It's the Floriade or Netherlands Flower Festival (which I would love to see)!

Happy Birthday, Jeanne!!!!!! ;)

What can I say - we have a winner already! Congratulations, Dee. If you ever get the chance to see Floriade, go. I retired from my "real" job in 2001 and Floriade was held in 2002 so I convinced my husband to travel there with me. We spent a week in Holland and a day at Floriade. We saw lots of Holland including Keukenhof Gardens, the windmills at Kinderdijk, the Aalsmeer Flower Auction, and about a dozen other sites. I sure wish our bulbs grew in abundance like they do there! You see fields of tulips in bloom and the fields are so large that you can't even spot where they end. While we were there we did most of our traveling on a barge boat (also slept and ate on the boat) that was just 5 meters wide. What a great way to see the country!
Well, you can see I had a great time reminiscing. I will have to think up a harder question for tomorrow... maybe! LOL (There will be a question... have to think of it though.)

no prize to be had, I'm gone
beer is bad for plant growth
carol

Hi gals,
Have a question for you and I'm sure ya'll will know the answer. Can you plant bulbs in the spring? (well, I know you CAN, but should you?) I'm seeing bulbs on sale at some places, but thought you planted them in the fall/winter. I know nothing about bulbs (allium, crocus & tulips growing for the first time this year), ask me about roses tho...those I know. LOL
Thanks!

disclaimer: no actual ducks were injured in the making of this graphic.

Carol, beer can be good for plant growth if you use it to trap slugs. LOL A garden tip of the day and you didn't even know it!
Julie, there are bulbs that you plant in the Fall - like tulips, daffodils, crocus, etc. - those bloom in the Spring and then there are bulbs you plant in the Spring that grow/bloom in the summer - things like glads, hostas, caladiums, Elephant Ears etc. So, I guess the answer is "Yes" you can plant bulbs in the spring. I have grown Spring flowering bulbs much more than the other type - however, I am branching out. I bought some Peruvian Daffodil bulbs this Spring (which bloom in the Summer) and quite a few others.

I have decided that my question of the day for tomorrow will be a riddle so maybe that will allow for several guesses before someone gets it. Gee, hate to make them really hard...

Has anyone in the group ever grown an upside down tomato? I think I will try one this year. Sounds like fun!

Carol, Jerry Baker says beer is good for your plants. It builds beneifical bacteria in the soil. Roses especially like a nice can around the roots. (WARNING: This only works if you actually give the beer to plants, not the planter!)

Julie, the trouble with planting bulbs that are usually planted in spring now is that a lot of them don't like the summer heat and so won't do as well but I have planted some out and they have come back fine. I just try to plant them a little extra deep so they will stay cooler. This works pretty good with daffodils but tulips are kind of iffy.

LIKE THE PARTY IDEA!

I have to tell you guys this...it reminds me of the duck & cake graphic I put up above...it still makes me laugh.
Last year on June 8th it was my mom's 64th birthday. I made her fav cake in a 13X9 pan. She kept saying she was to old for candles...so of course we put 64 candles on it. My sister & I started lighting one each end hoping to get to the middle before the outer ones melted (hehe) Well it started getting so hot trying to light all of them on a small 13X9 area my sister bagged out on me. I'm lighting like heck, so my brother jumps up to help. He lights ONE and the whole middle self ignited from the heat of the others and shot a flame about 6"s above the cake. WE both yelled in surprise and it took everyone (7 of us) blowing to put the dang thing out, with a little help from mom (who tends to panic over silly things like a blaze in her kitchen) she threw her soda at the cake, but mostly got us. LOLOL We had to go to the store and buy a sheetcake. We still had a great time & mom sure won't forget her birthday last year. This year she gets 6 candles on one side & 5 on the other. LOL
Julie

Okay, Julie, your graphic was CUTE... now it's also meaningful! LOL
Maybe we need to have a fire extinguisher handy for our birthday when we get older.

Happy Birthday Jeanne!!! I have been to Keukenhof gardens too, in March of 2002. Did you pose for a picture in the giant wooden shoe?

Yes, I did pose in the giant wooden shoes! LOL You don't happen to know what the name of the sculpture there that looks like blobs of whipped cream, do you? I've always been curious about that. We have a pictures of me with those, too. I had to check the dates of when I was there to see if we might have been there at the same time, but no - I went in April 2002.

