Sorry about your thread op. I dont think the people picked or attacked you but people are passionate about plants. It was nice of a local Okla. person to pipe up to try and clarify the situation that you found the plants in. It didnt sound like a area that was going to be spayed or regraded if there was that diverse of variety. A few years ago driving down a logging road I saw the most beautiful white and red wild columbine all by its lonesome with other wild flowers but only the one columbine. We got lost and was driving back by an hour later to find two women digging it up. You mentioned going back with 5 gallon pails. So I think people wanted to make sure you knew what effect things like that can have. Lots if people are naive to things like that and I think the other posters where shocked like I was, most places around where I live ditch or not plants 'weeds' or not are left for all to enjoy. I did find another one of those columbines on a lake beach last year which just has ripe seeds which I took some of but still scattered a few incase the plant didnt make it. If there was alot of these plants and you had the right kind of garden to transplant them into and wernt taking away the chance of a plant to naturalize in a area. I would think it would be ok.

Over watering, over fertilizing, planting too early or late, too small of container, you could pretty much name it and I've probably stumbled my way through it but the dumbest thing I've done with tomatoes is NOT growing them. When I moved to a sloping, wooded site 25 yrs ago I picked the sunnyest, flatest lrg spot I had, tilled her up and made garden same as I'd done all my life. After 3 yrs of the deer, coons, possums and squirrels getting ALL of it I quit, the job kept me awful busy anyway and electrifying a fence wasn't an option back then, still isn't for me and that well couldn't keep up with the competition the trees put on it either. For whatever reason, it never dawned on me that I could at least have some veggies in containers and do what it took to protect them. Thankfully that was, although a long time coming, a temporary situation and with the advent of motion detector spotlights being readily availible, I'm in ground again too and loving it! Adapt, Improvise, Overcome!

Thankful that, after borrowing my allowance ahead from Dad on a few occasions and having been forced to stretch the pennies for some months afterward, to heed Dad's advice that if I couldn't pay cash for something ... to not buy it: wait till later, when I had the cash on hand. And build up some cash on hand, available in case of need.They said on the radio the other day that many people, earning $100.00 ... are spending $160.00! One can't continue a hobby like that for any length of time, without getting badly burned! Dad taught mne to be a good neighbour ... and my boss told folks a couple of thousand years ago that we should love our neighbours as ourselves. Seems to me wise to be courteous, generous and kind to others, even to offering a smile to folks that we meet on the street, in the supermarket, etc. ... or making a friendly comment: usually I get a reply that includes at least a small portion of warmth, and oftern there's a smile that each carries away, to brighten one's day a bit. Seldom do I get that look that offers even a slight suggestion that it'd be a good idea were I to get lost! Dad used to say that he wanted to leave the farm better than he found it, and brother, the retired farmer, feels the same. Though they may not have articulated such, they'd say that they wanted to leave their community better than they found it, as well - and both did. I agree ... and my definition of community stretches to our province, nation and the wider world. We'll either learn to live together, showing concern for the welfareof others ... or we could well all die together. Years ago we were worried about being fried to a crisp with those horrendous bombs ... but now it appears that our demise may be brought about by wasting precious resources and causing massive global warming and pollution. Unless we smarten up. Those seem to be my major good things ... thus far. ole joyfuelled ... who's been known to dispense gas ... as well as burning it

1. Getting married. The changes and new responsibilities are huge and mostly unknown, plus (this is a guy thing) you wonder up until the wedding date approaches: did I (or her) make the right choice? Will we be happy? Can we stand each other after a year? Can I make enough money to support us? Will we be sucessful? What about children, and when? Will she stll love me after a couple of years? 2. Passing the second stage of marriage: At about year 3, I found that I did not really did not know abour her religious preference. I thought that I knew, but did not. Its at this time that both of us re-evaluate our marriage, and must come to a conclusion: do we continue or split (before there are children on the scene)? We stuck together, had some rough times and dissapointments, not in each other, but from life's big blows that strike sometimes. Others are lucky enough to escape these calamities - its a crap shoot who gets what. After you realize that is the case, you blame no one, roll with the punches, and look for the best solution. We've been married 49 yrs - time to re-evaluate, eh? Maybe not! Let's give it a few more years and see what happens. 3. Leaving home at the age of 17 with two other high school graduates in my class to look for our destiny. I had about $200. We three rented a garage that had been converted to a rambling, open space, apartment (in St. Louis). My first chore the next day was to investigate a trade school to see what was offered and costs. The next thing on the same day was to do a job search to find work that would support my rent and food. If I did not find something in a week, I would have to take the bus home. This little adventure lasted about a week when my high school principal contacted me to tell me of another opportunity that he had discovered. I listened and immediately accepted the challenge. 4. The Challenge: My first escapade away from home was only 100 miles distant. This time, it would be 350 miles away by Greyhound Bus, and I would be alone - just me and my suitcase. I would attempt to win a apot in a new experimental engineeing training program sponsored the US Ordanace Weapons Command. Only 40 would be selected from a field of 400 applicants. Entrance was by the college entrance exam and the old fashioned I.Q. test. Veterans were given a 5 point advantage. I made it in! and now one of the biggest projects of my life began: working my way through college. This was during the Korean Police Action (the US never described our part as a war, but there was no difference. A dead or wounded soldier has the same hurt no matter what the policy makers choose to call it.) The US Government ahd no idea what the nation was facing during this period, but were preparing. They were training a pool of engineers for an Arsenal, and at the same time, trying a work-school program. One my 18th birthday, I did recieve a draft notice and had to appear at my draft board to show them where in the Federal Register to find a special act of scholatic defferment for this group of students. Mind you, this was not a 'freebie'. If for any reason, I did not complete my degree, I was subject to immediate draft. Also, it extended my draftable age. At that time, the draft was for ages 18 through 24. For those of us who were in this program, our draft age was from 18 through 28, thus we could have been taken after graduation, however, there exemptions that came into being if, as new grads, we took employment in certain capacities. This was my grand project and it was scary for the first couple of years. Failure was always a real possibility. Fifty percent of the group dropped out the first year. It was this period that shaped my future for the rest of my life.