Pam, if you purchased the seeds commercially, they will often indicate if they bloom the first year because it's a selling point. Many perennials do not bloom the first year as they focus energy on building their root systems. As far as the influence of early sowing, yes, there are some that can be impacted. For example, the verbascum I sowed said that it may bloom the first year if sown as early as January in a mild climate. Not sure how that translates for WS seeds in my zone 6b/7a, so I'm really expecting that they won't bloom. Thanks so much for all of the feedback. I think I'm going to take a variety of approaches. I may pot some up where I don't have beds ready yet. In the front gardens, some I'll plant and appreciate the foliage this year, while filling in with annuals that I also WS'd and direct sowed. I already ordered a few delphiniums in addition to the ones I WS, so I'll take quilt mommy's approach there! I have extensive plans for new beds in my back yard, so I'll probably plant a lot of my wintersown perennials back there and won't have a ton of bloom this year. When they bloom next year, I'll have the advantage of seeing their bloom color before I consider moving some to the front garden. Of course I'll have to consider which resent transplant before I take that approach (like lupines). Thank you all, again! Lisa

Growing up in Michigan there were lots of migrant workers hoeing in the fields every summer. My step dad was too cheap to hire them and paid us half as much to hoe. Let me tell you, he would do it a month after the migrants did and then complain because we had to sharpen the hoes too often (his fault for letting the weeds get too big!) and took so long. 88 acres if I remember correctly. But I digress... Not a summer went by that while driving through the farmlands I didn't see several migrant workers "going to the bathroom" out in the fields! And they want to blame the factory and processing plant workers whenever a "bug" makes everyone sick. I know where it comes from!

Michelle, We have had misty, drizzly stuff several days this week but it all has added up to only about a half-inch. Today there is mist in the air blowing sideways but it isn't even reaching the ground. Thackerville must have had a good hard rain a few miles south of us on Thursday night, though, because the casino's EMS Fire Brigade (medics who double as firefighters) was paged out to rescue a woman from a ditch in front of the fire station (of all places!) and her vehicle was rapidly filling with water. So, we hardly had puddles at all and they had a ditch full.....but a lot of that was probably runoff from the casino's miles of concrete parking lots. Still, believe it or not, enough moisture has fallen in Jan.-Mar. here in Love County, that we have gone from a drought index in the upper 600s which is very, very bad to the lower 500s, which is bad but not terribly bad. In fact, the U. S. Drought Monitor just dropped us from a D-2 (severe) drought to a D-1 (moderate drought) last week. If we get 3 or 4 more inches of rain in the next month or so (probably wishful thinking on my part), we'll drop to D-0, which means only "Abnormally Dry". It is a slow and steady improvement. To REALLY end a drought and put water back in the ponds and creeks, though, we need a couple of good heavy downpours where 4 to 8" of rain falls in just a few hours. Until the ponds fill up, the ranchers and the cattle are still going to be hurting. All my life I've heard the saying "It takes a flood to end a drought", but it didn't really mean much to me until I moved here. Owie, It is OK that you didn't reply and I am glad y'all are OK. I figured if you knew a storm was approaching you'd be busy either seeking shelter, checking out radar or trying to secure the greenhouse and the children (though not in that order, of course). I'm surprised you could hear the siren, but it is good to know you might get a little advanced warning that way. It is terrible that the weather radios don't work there. Now that I know that, I'll pay special attention to the weather headed your way and post it if I see something severe rolling towards you. So often (and don't blame me for this) the storms we are having here head right for your part of the state after they leave us. I always try to post tornado warnings online if I see them in time because a lot of us, including me, are in such remote areas that there are no sirens close enough to hear. Usually, the weather radio alerts me, although I am usually downstairs and it is upstairs, but sometimes the local county dispatcher puts out the warning on the fire radio even before my weather radio goes off. The other night, when rotation was observed in the sky at Thackerville, they ran their sirens for about 30 minutes. Good heavens! I bet some people went down into their cellars just to get away (hopefully) from the sound of the sirens going on and on and on. I believe the school and one of the churches in Thackerville have underground basements they use as community tornado shelters too. In the tornado shelter, I was a technology fool. I had my laptop with the radar on and could receive it there (thanks to wireless technology) until I had to close the door because rain was coming inside, I had a weather radio, the fire radio so I could listen to the Emergency Operations Center, the firefighters and police and the storm spotters, and I was texting several people back and forth because some of them were out on the highway in the path of the storm and I was trying to help them get out of its way. My husband was watching the radar at DFW Airport and texting me or calling me to tell me what he was seeing. It must have been REALLY boring in the old days when you had to take yourself and your lantern or flashlight into the shelter and just sit there! My fingers were flying! Everyone did get out of the path of the storm, even our friend who was driving west on Hwy 82 from Sherman to Gainesville at the same time the tornado and hail were traveling east on Hwy 82 from Gainesville to Sherman! I even ran back inside in between bands of rain to check the TV radar and listen to the Channel 12 meteorologist, Steve LaNore, and storm chaser Doug Drace. Every time I did that, though, I saw enough to make me run back to the cellar (it's only about 20 feet from the back door). I was smart, though. On one trip back to the cellar, I grabbed a Dr. Pepper and on another trip back I grabbed some Chips Ahoy Cookies. Just because tornadic rotation was observed in the sky multiple places around us was no reason to go without a soda and cookies! LOL The wind is fierce here today but I can't complain. No ice, no snow, no damage and certainly no flooding like they're facing from the OTHER Red River near Fargo. Best of all, it warms up tomorrow, although I think we have a couple more cold fronts coming in the next week, though hopefully they won't be as cold as this one. Dawn

Bud, I saw this one recently. Frosty Paws Dog Ice Cream Recipe 32 oz. plain yogurt 1 mashed banana 2 T p'nut butter 2 T honey ItÂs true dairy products arenÂt good for dogs, but yogurt contains much less lactase than regular milk and the live cultures are great for your dogÂs digestive system. This dog ice cream recipe is delicious and good for your pet! 1. Mix all these ingredients in your blender, then dump into ice cube trays, paper cups, or even a kong toy to freeze and serve. 2. If you want to go all out for your mutt you can freeze these homemade frosty paws just like you would homemade ice cream. A salt-less automatic ice cream maker makes this as easy as using any other appliance in your home and the frosty paws will be ready to serve in 10 minutes. For the ultimate treat, appropriate for desert at a doggy birthday party, follow steps one and two, then take the mostly frozen dog ice cream product of number two and spread it 1" to 1½" thick on wax paper. Freeze for five minutes and thenremove dog ice cream from freezer. Next, use a paw shaped cookie cutter to cut a paw shaped "frosty paws", remove ice cream around edges, and return paw shapes to the freezer to freeze solid.