Hello all. It sounds like the swap is near my work but I don't know if I will be working that day, a big commute . I am still taking orange day lilly donations for my erosion control project. Thanks again to everyone for the assortment of daylillies last swap. Helen are they still available? I am planning to update my trade list but the following are the basics: ~8 phgelius divisions 1 azalea division 1 acanthus, bear's breeches 2 or 3 grapes rooted cuttings 1 acanthus no doubt lots of feverfew and meadows rue:) lots of godetia seed pods hops vine cuttings to try I hope to post a pic of my assorted dahlias which I dont think I will have dug up by the 25th, but willing to negotiate for later. Also Karin Litzcke, I am interested in the dutchmans pipe and nectaroscodum, for which I believe I owe you phygelius.

Eukofios, Thank you for your thoughts on sealing and binding the fig cleft-graft. In reply to your interest about my own experiences with fig grafting, I can summarise my personal observations in the field, thus far, as follows- Chip budding using current season's growth as buds matched onto rootstock material of similar growth maturity, has proven to be VERY easy and successful in my trials recently (we are now in the middle of autumn here in Australia). "Patch budding" (which is different to T budding or chip budding) has also proved successful for me, however it has many disadvantages over chip budding....The patch budding proceedure can only be done successfully when the bark of the recipient and the donor both slip easily....Also if the bark of the patch is much thinner than the bark around where it will be placed, it will always fail to take in the fig. I have therefore come to the conclusion that chip budding is BY A LONG SHOT more versatile than patch budding, and should be the preferred method of budding figs. I would also suggest that it is to be preferred ovet T-budding, if only for the obvious reason that T budding also reuqires the recipient bark to easily slip, which adds restrictions on the timing of the grafting. I have not as yet tried cleft grafting onto figs. Anyway, keep us posted on your results!!

Hi everyone, Yes, this is my set-up in Fredericton, New Brunswick. I thought that I had best tell everyone that although I have all but three of my plants in the plastic garage/greenhouse, set in-ground, they are not left there over winter. I re-pot them later, and take all plants into a cold room or into an unheated garage, or into the house when it gets to October or earlier if the weather suggests it. The two plants that I had mistakenly called Cape Breton, are obviously very hardy, as I buried them in the garden in early December last year, and they survived in hard frozen ground! We had several feet of snow to cover them and protect them from the minus 20 to minus 30 (close enough the same in either Celsius or Fahrenheit at that temp). They have main crop long-necked embryos on at the moment so with luck I might be able to get some indication of what they really are. In this area I have to be satisfied with mostly brebas except for figs I put into a protected area. I am closing in an outdoor deck with glass for that purpose this year. What we won't do for a few figs!! Happy figging all. John.

In 2008, we had an election. There were five parties running, and the Conservatives, which resulted from an amalgamation of a couple or three right-wing groups, including what had for years been one of our major parties, the Progressive Conservatives, had more of their candidates elected than did any of the others. The other major long-term party is the Liberals, and they were led by a man who was making a major issue of environmental concerns, but was not a good publicist. Our Prime Minister, from Calgary, has not developed a reputation as an enthusiastic environmentalist. The third party, New Democrat, is a social democratic one, which some folks label as socialist, but they have been more successful than some of the more traditional parties at running balanced budgets when in power in some provinces than have the traditional parties ... and learned long ago that "nationalizing" businesses isn't a cure-all. The fourth one, Bloc Quebecois, is the separatist party that has substantial support in Quebec, but none elsewhere, and the fifth, the Green Party of Canada, which has run several candidates in recent elections, has yet to get one elected, as we follow the "first past the post" rule", with the candidate getting the most votes being the winner, and they, running against three other candidates in most elections, don't get the largest number. Proportional representation would allow them to have some members in Parliament Each party picks a leader, who runs in one constituency, and the voters there are the only ones who get to vote for him ... after the election, the Prime Minister is the leader of the party that got the most members elected. There have been times when the leader chosen by a party was rejected by the voters in his riding, which usually meant having him run in a special election somewhere else, or the party choosing another leader. The Conservative Party won the most seats in 2008, but didn't have a majority of the members of Parliament ... and they didn't have a majority of all of the votes cast, either. After that election, our Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, said that he was going to be more co-operative (as many felt that he had not been markedly so in his first term as Prime Minister). Within a few months, when Parliament met and the government was preparing a budget, there were several provisions in it which made the members of the other parties so angry that they joined together to say that when he brought that budget in, they'd vote against it, which would mean that the government failed, which usually results in another election ... but they said that they would form a coalition and put together a government instead of the Conservatives, so an election wouldn't be needed. The Prime Minister said this was terrible - that they all knew that he had the most members elected, and the people wanted him to govern ... but the other parties said, together, they had more members than did his party. Furthermore, that more people had voted for them than for his party, and that's the way parliament works. The Prime Minister said that it was terrible that the other major parties were willing to play footsie with a party whose avowed purpose was to break up Canada! This about the time of a major financial crisis in our countries, that you may have heard about - though less major up here than south of the border. So ... ... the Prime minister prorogued Parliament, that is, shut it down for a while. Started it up again after a few months. We have a Senate, as well, composed of members chosen among outstanding Canadians from time to time by the Prime Minister of the day. For a number of years, the Liberals had been in power and had chosen a number of Senators with, shall we say, affinities for the Liberal view of the world. Mr. Harper has been claiming that a number of his pieces of legislation have been held up in the Liberal-dominated Senate, plus about a year ago said that their government was not going to run deficits ... ... but when the depth of the recession became apparent, and the home-grown auto companies about to go bankrupt ... ... provided massive stimulation to the economy for both auto mfg. and infrastrructure. When Parliament had a recess over last Christmas, Mr. Harper said that his government needs a good deal of time for the complicated process of preparing this year's budget, cutting back on expenses, so instead of returning just before the end of January, partially closed parliament down, to re-open early in March. Certain embarrassment regarding whether prisoners captured by Canadian Forces in Afghanistan who had been turned over to the Afghans had been tortured, which the government denuied, but later turned out to have a substantial degree of validity, may have been a contributing factor. It would be a lot more interesting to bask in the reflected glow of the Olympics, in Vancouver, as well. Not only that ... prorogation allowed the Prime Minister to fill several Senate seats which were empty due to resignation, age or death, which would allow him to have a majority of Conservative supporters in that other august chamber. You can see the temptations under which he laboured. Good wishes as you proceed with your labours ... with a minimal number of temptations, I hope. ole joyful