Here is a little trivia for early in the day: The daisy got its name because of the yellow center that resembled the sun. It was known as the day's eye and was used that way by Chaucer and later was called the "daisy."

Question of the Day: At least for today, I am going to post it towards evening so those who work business hours will have a chance to guess.

Have a great day and I'll be back later with the question (riddle) that carries a prize for the lucky winner of the day!

Okay - the question of the day - which is actually a riddle - first to post the answer according to what I found gets a prize. Good luck!

For the answer, think in terms of something that might be found in a garden.

There was a green house.
Inside the green house, there was a white house
Inside the white house, there was a red house.
Inside the red house there were lots of babies.

Thank you, Kelli and Jan! What a great day, I came home to find two packages on my step - one from my sending pal and one from my receiving pal. You two are the greatest! Kelli sent me a nice birthday card with flowers on the front and a cute gnome - the type that sits on a flower pot and some Fire and Ice dahlias. These look like they will be beautiful. I just started growing dahlias. Was motivated to try them after all the discussion about dahlias by the group last year. Jan sent me a pretty floral note card and some new goodies for my kitchen - and yes, they can use replacing... How did you know? LOL

A big thank you to my pals! Please drop in to enjoy the party.

Is it a watermelon??

By the way, happy almost birthday Jeanne!! Hope you have a great one!! You deserve it for being such a beautiful person, and great friend to all of us here!

(Going crazy from all the pop-ups on GW!!)

Okay, anyway, lol, I found this on the net, thought it was funny.
Here's a garden poem:

A Week in the life of a Gardener's Spouse

She dug the plot on Monday, the soil was rich and fine
But she forgot to put the dinner on, so out we went to dine.

She planted roses Tuesday, she says they are a must.
They really were quite lovely, but she forgot to dust.

On Wednesday it was daisies they opened with the sun,
All pinks and whites and yellows, but the laundry wasn't done.

The poppies came on Thursday all bright and cherry red,
I guess she really was engrossed, she never made the bed.

It was violets here on Friday in colours she adores,
It never bothered her at all, the dirt upon our floors.

Saturday I hired a maid, I'd not admit defeat,
She can garden all she wants now and the house will still be neat

It's nearly lunchtime Sunday I cannot find the maid,
Oh I don't believe it. She's out there alongside my wife with her own spade!

Very cute Summer! LOL and painfully true

Oh my goodness...I won the first question!?!? Jeanne and Susan, I would love to see pics from your trip to Holland if you wish to share...especially that big wooden shoe! lol Coming in May there will be the Tulip Festival in Orange City, IA. Each day the streets are washed by the citizens all dressed in dutch costume and of course! wooden shoes. Everyone in town has tulips and they are site to see during the festival. :)

awwwwwwww Summer, that poem is the cutest! and true too...(for Julie)!!! *snickers and runs real fast*

Hey Julie, wanna help me pop dat bunny on the tail? Or better yet, lets tickle her on her footsie's!

This is the Question of the Day for Tuesday. It's long and I hope hard enough that we get multiple guesses. What I did was to think of 15 song titles that relate to gardening (e.g. flowers, fruit, foliage, plants, etc.) Everything is natural - there are no sprinkler systems, scarecrows, greenhouses, fertilizer, wind chimes, or anything like that. To be even more helpful, I am giving you one clue for each title. So if you can't get to sleep, you have something to do - also this has in mind those who get to sleep but are wide awake during the early morning hours.

Let's see if someone can come up with all 15! Feel free to e-mail the titles to me instead of posting them if you are worried others will copy your answers. The first one to get the highest number right will be the winner. Guessing ends at 10 p.m. tomorrow.

Clues:
1. Two of the words begin with B
2. Both of the words are names of colors
3. Two of the three words begin with C
4. One word begins with P and one begins with S
5. Two words - one begins with T
6. Two words - one begins with P
7. The word "the" appears in the title 2 times
8. Six words
9. Four words and one begins with C and one with L

10. Ends in the word "Lady"
11. Five words and they all begin with T
12. Includes the name of a state
13. I feel like I am in the produce section when I hear this song.
14. I have never eaten the food mentioned in this song title and I suspect you have not either
15. One word title and it is a flower

Hope that helps. Good luck. After the hard work that went into this one, I may have an easy one for Wed. LOL

Faint, I'll try to scan in a picture of the big shoes and the whipped cream blobs when I get a chance.

