Best wishes to you, Bart: I hope you get lots of precipitation! At least it's winter now, and what a relief. Daisy, you do sound like you have a lovely environment for gardening; I don't think I could grow fuchsias here. I like your photos of your garden and those you posted on my winter gardening thread: they're beautiful. The insulation offered by the snow is one reason I'm so happy about it, but it may have come too late for my potted plants, and is inadequate for the daphne. We also added protection in the form of old sheets, dead leaves, and hay. Now I hope spring will wait till a reasonable time. You have my sympathies, Marianne. Your situation was what I was afraid would happen here. Gardening does season the gardener, as Henry Mitchell rightly says. Good luck saving your musk, and I hope you get snow! Rosefolly, good to hear from you, and thanks for advice that a lot of us can profit from. I never did answer your hello from my winter update thread, but I read it and appreciated it. For some reason I couldn't write much for a while. I think I was sulking about the weather. cupshaped, the last two winters were hard on my warm climate roses too, though they didn't freeze back like yours did. My impression is that Italy gets much the same weather Scandinavia does, in a milder version. The real cold is supposed to start tonight. We're putting extra blankets on the beds. And we're keeping the bedroom windows closed, which is practically unheard of. Melissa

Every day begins with the thought of "What to do first?" Yes, still cutting back and shredding and mulching and sowing and, and, and...this is what spring time is all about, isn't it? I'm still trying to catch up with things that were neglected last year..the romneyas hadn't been cut back in two-three years, haven't finished cutting back the salvia leucanthas, the salvia Anthony Parkers, clearing out areas for new plantings. Getting first flowers on the salvia clevelandii, echium fastuosum, cistus skanbergii, some of the fall-winter blooming salvias are still blooming, spring ones have started and I have one large liquidamber that never did lose it's leaves and the leaves are now a black-burgundy in color. Everything is in lush full growth and looking healthier than in years past...glorious rain!

You can pinch mums a couple of times, I think until the end of June as they don't form buds until the days start to shorten. The only thing I'll be planting in the garden is a California Tree Poppy (Romneya coulteri) I finally found one. We had one in the garden when I was knee high to a grasshopper and I used to look forward to the big white crepe papery flowers that look like poach eggs, nice scent too :). It likes poor soil and full sun, I have the poor soil but the sun is a little iffy, no early morning or late afternoon where I want to plant this guy, I'll be keeping my fingers crossed. Ahhhh colchicums, I'd better go out and replant those colchicums that I dug last week and left sitting on top of the dirt. Annette

I am so sorry to hear about your little kitty, Merryheart. I know how much it hurts to lose a beloved pet. I worry a lot about urinary tract problems in my cat since my best friend lost her cat to it years ago. I think it's fairly prevalent in cats. I feed my cat Purina One 'Urinary Tract' formula. I don't know that it helps, but it makes me feel better, and she likes it. I've made stepping stones for my dogs that have died, and they are nice additions to my garden. I had a pet cemetery at my old house where I planted plants with the same names as my pets. I had grave markers, and stepping stones, and also had a bird bath set up there. For cats I have seen very precious little grave statues that are cat angels. They look very nice in your garden. If you know of a shop that has a laser engraver, they can make a marker with a picture of your cat with her name on a rock, a stepping stone, on granite, glass, or nearly anything. My brother's company has a laser engraver and they sometimes make pet grave markers. Another thing I like to do is plant trees in memory of my dogs that have died. I have a weeping willow that I planted for my all time favorite dog, Star. I hated to leave it when I moved, so I am taking cuttings of that tree to plant at my new house in memory of Star. That sounds crazy, I know, but I can't take the dogs' graves with me but I can take a cutting of "their" memorial tree. I have one tree still in a pot from when my dog Maggie died that I'm going to plant here. It's a corkscrew willow that I call "Maggie's tree". I also have a pine tree I brought here that belonged to my grandmother before she died, and it's "Grandma's tree". I realize you don't have an acreage like I have so maybe don't have enough room to plant a tree for your kitty. But it's my very favorite living memorial I do in memory of my pets. I also have a Southern Bottle Tree I made in memory of my friend Larry when he died. I found the cedar tree in his back yard with all the branches cut off fairly close to the trunk. I have no idea what Larry had planned for it, but I brought it home and "planted" it in my garden to remember him by. Eventually I covered all the limbs with cobalt blue bottles, and made it into a bottle tree. I think it's beautiful. :) But it's still "Larry's Tree" and reminds me of him in my garden. He was a gardener too and I think he would have liked it. I could send you a picture of it if you're interested. Here is a link for a kitty memorial stepping stone. If you'll see the seller's other items further down the page, she has some nice cat memorial items. Again, I'm so sorry for your loss. I know planting a memorial garden for you kitty will help you in your grief. Dawna Here is a link that might be useful: cat memorial stone