The Calgary Seedy Saturday was last Saturday. They moved to a larger hall. From Jim of Prairie Garden Seeds I bought Cambridge Red Fava seeds, Lovage seeds and Alexander or Black Lovage seeds. From Joe the poppy guy: Orange Chiffon, Danebrog Laced,Pink Frilly and Pink Feathers Poppy seeds From Jeff the Tomatoe guy:Sophies Choice,Jaunne Flamme,Silvery Fir Tree and Variegated tomatoe seeds. Caroline

my wife and i will be there i am hoping to bring some apple and pear scions if anyone wants to trade or just wants some scions, stop by and i will give anyone from the forum a couple for free it's usually so hectic around here that I can never make it to the fall happening at Devonian Garden i should have 4 or 5 varieties of apples and some golden spice and ure pear scions

My Dawn viburnum looks ALMOST good enough to photograph this year. It's got lovely, very early, deep pink flowers, and I think they're supposed to be fragrant, too, but as Dirr says, it doesn't really put on much of a show. It's right outside a window, so I can see the flowers up close while staying warm. It's been blooming (sparsely!) since late January - it starts around the same time as the witch hazels. The heaths are in full swing. I love the really deep pink ones, they have reddish-bronze foliage that contrasts beautifully with the flowers. This is the year I have to cut many of them back - they've sprawled more than even I can take at this point. If I can't find more of the deep red I may try to propagate them too - I've been looking locally but have only seen the pink and white varieties. Hellebores - I've cut them back in the most prominent areas, along the walk to the front door, but haven't gotten to the ones that are a little further afield. Maybe tomorrow, since it's supposed to be a nice day. They DO look awful when they're first cut back, so it helps to do that before the flowers start drawing attention to these plants. I think winter jasmine might be done for the season - it doesn't appreciate super low temps after the flower buds have formed (compared to the truly hardy things like witch hazels). I'll have to go have a look tomorrow - maybe I'm just forgetting what's in flower! Sorry, no pics - I've been too busy pretending winter is over.

I've only been watering every 10-14 days since the planting mix in my raised beds stays pretty moist. My tomatoes started breaking in the middle of August. Black Prince tomato breaking color on August 12th (80 days after transplant) Of course, this was the same week I had planned a trip to San Diego to visit my family. Three of the Black Prince tomatoes actually ripened within a week of the first tomato breaking. I made my husband take a picture, then pick them since they were getting overripe. Black Prince tomatoes ripening on the vine on August 20th I was only away for six days, but of course, this was when the weather finally started warming up (breaking 80°), so the other tomatoes also started breaking. When I got home on August 23rd, all of them were breaking. More Black Prince tomatoes breaking on August 23rd Cherokee Purple tomatoes breaking on August 23rd (89 days after transplant) Tomatoes on the first Black Krim plant breaking on August 23rd (90 days after transplant) One tomato on the second Black Krim plant breaking on August 23rd (90 days after transplant) A Jaune Flammé tomato breaking on August 23rd (41 days after transplant) The week's harvest of Black Krim (on bottom left, including the bright red one), one Jaune Flammé (top left), three Black Prince (top left), two Cherokee Purple (top right), and dozens of Sun Gold tomatoes on August 26th The two Black Krim plants are producing different colored tomatoes. Tatiana's TomatoBase shows Black Krim tomatoes to be dark reddish-brown when ripe, like the ones in on the bottom left in the photo above. However, all the tomatoes from the second Black Krim plant are bright red when ripe, some with green shoulders. I grew both of these plants from Burpee's Heirloom Tomato seeds, and their photos show some bright red tomatoes. I was a little surprised by the variation in shape for the Black Prince, but I wasn't expecting that much variation in the color for any of the heirlooms. Cherokee Purple starts off pink with green shoulders, then turns golden-orange, then dark reddish-purple. It's not only beautiful (if you can overlook some catfacing) but tasty too!