Here's a computer to use if you get really baffled. LOL

{{gwi:1253635}}

Thanks to Stephanie/Pastvast for the wonderful box this month! She always includes the best letters (do you know how long it's been since I got mail other than bills or plants???). And of course she had some wonderful news this month (see her post for details)!

Stephanie sent me several gardening magazines this month which will come in handy. I'm spending a lot of time in Dr.'s waiting rooms lately so reading material is great! She also sent a journal and matching refrigerator notepad with daisies on them. My DH even commented on how cute these are.

Thanks again, Stephanie/Pastvast! Your boxes always brighten my day. Congratulations to you also!

Sorry Jeanne, I'm no good with riddles, more of a tell it like it is type! lol But bumping us up! Hope you're having a great birthday week!

Diane

Gee, I thought the last two questions were too easy so now I guess I made this one too hard. I will post the answers about the song titles tomorrow even if no one guesses.
Talk with everyone tomorrow.
Diane - thanks for the card! I didn't even remember that you had my mailing address. Sure am having a nice birthday week - a busy one though.

Hello everyone. I was in last year's edition of the Garden Circle Exchange Ring. Just dropped in to say hello.

Happy Birthday, Sandlapper... looks like you have a great bunch of ladies on the exchange. I've been reading the posts off and on.

As for your game, Garden theme songs I thought of:
I Never Promised You a Rose Garden
Orange Crush (REM)
Raspberry Beret (Prince)
Octopus's Garden (Beatles)

Are any of these correct???

Thanks,

Happy Birthday to Jeanne! I hope you have a wonderful day.

Save this special cake for the day of your birthday. LOL
It is the 29th isn't it? LOL

6. Paper Flowers
8. Where have all the flowers gone?

10. Red roses for a blue lady
11. Tiptoe thru the tulips
12. Yellow rose of Texas

That's all i can think of now, nyquil is my friend
Julie

I emailed my guesses on the songs. I hope I got at least a couple of them right.

Julie,
I was emailing some of the same titles while you were posting them. I hope I beat you LOL

#2 Black & White ?
#3 Crimson in Clover ?
#6 Paper Roses ?
#11 Tip Toe Through The Tulips ?
#12 Yellow Rose Of Texas ?
#13, Apples, Peaches, Pumpkin Pie ?

Happy Birthday Jeanne!

Thanks for the birthday wishes, everyone! So far we've spent the day taking the horses to the vet to get their spring shots and their teeth done. It took an hour to get both of them loaded on the trailer which was really bad on the timing, but I was just thankful no one got hurt - us or the horses. I know my husband was ready to give up way before that, but I have been after him for over a year to take the horses in to get their teeth done (I don't deal with pulling the horse trailer) so it was a birthday gift for me to have that out of the way! My older horse will be turning 27 soon so she definitely needed a chaeck up. As it turned out, the vet said the 27 yr. old has much better teeth than what he would expect and the 11 yr. old has teeth that are worse than what he would expect.
Anyway, I never got any e-mail guesses about the song titles so I don't know what happened there. I even checked my spam folder. Here are the answers and the clues. I'll have to look back to see who had the most correct guesses and I'll post it later. I made a word scramble type thing for today, so take a guess at those and win a prize on my birthday!!! (It's after the song titles.)

Song Clues and Titles
1. Build Me Up Buttercup (Two of the words begin with B)
2 Lavender's Blue (Both words are names of colors)
3 Crimson and Clover (two fo the words begin with C)
4 Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, Thyme (There is a word beginning with P and one that begins with S)
5 Lemon Tree - Word begins with T
6 Garden Party - Word begins with P
7 The Holly and the Ivy - Word "the" appears in the title 2 times
8 I Heard it Through the Grapevine - six words
9 Lime in the Coconut (A word that starts with L and one that starts with C)
10 Red Roses for a Blue Lady (ends in the word Lady)
11 Tip Toe Through the Tulips (5 words and they all begin with T)
12 The Yellow Rose of Texas (includes the name of a state)
13 Apples, Peaches, Pumpkin, Pie (I feel like I am in the produce section when I sing this.)
14 Poke Salad Annie (I have never eaten the dish inclued in this title - maybe you have not either)
15 Edelweiss - One word and the word is the name of a flower

Today's question of the day: Who can solve these word scrambles and get the names of flowers. The first person to e-mail or post here and guess all of them will be the winner!

