Thanks everyone! I tried to put info in "my page" but it's not showing so I'll brief it here...I've gardened all my life but recently had to downsize to a Studio Apt which I share with my 12yr old Tortie Point Himalayan Queen buddy.We share a nine foot SW exposure bay window to grow Hipps in.Yah,her Cat tower is in the middle and she will soon be sorrounded by pots and blooms.Currently I have a Samba,Moonlight,Madrid,Faro and a Dancing Queen in bud.I had no blooms for Christmas because 2 of 3 shipments arrived frozen via UPS and FedEx.The 3rd from JS was cancelled because they use UPS exclusively.(bummer eh) Fortunately I received a few replacements and also found a few bulbs here locally in our many Garden Centers.Local selections had been on sale for sometime.Most bulbs had been picked thru and looked very unpromising.I had already had my fill of bruised,dark,oozing sick partially frozen bulbs already.From what I've read here ALL of you have had this lovely experience eh? A great gal named Kathleen at Easytogrow is sending me a few bulbs Monday.We did a test run of a few bulbs via USPS already and that worked great.No frozen crispy soon to be mushies! I went to RC today to order a few more.I'd especially like to try "Showmaster" and "Exotica"Unfortunately they are not accepting any USA orders at this time.It's really quite sad that JS is sitting on all those Bulbs that they cannot get out because of Temps.I've bought from them before and always recieved FAT healthy bulbs from them.If they would opt to ship USPS by buyer choice.They'd have a customer right here! You think? funny eh..In the last few weeks here (sans blooms) and bitter cold of Minnesota.I could come here and see all your posts,the pix and read.I'm blest and humbled by all the experts that keep this Forum alive and blooming.You're unique and amazing people.It's going to be an adventure hanging here with all of you.There are many bulbs that I want to try and that will all come in time.I heard mention of Importing from Maguires? Count me in! One I'd like for sure is "City of Grafton" See the wish list has started and I know of this CHAD syndrome.I must keep in mind my window space and if my Cat buddy gets ticked I might be asked to leave......lol Peace.Mark Pix will come with Blooms Also,I travel Quebec,Quebec and to the North at least twice a year.I have done so for many years and it's home away from home.I love the Culture,People and Natural beauty there.You bet I speak Canadien French also

Happy 2014 BO!! ROBERT!! EVERYONE !! Gosh. Things have gotten a bit busy for me.. but I'm hoping to catch up with all of YOUs soon. Okay Bo, yes, yes, yes, yes, and YESSS to all 5 of those plants. I haven't stalked Logee's website for a while but let me see... -My favorites for fragrance are the Jamaican Lady and the Chinese Perfume. But the other Lady of the Night (brunf. gigantea) is so easy to live with, has a nice scent and wafts incredibly far. -If you like the smell of Banana then Michelia figo is perfect. Grab a Rauwenhoffia siamensis too! (Similar scent. I like both.) -I love Jasmine Maid, but maybe you could sub it for a Jasmine Belle?? Belle's bloom lasts longer (2 days) comparing to Maid's. Belle has a stronger scent too. Bo, you need to stop by Portland Nursery and grab a pot of Daphne! Mine has started blooming a few days ago (since Christmas). This is its 3rd season, and its jasmine-ny & ginger-ry (lol) fragrance is so beautiful. You too Robert; yes, you need to have a pot of daphne as well! Lol. :)) I wonder how fenius's daphne is doing? Happy New Year, everyone! :))) This post was edited by kemistry on Wed, Jan 1, 14 at 21:09

Thank you Ann. I posted and it did not appear for at least 10 minutes so I posted again. The edit feature did not allow me to delete the double comment. Happy New Year! Teresa

Yep, birds and berries - always a risk...but I eat them too - there are few berries, heps and haws that have not found their way into various jams. jellies, chutneys and preserves - have been known to munch happily on fuschia and was thrilled when the rampant iochroma produced rather choice fruits. I discovered the joys of chokeberries, juneberries, saskatoons etc a few years ago and literally grew up on rosehip syrup and have been doing serious research into rubus varieties (so many...and often extremely beautiful too. Bearing in mind the paucity of UK natives (being an island under successive glaciations) the general horticultural thrust in Britain has been predicated on our imperial adventures and planthunting past...plus a very, very different attitude towards invasives, so yeah, I do chuck a lot of plant names about but compared to my recent past, I have become the soul of rectitude and responsibility...at least here in the woods (on the allotment, anything goes). Consider, for example, there are only 21 native species of tree...and a third of them are compromised by disease threats or utterly unsuitable to my soil...so I would say we are pretty much on the same page when it comes to increasing diversity - especially pertinent on a monoculture plantation such as mine. Every single inch of the UK has been managed, altered, refined by humans - there is NO virgin or unmanaged land anywhere at all so our invasive list has been steady at around 13 species for decades (I especially enjoy enraging US people by the deliberate planting of buckthorn - a good bird cover and hedge constituent). Also, it is fair to say, my little 5.5 acres can easily withstand the planting of risky species since I am marooned in the midst of agricultural Norfolk flatlands and watermeadows - the biggest environmental threat comes from herbicide run off and unmanaged ditches incubating Himalayan balsam Japanese saws - what can I say except wow. I was introduced to pullsaws years and years ago and have been a convert ever since, particularly given my puny upper body strength, it is much, much easier on the pull than on the push, to cut through tough woody growth...and when that growth is damp and fibrous, even more so. Another massive plus for hand saws is their repairability. I had a very salutary lesson this summer when an idiot friend decided to strim one of the rides in my absence...resulting in the destruction of $800 worth of Stihl brushcutter. The repairs cost me another $550!...and because it was a fuel mix issue, it was not even under warranty (teethgnashing). And nothing is more attractive to thieves than those orange Husky or Stihl power tools - I know of not a single arbourist who has not been robbed, persistently (including us)...yet nobody glances twice at my collection of pullsaws. True, the pole is the least of it and you could almost certainly fasten a decent blade to any lightweight length of pole (although I am seriously struggling with anything over 13feet). Oh yeah, reminds me - those ipomopsis I planted most certainly thrived - must have transplanted them quickly enough to develop taproots in situ...but I have already collected this seasons seed (weird looking stuff or what) from the allotment plantings and sown a whole heap with anomatheles lessoniana (pheasant grass). I also did some trades for the aristolochia fimbriata....