What a great thread! It is fun to read about how everyone started in canning and what they grow and where they buy what they don't grow! So, let's see....I started canning three or four years ago and started with things my mother and grandmother used to make - canned peaches and applesauce mostly. Once I found this forum I was seduced into expanding my repertoire VERY quickly! Like others, Annie's salsa is a must-try. I do the BWB version and love it. I do have a pressure canner, but very seldom use it (although I use it as a BWB because I like it better than my old kettle). I also have a rather large garden - I have learned to be careful calling it huge because there are people here with much bigger gardens than mine. We moved to our current home five years ago - it's on 20 acres, much of it native woodland. This property has accelerated our more spiritual move to becoming more self-sustaining and more aware of our impact on the environment. As part of that, we are growing more and more of our own food. It is a very satisfying feeling to prepare a wonderful meal and know where every piece of food came from. However, we will not be able to be completely self-sustaining. Although DH hunts deer (and elk), and fishes, I don't see us growing our own critters. So we buy beef from the Angus farmer down the road. I'm looking for a local source of pork and chicken. As for fruits and veggies, what I can't grow, I try to buy locally. My strawberry patch is not yet big enough to yield as much as I want, so I go to a local You-Pick. We can't grown peaches and cherries due to climate, so I buy from a person who trucks them in from Colorado. I have my sources for most everything I want to preserve. Even so, there's plenty I still buy from the store. So there you go, a short bio - LOL - as usual I can't keep it short! Have fun, this forum is wonderfully helpful and terribly addicting. Ann

The largest Canadian mail order source (in my experience) was Hosta Choice. Last year both of the owners died. They have not updated their web site so I don't know if they will be shipping anything this year. I am on the west coast so I don't know if that makes any difference in the cost but Naylor Creek in Washington state was my other "main hosta nursery". I also ordered from Hosta Geek last year and will do so again. They are much lower priced but you do get smaller plants. This year for the first time I was going to look into ordering from "Wade". I don't know what they charge to send to Canada but they have a huge selection. Their site hasn't been updated yet either. Good Luck, McTavish

Wow, thanks everyone for the warm welcome, great suggestions, and wonderful pictures. Brian, I had a similar experience with some honeysuckle left over from the folks we bought the house from. They had 2 separate wood piles that were unidentifiable and a dog kennel that was nearly as bad because they had let the honeysuckle go. I believe it was the Japanese honeysuckle Dawn referenced. I think the passionflower is a lovely, unique looking flower and may well be worth experimenting with in the right location, at worst I may feed some caterpillars, right? Lisa and Ilene, great pics. I have a couple clematis vines planted in different areas and they are not yet as established as yours are. I look forward to them filling out and blooming like the ones in the photos you both posted. Lisa, I am a little further south than the Westville area and everyone thinks it's too far out in the middle of nowhere. My Mom moved down with me, this is were she grew up, and she went to school with all our neighbors. We all tell one another, that we live just far enough away from each other for the peace and quiet (about 1/2 a mile), yet close enough if we need each other. I have loved it down here since I was young and visiting and I'm glad I was finally able to get settled here. Dawn, I have one crossvine and have wished since I had gotten more than one. It was kind of a late season save from the nursery and was a little sickly, so I didn't get many blooms, but it grew tremendously well. I know they bloom fairly early in the spring, are they one and done or do they continue to bloom off and on throughout the summer? I have to say I'm quite intrigued by the cypress vine. If I were to plant it or some of the other mentioned annuals in containers, how big of a container would be sufficient? I have a couple of areas were having something container grown would be excellent. I have this small windmill... and a small trellis at the birdbath.... This is one of the arbors I mentioned initially, I have one on each side of the driveway/carport. It is where some of my hummingbird feeders hang. I have bee balm planted in the bed underneath. For the replacement, I can't decide weather to build wooden arbors or go with a cattle panel arbor. Any pros or cons, suggestions? I also have this trellis out by the building [ pardon the sat dish, did you know when you need a new one they don't take the old one? I do, now : )]. I think I would like to have something here that would still provide some structure and maybe a little cover for the birds in winter. I have strongly considered one of the red honeysuckle varieties here. I do worry a little about powdery mildew, then I see pics like the one Ilene shared and I worry a little less. I have browsed pictures for most of the recommendations and it makes me want to find other places to fit vines into the yard. As for the cypress vine and the hyacinth bean, is it better to start seeds inside, or sow outside and let them go on their own? Thanks again, everyone.