ORIDMALG
FLOIDFAD
NPANGOSARD
LIEVTO
ADILHA

Have a good day, everyone, and thanks again for the birthday wishes!!!
I have a great group of friends here - and Paul so happy to hear from you - Paul was a special member last year - being the only guy in the group. We sure were happy to have him join us!!!
Jeanne

1. Marigold
2.Daffodil
3. Snapdragon
4. Violet
5. Dahlia

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO UUUUUUUUUUUUUUU
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO UUUUUUUUUUUUU
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR DEAR JEANNE
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

Forgot to add this LOL

Julie - you are today's winner - and wow - you got those guesses in before I even listed yesterday's winner!

Yesterday's winner was Gardeningmomof3 with 4 correct guesses. Julie came in second - and Debbie, I even checked in my spam folder, and your e-mail never reached me so I thank you for playing. If you had more than four, what can I say? Maybe we could all applaud for you or something.

Anyway, yesterday was hard. I will come up with something easier for the remianing games.

Off to enjoy some more of the day. Thanks again for the birthday wishes!

Hi Jeanne
Happy Birthday!! My question is are you sharing that special birthday cake that bojo96 sent? Remember me your friend..the single one!! LOL
I am so glad you were able to get the horses done as I know you really wanted that taken care of!!
I hope you enjoy your special day!!
Hey Paul thanks for stopping in .. stop more often no need to be a stranger ya know? !!Jeanne has done a wonderful job as being our hostess!!
Gosh almost April..........still waiting for spring weather here in MI ! Come on ladies send some sunshine and warm temps my way!
Thanks for all who sent the graphics! I appreicate it and someday I will get into them myself!
Do we have any April birthdays?
I am heading out of town to see Big and Rich and G. Wilson in concert.I think it should be a good concert! They are playing in a college town ... gosh starting to feel old! It will be at MI state which is the ag. college here in MI. They have tons of gardens so I might just have to show up early and check them out!! It is always warmer in that part of the state so just maybe I will see a few bulbs or something blooming! take care

Happy Birthday Jeanne,
Hope you have a great one!




Karen

Happy Birthday to you Jeanne!!

LOL...got lucky on the timing, I guess. Checked in before heading to work & there they were.
Hope your birthday was great.
Julie

Hope you had a great Birthday Jeanne, Sorry i missed the real day but wishing you a geat year, starting today.
Thanks are due to my great Pal Jan she sent me a nice heavy box that i'll open and tell you about tomorrow.
BB

Not long until Easter so I decided to make the question of the day a true-false list of statements about the wonderful Easter lily. You do not have to guess all correctly in order to win. The first guesser with the highest number right will win.

1. Easter lilies and some other lilies can cause kidney failure in cats.
2. Most of the Easter lily bulbs grown in the U.S. are grown in fields up and down the east coast.
3. According to legend, when Jesus walked the earth, all the plants and animals  beautiful and ugly alike  bowed their heads in respect. The lily, however, considered itself too beautiful and proud to bow. After the Crucifixion, the lily was so ashamed it bowed its head, and continues to do so as a sign of respect.
4. Biblical legend tells us that the lily flower came from God's tears when Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden of Eden.
5. The Easter Lily (Lilium longiforum) is native to the Ryukyu Islands of southern Japan, as well as the islands of Okinawa, Amani, and Erabu.
6. Although Easter lilies came to England in 1819, commercial bulb production initially started in Turkey in 1853.
7. The Turkish lily industry was devastated in 1898 because of a series of wars.
8. Around the turn of the century, the Japanese took over the annual growing and exportation of Easter Lilies to the United States, and continued to dominate the U. S. export market until the start of World War II.
9. If you receive a potted Easter lily, you should remove the foil that covers the pot because it will reflect sunlight and the plant will not receive the sunlight it needs in order to grow.

