at the Marion County Extension Service. Next to the Livestock Pavilion on Old Jacksonville Road,Ocala. On March 8 & 9, 2008 over 60 gardening vendors will come together at the Marion County Extension Service, selling everything from plants, flowers, garden decor, and water pond accessories. Find everything you need to spruce-up your garden or landscape all in one place! HUGE PLANT SALE/EDUCATIONAL EXPO SATURDAY 8am to 4pm & SUNDAY 9am to 4pm Admission: $1.00 Kids 12 & under free. No Pets Allowed. There will be a number of Master Gardeners on-hand throughout the event as well as Educational Booths and Seminars on a variety of gardening topics. SEMINARS Small Trees for the Landscape David Holmespresented by David Holmes Sunday, Mar. 9 at 1pm Trees add value to property, but most residential home sites are too small to accommodate large oaks. This workshop will present alternatives to large trees that will provide some shade, yet within the scale of suburban communities. David Holmes has 20 years with UF/IFAS Extension, the last 11 in Marion County. » Palms for North Central Florida Dr. Juanita Popenoepresented by Dr. Juanita Popenoe Saturday, Mar. 8 at 10am Topic covers palm varieties, common pest and disease problems, and nutrition. Guest speaker, Juanita Popenoe, recieved her PhD in horticulture at Washington State University. She worked as a horticultural researcher in New Zealand, taught horticulture at West Virginia University, and has been with University of Florida IFAS Extension for four years. » Marion County Water Quality & Conservation James Couillardpresented by James Couillard Sunday, Mar. 9 at 11am Topic covers efforts being made within the Marion County Parks and Recreation Department, which is responsible for the operation and management of 48 parks. Jim is a Florida Registered Landscape Architect who has been practicing Landscape Architecture in North Central Florida for over 10 years. » Environmentally-Friendly Lawn Management Dr. Laurie Trenholmpresented by Dr. Laurie Trenholm Saturday, Mar. 8 at 12pm Topic covers lawn management techniques including irrigation and fertilization. Laurie Trenholm received her Master Degree in Turfgrass Physiology at the University of Georgia. She is currently an associate professor in the Environmental Horticulture Department at the University of Florida. » Grow Your Own Fruit Wendy Wilberpresented by Wendy Wilber Saturday, Mar. 8 at 2pm Topic covers how to grow delicious fruit in your own backyard. Wendy Wilber is an Environmental Horticulture Agent for the University of Florida. WORKSHOPS » Compost & Vegetable Gardening Demonstration Wendy Wilberpresented by Bill Miranda Saturday 11am & 1pm, Sunday 1pm Hands-on demonstration of how to make your own free compost, which can be used as mulch and soil-enrichment. Also learn what vegetables grow well in Marion County, when to plant and more. A wagon would be helpful if not volunteers will be there to help with wagons. I've been there many times before for the Spring festival. I plan to be there. Felix

Got there right about nine this morning. No problem parking in the lot in the second row. Found myself three bamboos: Black Timor, Ying Yang, Teddy Bear (lots more bamboo vendors this year, trend?) Red Lady Papaya from a very grouchy tropical fruit vendor who told me kiwis won't set fruit here in FL....need to check on that. Almost didn't buy from him because of his attitude, but it was such a pretty little tree I couldn't help myself. 10 beach sunflowers from Twigs n Leaves ...found out they moved to Central which is why they've been closed the last dozen times I drove by the MLK location. Rooster Spur pepper from the peeper plant dude. Ice Cream Banana from Mitches, and a gorgeous ornamental banana that I can't remember the name of...but it's from Africa and gets really big around and tall...will need to look that one up. Ginger roots and a lobster claw heliconia. What I didn't find was bougainvillea. I only found one place that had them, and they werre fancy bigger expensive ones in topiary and such. Bummer. Had fun though!

Valerie, I tried doing the binding by machine in the past, but I didn't like the way it looked.... I only used the straight stitch though (but the machine had 294 stitches.... I don't even know how many the Nina has).... Maybe I'd like it better with decorative stitches. I should google some pictures of binding with decorative stitches and see how they look... I just don't like crowds and lines so that is the primary reason I avoid going to the Food and Wine Festival... it was fun the first time! For anyone who follows Bonnie Hunter's blog, did you see that beautiful vintage two tone New Home Paragon straight stitch machine that one of the ladies who took her class had? It was one of the most beautiful machines I think I've ever seen! I think I've really got quilt fever now because I'm starting to notice quilt patterns in floor tiles!

I'm so awful at rose ID. LOL! Lilyfinch - I think you might have it. I passed over it before because the pictures I saw were so much lighter and I've never seen it in person. HMF has some darker blooms too. It's also pretty much thornless. Sean - I don't think it's a climber. it looks a lot like some of those pictures but it has more petals and is more globular.