Re: Bugs/"Circle of Death" My father-in-law has one of those old time Bernz-o-Matic propane bug foggers...you know: the kind you light with a match and it sends out a "James Bond" smoke screen of bug killer? MAN! is that thing fun to use!!! If you let it warm up REAL GOOD (HOT!) before you pull the spray trigger it will send out enough fog to make the house disappear from view from the street. On a calm night it's like something from a 1950's horror movie. GREAT toy!

Last year I started my first cutting garden. I planted: several types of zinnia asters larkspur bachelor's buttons veronica foxglove ammi majus nicotiana stock delphinium cosmos coreopsis yarrow mexican hats sunflowers sweet peas verbena bonarensis lavendar carnations echinacea bellfower shasta daisy rudbeckia dahlias & glads Everything was from seed/bulb & I had mixed success. This year I'm doing a lot of the same plants, but wintersowing. My flower garden is in a 15' x 12' bed which gets morning shade on one side & some afternoon shade on the other. I had pretty good germination on my seeds. Most of my dahlias came up, but I didn't notice any blooms. Almost none of my sweet peas came up, & although most of my glads came up my mix from Lowes gave me only two colors (& not the ones I was hoping for). I'm a west-coaster still getting used to an east-coast garden. I saw plans from gardner's supply for a small cutting garden with the plants pretty tightly packed & thought that would work here, but we have a much longer season & more heat. Some things didn't do so well, & toward the end I had a lot of mold on my plants. The stand-outs were the zinnias, cosmos & the sunflowers. I'm hoping that the perennials that survived make a showing this year. Actually, the stock already is - it just started blooming last week! I thought the nicotiana was lovely in the garden but not good for the vase & I ended pulling it out. I'm not sorry I did, because not only did it re-seed like crazy, it spread by its roots & I'm still finding it poking up all over from little bits I left behind. Around Christmas I pulled out all the bulbs & moved some of the perennials. Then I planted a bunch of bulbs I got at Lowes at 75% off. They are coming up now & I love to go out in the morning & see if any new ones have poked their heads up. So far the dutch irises, freesias, paper whites, & ranunculas are up. The daffodils, tulips, bearded irises & glads are just starting to show. I filled in some empty space with two discounted flats (one dianthus & one violas) while I wait for my seedlings to be ready to plant out. I have some sweet peas up this year, & will be starting more this month. I read a post here on the gw about surface sowing, & I'm hoping that will help my germination rate with sweet peas. Currently I have I think all of the above mentioned plants sown in milk jugs, along with calendula, lupine, love-in-a-mist, bells of Ireland, snaps, & ballonflower. I don't really have enough space! I wish I had more friends here who like gardening. The thing that I enjoyed most was sharing the flowers with my dd. We were constantly filling little vases (made by my mother when she was a girl) for her & she loved having her "flowies." Next I loved seeing all the butterflies & birds, & even a hummingbird from time to time. The garden was full of butterflies - mostly black swallowtails. They then flew to the other side of the house & laid eggs on my parsley, & when the caterpillars had eaten all that they ate the leaves off my pepper plants. This year I am trying to plant some cat food in its own spot. We couldn't believe the number of cats crawling all over that small bed! I've read up a little on the butterfly forum to figure out what to provide, & will do my best, but boy - they show some dedication over there! I wish I were a better gardener, but I tend to go in fits & spurts, with other areas of life taking over my attention at different times. I'm great at planning & getting things started, not so good at the tending over the long haul. I envy all the lush gardens I see in photos on gw. However, I'll keep at it. One day you'll see my lush garden in photos here! :)

Well welcome to mystery land. I've cross pollenated my own Lilies before and gotten some real ugly looking things and some real nice ones. Most have been done before. The seeds can be removed and planted as soon as the pod starts to get "crunchy" or hard. This may require a daily check otherwise it may fall and split before you get them. Seems this happened on a windy night all too often to me so now I put a baggie around it. The seed color varies. I've had black, green, yellow and shades of those, however it doesn't seem to matter much if i'm a little too early or late. Mine have never bloomed the first year, may bloom some the 2nd and full size plants by the 4th year from seeds. There is no gaurantee the new color will stay that way thru coming generations. If you are trying to get a brand new variety like I am it seems very difficult. I thought I had one 9 years ago. I crossed a dark yellow with a Stargazer and got a Lily with a dark yellow base and a light pink brush with dark pink spots. It resembled "TOM PUCE" but with spots. After 3 generations of it I send it in and found someone had done it before. You can expect a surprise. I've planted the seeds inside (after 3 weeks in freezer) and let them grow all winter. And I've just let them lay on the ground all winter. They grow either way. Lilies are not very fussy about it. My current cross involves Lilium "NEGRE" (a very dark red) and "CASABLANCA". We'll see what I get. Take the seeds and plant a few in various ways just to be sure. GOOD LUCK to you. And you can name it LILIUM "MARBREE".

It took us awhile to figure out the style that resonates with us, which is mostly centered on clean lines, without a lot of knick-knacks or decorative froufrous. Gilded baroque is probably our worst nightmare. Our home is sort of a cross between Frank Lloyd Wright and ultra-modern. We also have a few family pieces that have to be fit in because of the sentimental attachment. I do think that any style or look can be done very well, which is how decorating magazines can be a bit confusing. It's easy to go from "I want a nice looking room" to "this room looks great" to "I want this room" In reality a great looking room may still not be the one you want to look at everyday, or appropriate for your lifestyle. It probably took us 20 years to hone in on just what was our preferred taste, as opposed to just what we'd grown up with or saw in stores and magazines. I think that more awareness and consideration on our part might have hurried the process along. At any rate, once we figured out what we really like, and took the time and effort to find it, we've remained quite satisfied with it. It is definitely an ongoing thing. I've never had a house that I consider "done", but I have had rooms that way. A lot of that is budget. I will no longer buy something based just on price and availability. If I don't like it a lot, or have a dire need, it's not worth any price. ----------------- ps.. I bet our feelings on home decor carry over to other areas as well. I would rather have a few nice clothes than a huge wardrobe of mediocre ones. Other people want to be able to wear a different outfit each day for several weeks. I don't think either approach is right or wrong, just right for the individual.