is the model # - nice and light weight. Cdn tire sell the same machine but it is $10 more expensive and doesn't come with the extension cord and doen't include the garbage bin collection system (valued at $30.00) - (must be a promo deal with those two extras added in that is only offered at Costco) Here are the spec's: Push button release easily converts from blower to vacuum 3 Tools in 1 - Blower, Vacuum, and Mulcher Anti-clog Vortex® Vacuum System resists clogging Variable blow speed controls airflow from maximum 200MPH to 150 MPH Low Noise Design 10 to 1 mulch ratio mulches 10 bags of raked leaves into one bag of mulched leaves Reduces lawn clean-up to one simple step Deposits leaves directly into trash can No tools required I'm in love and have put my chipper in retirement as this little Black & Decker monster has shredded over 20 bags of maple leaves this afternoon - the front garden looks amazing with at least 6 inches of fine leaf mulch - haven't used the shoulder strap bagger yet because I've been having way too much fun using the 'leaf collection system' to put the pulverized leaves into - then running out to dump the garbage bins into the front gardens - more fun than I should be allowed! I'm going on a 'leaf hunt' tomorrow at the neighbours because I've vaccumed up and mulched every twig & leaf in my yard.......

I've already planted Petunias about a month ago and they are growing quickly in their 4 cell pack that they were transplanted into. I have about 150 petunias which are a mix of Purple and Blue wave, Tidal wave silver and cherry and some new yellow ones. Some of these are getting to the point where there are some 2" stems so as soon as they get about 3" long I will start to take cuttings. I also have about 36 Foxy Foxgloves which I will transplant into 4" pots this weekend and keep in the greenhouse. I started Datura seeds as well about a month ago, 72 in a heated peat pellet starter kit, a whole bunch in a margarine container lined with a wet paper towel and kept on the warm part of a fluorescent lite fixture and another batch of seeds that are in 9 cell pack filled with vermiculite and are also in a heated seed starter. So far, 1 seed has germinated and since these are very fresh seeds from last years pods, it's very frustrating. I know they take a long time to germinate, but this is crazy. Stan

Azura, last year was my first real veggie garden, and I learned a lot. There were successes and failures, but I enjoyed it so much. Skybird is right about you wanting to make it bigger next year. I created a separate bed for the herbs this year, just so I could plant more veggies in veggie garden. So far, I planted onion sets and peas (twice). I also have five kinds of lettuce, and broccoli sprouts that were wintersown, that I might plant out as soon as the crazy winds die down. Plus there are tomatoes and peppers in my kitchen windowsill, and tomatoes that were wintersown but haven't germinated yet. I'm also direct sowing carrots maybe this week, but the cucumbers, canteloupes, and beans won't get planted for another month or so. My goal is for as much variety as possible, even if it means just one or two plants of each - 5 kinds of beans, 4 kinds of canteloupe, 5 kinds of carrots, 4 kinds of cukes, 7 kinds of peppers, and as many different tomatoes as I can cram into the space that's left, and the Earthbox I just bought. I'd rather have too many plants and have to give some away, than to realize I have empty space in the garden, and not enough time to start something else before the end of the season. The bed and soil look great, and I wish you a bountiful harvest. Bonnie