Ok, don't lob a snowball at my head but for some reason this year I am not in the whiney pre-spring stage. This winter has seemed to go by fast and while I am of course looking forward to spring, I am not in the least unhappy with winter. We're going through some of our coldest temperatures right now as usual, with overnights well below zero - but I'm ok. What I am most happy about is that suddenly the days seem appreciably longer. I love being able to watch the sunset through the bare trees *from home!* instead of seeing a bit of it as I drive my 40 minute commute home and then have it be darkening as I pull in the drive. Still, a pot of mini roses to fuss with wouldn't be a bad thing at all. I've done that before and ended up with as many as 5 nice little plants that went outdoors in spring to become a pretty border to my front flower bed. Hmmm...I'll have to go shopping after work today. :-)

I give up. It's snowing, a lot! I ran out and took cuttings from some of the inground brugs. Nothing's labeled so I have no idea what is what. I'm going to lose a boatload of passifloras which really has me upset. This just might be the last straw for me. I might be sticking to small tropical, like succulents from now on. Temps should still be in the 60's during the daytime here, not snowing!!!!! At least I'm not in Western MD where they are expecting at least 10 inches. The ski resorts aren't even up and running yet!

I would be glad to help you with ideas. Send me an email and we can talk . ( gardnwatch@aol.com) Things are probably not near as bad as you think they are. I might even have some plants I can give to you for that cottage look you want. I'm in the Baltimore County area Also, a bunch of us Mid-Atlantic gardeners hold a plant swap twice a year, and there is one coming up in a few months that you might like to come to for ideas and advice from alot of knowledgable gardeners in this general area. Look in the Mid Adlantic gardening forum and read about the swaps we have. You don't even have to swap.. we give them away. Bonnie

Refers to antibacterial soaps and chemicals that supposedly sanitize our hands but in reality kill the good along with the bad, thus leaving us naked without our little familiars or personal good bacteria working for us to combat the bad bacteria. While I appreciate the "Madison Avenue" issues, I'm not quite ready to return to the days when infant/child mortality due to amoebic dysentery, cholera, rheumatic fever, measles, and so on and so on was more than TWENTY TIMES what it is today. In Pennsylvania in 1912, the infant mortality rate (deaths per thousand) was 150. In 2012 it was 8. Both figures - 1912 and 2012 - include ALL deaths, not just those bacteria-borne ones. Nonetheless, "the good ol' days" weren't, and for the most part, are a fantasy no less "fabricated" by a DIFFERENT "Madison Avenue" than the fabrications of the chemo/pharmo shills. Sadly, in a world with such extraordinary access to information, it is harder to find THE TRUTH than it may ever have been in the history of human kind. We must all SEEK, and FIND, our own way in this world full of charlatans and snake-oil salesmen. Precisely why I do not share the infatuation with "all things worm", that some do. The TRUTH I find has been something less than "magic". And while I profoundly appreciate fermented food and drink - with all it's "good" little microbes - I have no illusion that the "good" ones will "win out" over the "bad" ones. They haven't throughout history, I don't know why they should now. What "wins" is a strong immune system, and when that fails, "you" die, regardless of whether you use "anti-microbial" soap or not. Paul