Mjowest, I jumped out of lurkdom and posted my "Fall decorations", really Halloween ones. Now that Halloween is past I have dismantled the witch and will put her back to my garden lady. The ghosts and pumpkins, and skeletons are all in the box now. Will have to think of some winter crafts to do inside. I am making a coverlet for my grandson by covering an old insulated blanket with new material on the top (cowboys and horses) and sheet on the bottom. I hope it turns out. (Probably should drain the pond too) Hope to catch you home next time. Your hubby was very cordial to a stranger who couldn't remember your real name. LOL I also posted on the conversations side. I thought of taking some pics of the form that I use for the garden lady and my witch, and posting them. Pat P

Slow down everyone I'm seeking a friendship first. No more jumping into anything. I was married once for 18 years. Wrong person lost trust. Nothing like coming home from a long patrol only to find no one at the pier to greet you nor called looking couldn't find her. It hurts deep inside. I've been single for 12 years and miss having someone around. My two small dogs are my only family and they go every where with me except when i go to USF sales. I drive a small car So hauling 2 or more folks would take up my plant space. LOL. I traded in my gas guzzing SUV for a Honda Fit! I am very picky when buying plants and room is limited in the garden. For far away places I take the dogs or I call them my garden rats. I updated my profile, so anyone can now send me an email.

Hi everyone It's been cold here the past few days. The new back door we had put in it May is letting in lots of drafts, the hinges are icing up. The door company guy said this is normal? Ha! Then why is the top hinge not icy? He put some new weatherstripping around the middle and lower hinge but they have still iced up. It is a metal clad door and he said the cold from outside is coming thru the steel and inner core and icing up the hinges. I don't think so, but we are not getting anywhere with this. Plus the guy didn't know any English, and I don't speak French so son was trying his best to translate. It's hard to communicaet when u don't speak the others language, and hand signals don't really cut it when your trying to explain about a door. I would like to know if any of u have steel clad doors on your homes and if the hinges ice up on yours? I don't know what to do,,,,all the thousands of dollars we have spent at the building center and for Robage windows and doors in the last year and we are getting treated like this? Ok, enough about that. I am still busy doing my seeds. I planted some more impatiens and silver wave and mixed carpet petunias the other day. The geraniums I have in wet paper towels on top of the fridge are germinating nicely and I plant some in small pots every night. I have also started two types of coleus. Some of the geraniums that I had in paper bags over the winter and I potted up are getting leaves on them, so I'm happy about that. I think I brought up the amaryllis too soon as they are getting leaves on them but no flower stalks. *sigh* so looks like I'm not going to get many flowers from this 10, but I have a bunch more in the basement. *L* Marcia, I think I will try Dominion Seed next year as I'm getting tired of Mcfaydens. I don't know how u save petunia seeds. I can never see where the plant hides the seeds...you'll have to take a pic of your petunias for me where the seeds are hidden, ok? *L* If your petunias get too big before it is time for them to go out to the garden U could do like I'm going to do, take cuttings from them and put some rooting hormone on them and see if they will root. If u have geraniums in the garage, won't they have frozen or is your garage heated? Sorry to hear your having trouble with spider mites, I hope the dish soap will help get rid of them. Do u mist them too? I have read that they don't like humidity. We haven't hit 0 here yet, still waiting. But don't want it to melt too quick in case of floods etc. I am feeling better now and I too got the flu shot, but I'm the only one in the family that did. I just wish they'd learn not to share germs. *L* How are the house projects coming along? Did u get the floor, siding, painting etc done? Hi Rani and Lindi Rani, zone 6? Where abouts are u located? Zone 6 would be around Toronto, I think. Hollyhocks are biannuals, I think. Which means they will bloom the second year and reseed themselves. They grow the first year and bloom the second, then die. But I'm not sure on this, maybe someone else would know. Hollyhocks are not hardy where I live, though I have tried them, love them. I would also suggest to go to your local library and get some gardening books. I have read every gardening book in our local library, they might even have some gardening videos u could borrow too. I also think that daturas are tropical plants, if they are the ones I'm thinking of, so they won't have survived the winter if u left them outside. You might also want to go to some garden club meetings or horticultural meetings in your area too and ask people there questions, they are usually very good to answer questions. Lindi, I have a small pond here too that son and I dug about 8 years ago. I love the sound of water, it is conforting. Also love hostas and lilies! I have about 70 different types of hostas and oh about 300 lilies,,,but not all different types. I love lilies they are my fav flower. Hubs and I just redid my gardens last year. Moved a lot of hostas from the back yard to the front amongst my roses. If u have any questions we will try and help you. Take care Debbie :-)

I joined the GW back in 2001 I think....looking for Container Gardening and then Cottage Gardens....one day I found my way to the Cooking Forum and have never looked back. I am a very Senior and thought I knew alot about cooking.....was I wrong! From this CF I have learned and learned and put all to use. Just wish I had all those previous years to do again and put all this late knowledge to use. From what you post and say I make a mental picture of you all and even imagine how your kitchens look. It is a mind game. For all the internet negative there is so much more positive and the GW is one of the good. Thank you all for the entertainment and knowledge. Shirl.