JMZMS, glad to hear that you're gonna give the corn another go. There are so many varieties to choose from that it is mind boggling. I have also had good success with Golden Queen as well as Silver Queen (one yellow and one white as the name implies). Both delish! I have lots of room so think I might try about 4 rows of colorful Indian Corn in addition to Silver Queen & my field corn. I save some field corn each year as I don't know the name of it or where to get more. The Silver Queen is readily available at my local garden center. Might ask GGG what she prefers.... I consider her to be the residential expert. Look forward to hearing how your corn does this year. GGG, the church is lucky to have you as a member. Someone with your experience and job gotta be a plus for them. I got a chuckle out of thinking of yall out there shaking and blowing the corn tassles... VIDEO VIDEO... LOL. Sounds like a nice place to sit a spell and catch up on the local gossip... oh, that is what the hair salon is for..... "giggle>. Shot

I see also that DTD mentioned Tower Hill Botanical Garden in Boylston. This is another great place to go. In addition to the half price admission I believe if you are a AAA member or WGBH member there is 2 for 1 admission. Also many public libraries have passes for Tower Hill so check out your library. If in the Providence RI area, another neat indoor botanical garden is Roger Williams Botanical Garden center. I also visited there in 2008. If you want to see some photos to inspire you check them out at the link below. Here is a link that might be useful: Roger Williams Botanical Garden -- Providence RI

Ginny, there was much more unusual stuff the previous week at Gore Place Plant sale. In both sales they did import plants from outside growers. Gore Place definitely had the better prices than Lyman Estates but Lyman Estates had a discount for members so may be this was why the prices were higher. The Gore Plant sale had a list of the plants on their website they offered at the sale so this was a nice feature to see if there was anything you wanted. To give you an idea, here is what I got at Gore Place: Albutilon 'melon sorbet' Sage 'Pineapple' Begonia 'Baby Wing Pink' Begonia hiemalis 'Solenia' Begonia tuberhybrida 'Illumination Apricot' Coleus saber Cuphea ignea 'Firecracker plant' Ipomea batatas (light green shade of potato vine) Dahlia Variabilis 'Redskin' Craspedia globosa 'Drumstick' And 2 other plants. All for $40. The plants were all healthy and most in 3 or 4" round pots. At the Lyman Estates I bought a Stars and Strips Penta, an unusual heuchera (1 Gallon) and a mint herb for $18. I was happy with these prices since I had been looking for that variety of Penta and haven't seen any of these except through mail order. In both cases the plant sales support the non profit causes that I am happy to support and the plants I got were healthy and well cared for. Sue

Stumbled on this elsewhere and thought this would be a valuable tool in our planning. "About eight months ago, Mapmuse.com began a project -- the interactive mapping of garden centers and nurseries across the country. They initially researched and populated these maps ourselves, with the idea in mind that the public would subsequently add to, and enhance, the information provided. They mapped each garden center or nursery, and provided space for a written description, photo, and link to a web site. Since this project was launched, gardening enthusiasts have made 100s of additions and enhancements to our maps. If you know of any garden centers or nurseries in your local community that are new or have closed in the last six months, please make those changes to the maps. Also, please feel free to add any places that are still missing. They also have a searchable map and listing of local public gardens and arborerta to visit that gives a good basic listing for our region." The site even has the ability to bring up a map showing the actual location.