I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving week. Kids are back to school tomorrow, much work to be done, Christmas gifts to buy and plans to be made! We even have a CHANCE of snow on Tuesday (won't stick.. but still!) I received a couple more packages this weekend: Here's the updated list: Here's an update on swap members and packages received: 1. poisondartfrog /Alana ~ pkg rec'd 2. lois / Lois ~ pkg rec'd 3. onedaylily / Margie ~ pkg rec'd 4. farmergirl2009 / Ellie ~ pkg rec'd 5. roper2008 / Linda ~ pkg rec'd 6. texaspinkie / Rebecca ~ 7. apoppyfield / Ann ~ pkg rec'd 8. caroleapony / Donna ~ pkg rec'd 9. tlfox / Tiffany ~ 10. shemeows / Maria ~ pkg rec'd 11. hibiscusfan / Suzanne ~ pkg rec'd 12. tracyokc / Tracey ~ pkg rec'd 13. flowergirl34 / Vina ~ pkg rec'd 14. ktrout / Karrigan ~ 15. thatannagirl / Anna ~ pkg rec'd 16. Indiana.Matt / Matthew ~ 17. ibartoo / Linda ~ 18. pumkingal / Lisa ~ pkg rec'd 19. october17 / Ellie ~ pkg rec'd 20. xiangirl / Heidi ~ pkg rec'd 21. kellyk49 / Kelly ~ pkg rec'd 22. gardenunusual2 / Tanya ~ 23. tomerrol / Tom ~ 24. beautifulreddahlias / Nina ~ 25. puffie / Muffy ~ pkg rec'd 26. flower2 / Mitchell ~ pkg rec'd 27. cashclan / Sharon ~ pkg rec'd 28. shant (?) / Shanti ~ 29. vajeff / Jeff ~ 30. sinbadsmom / Kathy ~ pkg rec'd 31. lceh / Lynne ~ pkg rec'd 32. peaches0104 / Julie ~ pkg rec'd 33. lightning96 / Beth ~ 34. snapdragon36 / Debbie ~ pkg rec'd 35. Molanic / Morgan ~ pkg rec'd 36. docmom / Martha ~ pkg rec'd 37. nan-6161 / Nancy ~ pkg rec'd 38. sandysgardens / Sandy ~ 39. drippy / Kim ~ pkg rec'd 40. rane_grow / Iris ~ 41. Gretchensgarden / Gretchen ~ pkg rec'd 42. daisydawnny / Dawn ~ pkg rec'd That's the current update of received packages as of mail delivery to me on Saturday. I'm sure more will be arriving all this coming week! Now, don't forget about the game I posted last week! So far, only one person has turned words in and they did a GREAT job!! Here's the details for you again: The latest game challenge will be a simple one as this is a wild and crazy week for everyone that's busy cleaning and cooking or traveling for Thanksgiving. Before you know it we will be stringing the lights and shopping mad sales at all hours of the night and day... The dates for this challenge will run through Dec. 10th. The challenge is a simple word find game. A popular one that's been making the rounds on the round robin forum this year. Email me a list of as many words as you can come up with from the words "Winter Sowing Swap". All words must be at least 3 letters and up. For instance, "Winter" could be one word. "Sow" could be a word, "tan" and so on. (There! I just gave you 3 freebies! :) The winner will receive a bonus flower package of 10 packs tailored to items on their wish list. Have fun! ~Wendy

The first two blooms are now open for a day and I tried some time to get the right colour. I've got to tweak my wacky camera a bit more, but for now I got some nice results:

I have a problem with my 4 ft Chamaecyparis thyoides 'Top Point'. I got it from Greers 2 yrs ago, looks now close to a skeleton, will give it another month to show new growth. It does not have a girdling root, I checked, and I sprayed it last year against insects, does not seem to have scale. Last summer it had a huge crop of cones. My 1 yr old, 1 ft tall, Abies koreana 'CIS' got all upper foliage yellow, has still some green lowers. I will wait into June before making a decision. As dcsteg Dave says, Abies koreana in zone 5 is only marginally hardy. Though my A.k. 'Green Carpet' is doing fine. We must have had a very cold winter compared to past years. I.e. my large magnolia only has a few flowers, all through the area only the lower branches of forsythia have flowers. My 'CIS' was in a chicken wire cage filled loosely with bark chips. Most of the winter it was covered with 2 ft snow. : ( Bernd

Mango K - fascinating and simple article you attached - the machine of frigid winters - extra snow in Siberia from global warming's excess polar ice melt - who knew!!??? Abayomi - I'm already amazed at how mangos are surviving such frigid Florida temps even as we speak, so you might be right. Perhaps they are evolving with the cold, but that generally is a slow process and these cold streaks seem to happening a bit too much and fast for plant evolution, me thinks, at this point. Actually, I'm living on the razor's edge (I think) of being able to grow Mangos, papayas, apples, pears, peaches, macadamias, almonds, blueberris etc. due to just enough chill hours bred in to those hybridized "low chill" fruit varieties to produce and not quite enough cold to kill the mangos and papayas, etc. If enough winter lows stay between 32 and 45, as they have been the last 10 years or so that I've lived here (other than a single overnight stretch of 26 degrees back in Feb. 2007 that did some damage and maybe a dozen hits or so of right around 32)I benefit from getting enough chill hours for some fruits, and mere dormancy or slow growth for the semi-tropicals.... THe Mac Tree hasn't produced yet (only 3 years old) but everything else has.... interesting, eh? mangobiscuit