I discovered swiss chard when I lived in San Diego, an asian neighbor dug up some of her plants and gave me 2 big plants. I LOVED them. They had big huge leafs, I would steam and then briefly saute in fresh garlic and butter..YUMMMY...Now for some reason, the chard I have planted here in GA is not as good to me, the flavor is very different. I got a bunch of seeds in a seed exchange, so maybe the varieties were just not the same. I'm going to try to plant more of the big green ones, the shorter more colorful (more red stemmed ones) just dont have the same buttery taste to me. I also got seeds from a neighbor last year of what i was told was a climbing okra...turns out that it is something else which I cannot recall the name, I know that they are used when left to dry out to make luffa's?, and since they were planted so late last year, I did not get a chance to try them out..but they were really big long pods. I'll try them again this year and see what happens. I LOVE Okra, planted Emerald for the first time this year, last year and the few years before, I planted Clemson Spineless, hope I am not dissapointed with Emerald, as I have NO Clemson's planted at all this year. My first year here, I planted 6 yes SIX okra plants, I'll never forget, I was admiring the very lush garden of a neighbor of my MIL's , he's an older gentleman and I was so proud that I too had planted OKRA, he asked me how many plants I had, and I told him SIX...and he chuckled outloud and says "well you might be able to get a mess from them" I learned quickly, there was NO MESS of any kind with just six plants...the next year I planted 20 and even then never had enough to put any up...and it took a week to get a "mess" to cook up. this year I have planted 3 rows (15 feet each), I'm hoping this is enough :) I also have for the first time successfully grown garlic, I bought a mixed bag (she sent me a few of each of several different varieties) from a lady who sells on the farmers bulletin from Atlanta, I think I planted like 6 or 7 different types. they are all over my garden..cant wait another surprise that I just love are the multiplying onions. got free bulbs from someone on freecycle, and now I have more of them than I know what to do with.. last year I also for the first time successfully grew PEANUTS!! that was WAY COOL...harvested and put up a dozen gallon bag full of them. of course here in the south we boil them in salty water, yummy!! I have volunteers all over my garden!! I have enjoyed mustard greens and love having parsley in my garden...I found some growing in the cracks in my lower patio, I had let some in the flower beds go to seed, and I dont have the heart to pull them up!! And finally sweet potatoes! no hassle great reward!!

Dear Blanca and Anadj76, Blanca, Hmmm...my response from RC at 8:20 AM in TX wasn't quite as certain/final as yours! My contact said, "I don't think that we are adding new specials to our catalog, but you never know with us. :)" I particularly liked the smiley face!! I'll keep my eyes open, just in case they have some last-minute, amazing offer that I can't live without!! Anadj76.... Go to PayPal.com. Select payment for goods and services. You will enter the email address (xxxx.xxxxx@xxx.nl) in a box and then you'll enter your amount of payment in a box to the right of that. Then you click pay or send or _____. You'll get confirmation for Paypal that you successfully sent payment. Regards, Kristi

FPT: $45? That's ridiculous! I got my ponytail palm for $8. I am, honestly, pleasantly surprised at my Lowes' collection of C&S. I like shopping at the local nursery because they have good prices, and also because I'm friends with the manager, and I want to support her business; but when I can't get to her place, I go to Lowes. It does tend to differ from store to store, though. My HD has an abysmal selection; but there's one in Escondido (not that that means anything for most of you) I went to the other night, and I just swooned over their C&S section. (I was shopping for a friend, and I had to repeatedly tell myself not to get anything for myself, lest I buy out the whole department.) ;) *CG*

I just finished unpacking my fabric suitcase yesterday! I had forgotten about the fabric that Cindy brought to Retreat for us all to take whatever we wanted (a fabric feeding frenzy!). I took some off white on white seashells and lighthouse fabric - perfect shade for a particular project I am planning-and Katherine & I shared the some dog fabric. I had to resist the books, which killed me, because of the weight...the only book I took, was a book on sewing curves-that I already bought! ~ darn ~ I am going to post it later, and pay it forward. THANK YOU CINDY! How generous of Carol to share her extra fabric with Cindy! I too feel fortunate to be part of this group!