It wouldn't be so bad if the stuff was JUNK but its all stuff we need so I fight with it. I'm thinking about taking one of the old boards and making a large GARDEN SHED sign or something like that. Then a smaller TOOLS sign or something like that. Isn't there also a sign out there that says something about buying and selling used junk? LOL I'm sure the neighbors will love that! Most of my neighbors aren't that tidy, either. I think our yard is cleaner than some. Both of my neighbors have homes that need cleaned and painted, overgrown shrubs, actual junk sitting around and only mow or do work outside a few times all summer. A few doors down, they have about 20 junked cars in the backyard! LOL So this is NOTHING! It's just bothering me because last week I was up back playing with DD on her swing set and in her sandbox and the neighbor, his gf and his daughter (she's my age and I went to school with her) were out in the yard planting two trees. I don't think she realized that the wind carries stuff and I heard her make some comment about how I supposely thought I was better than everyone in high school (she did not know me very well then because I did NOT think or act like that!) and now look how I live! I live in a trailer but it's fixed up and the yard is landscaped and I have pretty flowers and items about. Many people comment on how NICE we've made the place! DH even went up in the woods and thinned out the weeds and jagger bushes and made us a fire pit and camping spot. The ONLY messy section is the board pile and what not beside the shed! It's not even JUNK! Oh, I was FUMING mad! I told DH when he got home that I really should have yelled back that I AM better than her! LOL Seriously, though, with her history, I can't believe she had the nerve to say that!

Alexa, Thanks for posting. I need to make plans to attend next year. The hostas exhibited at First Look always seem so new and different. FL has a great website too. IÂm very interested in what you learned about growing hostas in containers. Here in the flatlands, Chicago Zone 5, IÂve been growing some hostas in 10 to 15 gallon containers for the last four years. It gives the garden some varying heights and showcases some specimens. I am not sure if IÂve just been lucky or if my winter regimens are needed so it would be good to hear what you learned from experts with more experience. I use a loose soilless planting mix and tilt the planters on a 45 degree angle for the winter, mulching heavily with leaves to keep winter sun from the planters. Good snow cover seems to help too, but lasting snow is not reliable in Chicago. Perhaps you could start a new thread and others can chime in with what works for them. I seem to recall that Janice (Hey_J) grew hostas for years in whiskey barrels but had one year with many losses. Mark

I see a lot of you use clear pots. Are there benefits to using clear other than being able to see the roots?

Thanks so much to all who took the time to read and comment on my post, and for the great warmth and kindness of your responses. I must say I was nervous about posting; while realising many of us are going through very challenging times with our and our loved ones' health, speaking about this always feels quite excruciatingly personal, like revealing an ugly scar in public... but I was determined to do something for awareness day this year, having failed for several years in succession to contribute. I'll try to respond to every comment, in order: KS: You're welcome, and I do hope the info will be helpful to your friend. S/he should definitely watch the movie! Re symptoms: ME/CFS has an enormous list of around 40-50 symptoms, involving every body system - someone once said ME seems to include just about everything you could possibly experience with any illness, or words to that effect. We each have our own selection of them, to varying degrees of severity, which, once we're sure we've got the hang of dealing with them, morphs into something else! Or so it seems... If s/he hasn't already, your friend may like to google the (most comprehensive) Canadian Consensus Diagnostic Criteria for ME/CFS and the (most up to date, I think) International Consensus Criteria, which between them have a full list of symptoms, and explain which ones are currently thought to be essential and which are optional for an ME/CFS diagnosis. A full set of blood tests, etc must be done too, to exclude all the other known medical and psychiatric conditions that could be causing that individual's symptoms. There are also some excellent websites/forums to visit for more support and info, such as Phoenix Rising and Health Rising. Please pass on to her/him my thoughts and best wishes. Fig Insanity: You're welcome too, and thank you for your kind remarks. I'm so sorry to hear of the frustrating time your sister went through for so long, just trying to get someone to even believe her. Unfortunately she was by no means alone in her experiences. The continuing level of ignorance and prejudice amongst doctors against this disease is actually really frightening, an actual, genuinely Kafkaesque situation, which is especially difficult to deal with when one is getting increasingly physically frail and cognitively wooly, and no-one will believe your story or take you seriously: thus the urgency of need for education and awareness, and MUCH more quality bio-medical research to help dispel persistent, popular myths of 'female hysteria' and other such bizarre, often misogynistic, non-evidence based psychiatric theories. (MS was similarly regarded, until the invention of the CAT scan (IIRC), which instantly showed the physical cause of the symptoms.) Some stunningly bad science in the UK, published in The Lancet in 2011, purporting to prove the psychiatric theory (heavily subsidised and enthusiastically pushed by the Government and big Insurance companies) set us back a few years, but has fortunately now been thoroughly debunked. However many doctors are not up to date with this, and still resort to offering 'encouraging' therapy aimed at dispelling our 'false illness beliefs', prescribing antidepressants, and forcing very frail sufferers to follow increasing exercise regimes, which have been shown time and time again to be at best ineffective and at worst, to have dramatically deleterious effects, rendering previously unwell but still mobile people bed-bound for years, and occasionally even killing us. Many of us eventually give up on the medical profession altogether. Unable to find or access knowledgeable physicians, we're forced to take care of ourselves as best we can, at home, sometimes for decades/the rest of our lives. Not uncommonly abandoned by disbelieving family, and friends with whom we're no longer able to keep up socially; invisible to the wider public; we use Dr Google and the worldwide online patient community, along with whatever inner resilience we can muster as our resources. In many cases, this is actually a far safer option than undergoing misguided treatment from doctors and hospitals. And this is not a rare disease; unseen millions of us are just coping, behind closed doors, with little or no medical care or basic social support. What this can mean in practice is too painful and embarrassing to go into. SunCoastFlowers: You're welcome, and thank you for committing to watch the movie! Do post a review (good, bad or neutral) should you have the time and inclination. Do you by any chance have a link to the series you mentioned, and the episode about making the garden for the little girl with ME/CFS? I did try googling it but didn't have any luck. Well, I've waffled on again for far too long and am going to have to take a break. Carol (PMR), my apologies, I seem to have jumped past you in order. Will come back and respond to you next, then Ingrid, Jin, Melissa and Sheila. And maybe, be a bit briefer... (unlikely). ;-)