I guess the tears in my eyes are the joy seeping out, not the joy I expected or was looking for since Ingrid started this post nine days ago. Nine days ago I had no joy, nine minutes ago I had no joy, but now I have the hope of joy. I have the joy of Melissa and Anita and Neils, all of whom I can identify with. The last of summer (not quite able to say the end yet) had taken its toll on my joy. I wanted the somber gray gravel to be joyful green grass. I wanted to see the mostly bare canes covered with lovely green leaves. I wanted the lushness of spring and saw the barrenness of winter and the heat of summer. I wanted positive results from the labor and dedication and high hopes. I wanted joy in my garden. As a friend says, want in one hand and spit in the other and see which fills up faster. I was pretty desolate and stayed away from this post - until now. Because now I see that there are different joys in the rose garden, unexpected joys, barely noticeable joys but joys nonetheless. There is the joy that Melissa found - improved, wonderful soil. I found some on Sunday. I also found the dry sandy stuff. And there is the hope. Not many feet separated the two shovelfuls of soil, but wow, what a difference, and all I did was what Neils did. Add composted manure - the horse kind - and nature did the rest. And joy added upon joy. LeVesuve, a volcano overflowing joy growing in the dry sandy bed. Go figure. He is rewarding me and thanking me for making him the center of the garden. A decision I was barely able to make, a heartfelt decision not a brainthought decision. I have loved learning his habits. He's been a stealth rose from the beginning. Growing almost minutely, more sidewards than upwards. This magnificent fellow feels about leaves the way I do. He likes them green and plentiful, always there, never fading or missing. Now I look at him and right after I notice how short he is, I feel a rush that tells me before he blooms again (which will be sooner than I think) he will quite suddenly get bigger. Each place where a flower will be won't have been there before, isn't there now, but next week it will be. New canes, extended canes will be taller and have buds - so many of them - and then the big floppy fat flowers, all pink and reddish and pretty gawdy. He brings me joy, joy that is coming and that is here and gone and coming again. Another joy is new fans on recently planted daylilies. Joy in another unexpected place, because though I feed and prepare and water, truthfully my thumbs are not green at all. I think probably they never will be. I think the plants grow because of their own joy not because of me. I think my joy will be more and bigger the more I see myself as setting the plants free to be joyful, to be fruitful and to multiply as they were ordained to do. Yes, I think that's where my joy will be. Then there will be joy in the hard labor, and joy in the journey toward finding what, which, how the joy can be found and nurtured. And there is joy in knowing confidently that unanswered questions today will be answered tomorrow or maybe the next day or maybe in nine days. Sherry

I just looked and have 3 seeds left for the Devils Toothpick. If I remember right the crickets are still belching and farting from eating the plants that were outside. In the next week or so I'm hoping to get out and inventory the plants and get rid of the extras/doubles and see what I have growing then I can put the rest out. I've got almost all of my summer crop out there but I'm running out of room. Too many Manzanos are getting too big. The peppers are really liking the soil mix I'm using. If it still is ok when the 100 degree weeks start I'll have found the perfect mix for the way I grow my peppers. Only lost a dozen plants during the winter so I started out 150 or so plants ahead this year. Everything is looking like if I can keep the bugs at bay I'll have one of the better harvests I've had in a long time. Lots of buds and pods out there now. Re potted my Habanero tree(arbol)and it's as tall as the eves of the roof and filled with new branches.It's already 6+ ft. wide and 7-8ft. high.I'll need a ladder to pick pods again this year. I've got 3 more of them that want to do the same.Gotta find a home for 2 of them if I can. I wanted to mail them to people but it's too expensive. E mail me about what you have to trade and or what you are looking for. I'm up to 820 something varieties but don't have seeds for all of them to trade etc. If i can glue a few buds on each of my plants shut before they open I'll have a lot of seeds in mid summer and fall. I've got some rare stuff out there and if I can get the plants to put out the pods I'll be set up with seeds to spread around soon from the pods I have now. The Baccatums and Pubescens are really going off now.The Annuums are starting to bud too.

Thank you, Everyone, for your kind words! I was just a little stressed out earlier. I have all of my plants labeled and boxed up into April's car. Now, it's time for a little Kahulua and Cream! Tina, I put you down for the last Perilla! Erin, so glad that you can come! I think that a bag of worms would be really cool. Maybe you can do a little, tiny talk about how to raise them.....! Like Debbie said, just check at my table tomorrow to find something for trade. Rebecca, thanks for posting your phone number. April and I will be leaving at 8:00 in the morning (right after I stop and buy the donuts! We can never take a road trip without donuts!) Hopefully we won't have any trouble finding our way. Will there be bathrooms at the park? See you all soon! Necia

ILoveToGrow, looks like Hollywood Bob's may have some of the Chastain stock from the man who bought out Mary Chastain? ...... I can tell you that Verna Jean performs beautifully. I have about 5 of them and they grow fairly quickly. Last year I surrounded The Razor's Edge with them. Also Banana Muffins is a good one. If it is yellow it does pretty well in my climate. Here it is 7/31/2014. MadPlanter, my Pin Strip Sister just arrived. I'm hoping it does well here. One of my streakers from last year is leafing out, and so far all leaves have the streaks. All Jazzed Up....it looks great and vigorous. I've ordered and received 2 orders so far. I have about 2 in the pipeline, and 2 orders yet to place. Plus, I will be driving to north Alabama over Mother's Day holidays, and on the way home swing by Hostas On The Hill near Birmingham to see her garden and pick up about 10 of her hostas. The way I keep my slightly (well, maybe a little more than "slightly") over 500 hostas is in pots and in a dedicated hosta garden. I call it The Garden of The White Dove. Not so pretty right now, but that is a temporary condition. Hostas will cover the pots entirely in a matter of weeks. I am so glad my remodel is almost completed, because dealing with hostas in pots in south Alabama is a matter of being TIMELY....about the watering, about the drainage, and giving them a good springtime exposure to sunlight before the heat begins in earnest around mid June. First day of summer, longest day of the year, is when there is no shade on the north side of my house. Any pots sitting there must migrate to the south side of the house for afternoon shade, or else find a convenient umbrella. Not having really counted acquisitions since mid season 2014, I'm estimating that total different named hostas will be around 550 when orders are received. Please, DonB, do not breathe a word of this to my "density calculator" husband ... H. Annabel Lee by Alttara Scheer, ordered from Naylor Creek in 2013