Hi Gertrude, Welcome to RMG! And a "future welcome" to Denver! You're gonna love it! Thanks for telling us about yourself! This is going to be uncharacteristically short for me! I'm sitting in a little cabin in Yellow Jacket, and need to get up early in the morning to pack everything in the car and head for another little cabin on Grand Mesa! But when I read your post I had a whole lot of things to say and will try to quickly hit a few of them now. When you're looking for a house: Try to find out what kind of watering restrictions you might have in summer before you buy so you'll know up front how limited you will or won't be in what you can grow (water)! If you're seriously thinking all xeric, look for a yard with as much sun as possible. Most of the truly xeric perennials don't just want a lot of sun, they NEED it. If you buy a house in one of the "older" Denver neighborhoods, you will almost certainly get a yard that comes with built-in weeds. For instance, many years ago I lived in a house in Park Hill (NW Denver) and had some nasty weed I called "carrot weeds" because of the big, nasty taproots they had. After living there for several years, and constantly "fighting" them, they were still there as big and beautiful (NOT) at ever! Newer houses have had the soil dug up more recently and will often not have the "deeply established" weeds you'll find in the older neighborhoods. Many of the older "original" Denver areas--like the Denver Bungalow areas--will also tend to have smaller yards, but not always. The far south side of Denver, like around Parker and Castle Rock, get more snow--usually--than Denver proper, and the north end of the Metro area. That can be good for moisture, but can be bad for plants that are already growing! Double edged sword! Just thought I'd give you a heads up! There are nice areas all over the Metro area. I recommend if you're considering a specific area you come post and get pros and cons from the folks here about it. We have people who live all over the Metro area. I live on the north end in Thornton, and there are some really nice subdivisions up this way, like the Eastlake areas. Don't have time to post links, but when you're looking for plants I recommend Paulino's for nursery stock--trees and bushes. They still carry a pretty good selection in the nursery. Broadway and about 62nd. For the best selection of perennials, including xeric perennials, Timberline gardens on the far west side of town, at 58th Avenue and about Simms. When planning your yard you might want to consider a smaller area that you'll be watering more often where you can plant things like shasta daisies and such that require more water. That way you can have your cake and eat it too! Mostly xeric, but one spot where you can plant things you really love that need to be watered more often so you don't need to go completely without them. What's your biggest problem gonna be? Soil! Somebody mentioned sand or clay--chances are you'll have some pretty bad clay, but either way you'll need to plan to just keep adding organic matter--year after year after.......... I very highly recommend you plan for a compost pile somewhere in your yard (as opposed to some rinky-dink little store-bought "compost bin"), so you can "grow" your own "organic matter," and, if you build it directly on the ground, grow your own worm supply too! I don't have time to reread all the above, but I think somebody mentioned the awful stuff they bought, and even if you find some "good" stuff to buy, it's not gonna be as good at the stuff you make yourself! Now my questions! Where are you moving from? (If I missed it in your post I'm sorry!) Do you have any idea when? You can definitely "make it" in Denver! It just takes a little "adjusted thinking" if you're from a "wet and humid" place--and be sure to bring your Sense of Humor with you! It helps! And there's always moral support here on RMG! Gotta go, Skybird P.S. Almost forgot this! When you get here and come to a swap I can/will very definitely get you some Ajuga to play with! Two or three kinds! But remind me when you're coming to your first swap! This post was edited by skybird on Sat, May 17, 14 at 2:09