Yes, Katamari is the rolling stuff up game. Its really addictive for such a simple game, and theres three of them. The part I like the most is the amazing effort they put into the music. I found some of it on youtube and it ranges from techno to jazzy lounge music, swing music, Im pretty sure someone even snuck a gospel peice or two in there. While Iw as writing yesterday I stumbled across someone who had done an orchestral version of one of the themse that made my jaw drop. Video game music is constantly impressing me with every passing year. But anyway, back to gardening... Part of my problem with the space issue is theres a movement out here for the "Grow Biointensive" system. While I'm interested that they've managed to do so much with such small topsoil space, I've noticed all the beds dealing with the system need at least two feet of soil, dug down or in raised beds, and thats not what I have. My mum has been trying to push me in that direction, but I dont feel confident with it at this time since I wanted to get more of a feel for the general gardening situation since its my first time and all. Some plants still got pushed closer together than I would've liked but then none of us had seen some of these plants actually growing before. The cukes are doign better than I expected for being about 6 inches closer to each toher plant than I really wanted them to be, but we had such a huge amount of plants to deal with that I did the best I could. I think the funniest part about all this is while it is my first time growing a real garden, I've been growing virtual gardens since I was abotu 19, playing an online game called "Final Fantasy 11", which had a really complicated planting/gardening system most people didnt know about. That game system is actually what got me really focused on the seasons, when to plant, where to plant, when to fertilize, what plants grew better in what geological areas, and I even had a little notebook for a long time where I'd record the weekly cycle of my virtual plants in relation to the moon phase and exact time I made any modifications to the planting space. Even the gamers thought I was nuts, but I loved it! They'd even die off or give terrible results if I neglected them for too long, or give off better results if I got proper gardening tools, workbenches, and diffrent planters had diffrent effects too. Im getting better results with a real garden than I was in my virtual gardens though... Except for that one time I accidentally harvested 122 virtual onions. I can tell you, the cooks sure were happy with me.

Wonderful!!!! Love the design! Your Stuttgarts are unreal!!!!! Fantastico! Mine are in containers and look horrible. Are yours in afternoon shade? I love your lime and black EE's. I will be looking for those next year. Did not see any here locally. I did find a lime green hosta & lime green alocasia? The ones that look like mini-EE's? Love those new colors in plants. Joyce

Carol--such a fun day seeing such beautiful gardens and meeting such great new friends. I would have to live in my garden for a week to get caught up on my weeds!!!!! I am still planting which means I can't get to the up-keep until I finish that project! You're descriptions of the gardens had me drooling, and I know everyone will like your gardens just as much as you liked theirs. Keep us posted and I hope to see some pics. Mary

Thank you for sharing. This was the first garden I toured. I took copious notes on many plants but no pictures. Since this was my first Hosta convention, I was in a constant state of amazement. Before the convention I thought, with my 30 some hostas, that I was a collector. Clearly I was mistaken. Again, they are great pictures - next time I'll bring a camera.