10. If you take that potted plant and replant it in the garden and the leaves shrivel up and die, you have killed your plant so dig it up and put it in the compost bin.

Good luck, Garden Circle Exchange Ring members. Just post a list of answers according to what you think is true and false. (For example, 1 - T, 2 - T, 3 - F, etc.)

I hope you've had fun with the questions, poems, and trivia. I will post one more question on Friday. Let's see who today's winner will be!

Sent you an e-mail with my guesses.....

Just a quick note for Alicia.
I mailed your April pkg. out last night. Hopefully, you should receive it in couple of days. It was sent by priority.
I hope you enjoy everything in the box!

USPS tracking #0305 1720 0000 6248 6046

Well, the day isn't quite over, but I will have a very busy day tomorrow, so let me go ahead and say CONGRATULATIONS to Kelli who won today's "Question(s) of the Day." Kelli got every one right!
If you want to check your guesses, the T-F answers were: 1-T, 2- F, 3-T, 4-F, 5-T, 6-F, 7-F, 8-T, 9-F, 10-F.

I will also go ahead and post the Question of the Day for our last day - Fri. Take a guess and try to win the last prize in our Garden Party. I think I am about "partied out" - LOL
Here it is: When I participated in the Garden Circle Exchange Ring in 2005, who did I send to and receive from? (GardenWeb names are fine...)

No guesses on the party question from me. I have a bad case of CRS and it doesn't seem to get better.
Now my buddy, Plantlady Jan has a good "rememberer". She remembered that I'll be away over Easter and she sent Easter/April presents early. What a nice surprise. There is a wooden Happy Easter sign for on my door. Guess it is time to take down the one that says "Fat Snowmen Last Longer". This year they are lasting too long even for me to appreciate. The new sign has a cute bunny holding a carrot on a string.
A note pad holder with a brown bunny and beautiful spring flowers was the next thing I pulled out. Cute as can be and it has place for a picture on top. For now I'll enjoy the message that says Love Grows in a Garden.So true.
Then came a nicely framed print of a snowman and a cat standing in a snowstorm. Really cute and it says Let it Snow. About 90% of the time I say that too. It is really nice and will be one of my treasures in my new house. Very "country" and will be perfect there.
Jan sent me a welcome stone for my garden too. It has Daffodils(SP??) bees and dragonflies. It will start off standing beside my new front door. Later I'll find a special place in the garden for this.
A chocolate bunny and an "energy therapy" cleansing bar for body and soul.Hummm maybe both together will give me enough energy to get me moving again. OK Jan,picture me singing in the shower while nibbling the ears off the chocolate bunny and lathering up with the energy bar. Well, maybe don't picture it but you get the idea. I need all the energy I can get these days. I'll let you know how it works.
A nice soft pair of gloves will still be useful. It was -11 degrees when I came out of work this morning. I lost my favorite pair St PAtty's day/night. It's always good to have spare gloves in this climate
The candle with the bunny on it is just precious. Bunny is sitting up to get a good look at all the flowers and butterflys around him on the holder. The design is pale springish colors of lavender, sage, lt yellow, and blue. So fresh and pretty, I can't describe it very well, but, I love it.
Thanks again Jan. I hope the bunny finds your house too.

Sandlapper_rose : You received from Poocherella and you sent to Twinkle in last years Garden Cirle Exchange.

Ann,
Your package went in the mail today....Conf #03052200000131547737.
It has been a glorious day today...it couldn't get any more perfect. I spent the day re-doing my little pond. My oldest boy and I built it 15 years ago when he was 9. This winter a gopher tunneled under it and cracked the liner. So I had my handy husband dig everything up and make the pond a foot deeper. We put in a new liner and I re-did all the rocks so that none of the liner shows this time. I am so pleased with the finished product. Next....a dry steam bed by the back of the house. Debbie, it has finally gotten warm enough that I planted out all the plants you sent me for the blue and yellow garden. I also ordered some dwarf butterly bushes and a caryoptsis. It is going to be so pretty. I can hardly wait to see it all in bloom

Gardeningmomof3 wins again!!! Congratulations and thanks for playing. I will get some prizes out in the next few days. I hope someone else will decide to have a birthday party. I promise to play the games if you do...
It was a fun week - time for me to buckle down now and get back to normal.