Carrie, I just moved some daffodils that I forgot to mark last spring. I wanted them in a more naturalized state. HUGE clumps of bulbs that were planted eons ago by someone who lived here until the early 80s. I also divided a coreopsis. Since our ground never really freezes, I was told I could do that. I did Shastas in early January and they've put out tons of new babies already. I also moved some irises, some hyacinths, and sprayed the front hill with Roundup getting it ready to plant my periwinkle. I'm going to be planting out on Sunday. Cabbage, lettuce, carrots, etc. Tonight will drop below freezing again so I want to wait one more day. After that, we have 9 days with no freezing temps and highs in the 60s and 70s. It's 55 right now with an expected high of 70. I just can't contain my giddiness. Glad to hear other parts of the country are warming up too. I love the south.

Well we got pounded up to 24 inches and then it drifted to 3 feet in areas. Hubby shovled the driveway on sat and I did 2 360's on the way to the barn. Spent sat making sure every one had food and water cause was not sure when could get back to them. Hubby thought what a great day to do xmas shopping, he did his lol all by him self and honest did a great job, no one else was out with 4 wheel drive it seems and those like me did a slide decided not to venture out again. Funny on 12/15 did my last sowing of the pasture grass here in south NJ 5 lbs of perennial rye. I bought alot of seeds at the seed store( think where the farmers go to get seeds). Been saveing up kitty litter jugs for my tomato seeds this year and a few lettuce for the peeps and my self. On thursday it was like 30 degrees here at 4 pm and heard a sound would not like to hear a week before xmas. PEEPS, my little bany hen hatched out 9 chicks. So nabbed up the mom and put them in the kitchen at the farm house to stay warm. She loves her little ones and since her first hatch was 4 ducklings this summer figured she needed her little ones. Going to be a long winter and need to grow them some lettuce. Thank goodness for this forum and winter sowing. ML

Susan, The nice thing is that she can be whatever she wants to be as long as she's willing to work for it. When my now 24-year-old niece was 3-years-old, Tim asked her "What do you want to be when you grow up?" and she replied "Barbie!" Well, she didn't grow up to be a Barbie doll after all, but she is a mom herself now and that was her real dream all along. Chipotle heat varies depending on which kind of jalapenos you use to make them. Chipotles are just roasted jalapenos and you can roast them in the oven or on the grill. I freeze them but they also can be canned in adobo sauce. It sounds like you had an amazingly successful butterfly year. After having very low butterfly numbers in 2008, everything seemed to return to normal this year, and I still have tons of butterflies here in the first week of November. There are all kinds, but especially the sulphurs. In August and September, it was mostly swallowtails. If I pay attention to what is going on around me, I'll see butterflies here almost every month of the year....although not too many in January and early February. I am not sure about the grasshopppers for 2010. We saw their population make a strong resurgence all over Oklahoma this year but we won't know for 2-4 more months if their numbers will climb higher and peak in 2010 (likely) or if 2009 was a peak. A very cold and very wet winter works against them, so let's hope for 'cold', since the El Nino pattern more or less guarantees 'wet'. For us here in southern OK, there are years we start seeing grasshoppers hatching out at the very end of January or in earliest February. In a year when that happens, I make a mental note to buy one of the natural baits with nosema locuste (Grasshopper Attack or Semaspore or Nolo Bait) in it and scatter some once the hoppers are 1/4 to 1/2" long. It kills them quickly when they are in the younger instars. I only put out a little if I am seeing early hatchings, but I put out more every couple of weeks through about early May. If you can catch them early, they are easy to deal with. If I don't see a lot of grasshoppers hatching out until March or early April, that's a good sign and likely we'll have lower populations. So, by mid-Spring, we'll know for sure. And, of course, it goes without saying that there's not much we can do about the other grasshoppers that migrate into our yards during the summer since they grew up elsewhere, but I do think it helps if you've been able to keep the native population very low before the migrating ones arrive. Because grasshoppers were bad, blister beetles were bad too, although they were bad late. The blister beetles eat a lot of things, and I believe grasshopper eggs are one of their food sources. So, if we are seeing lots of hoppers, we'll have to brace ourselves for lots of blister beetles. We had prolonged heat in part of July and part of August which did make those water bills pretty high, but the rest of the year the water bill was just a dream. The important thing was that the rain came along every so often and kept the garden in heavy production a lot longer than normal. I can justify the high water bill if I'm harvesting oodles of produce, which I was. For once, I didn't have to just give up on watering and walk away and let the drought take the garden from me, so it was very nice. The amazing thing about our rain, Susan.....here in Love County we had 23" in 2008 and, so far, about 48" in 2009. I guess you can see where our average annual rainfall (36-38") comes from. I have to say that I prefer the 48" years to the 23" years. Grandkids are fun. We just should have had them first! Dawn

Thank you Lisa for Sharing!!! Sheri ~ if u don't have enough, its okay if I don't get all of them. Sharing is caring :) Mammoth Yellow Sunflower Luna White Hibiscus zone 5-10 Balloon Flower Sentimental Blue Helenium "Helena Red Shades" Liatris spicata Purple Blazing Star Liatris floristan White Herb: Spilanthes oleracae HAVE A WONDERFU WEDNESDAY!!