Barbe, I did find the following information: "Legend of the Cherokee Rose. No better symbol exists of the pain and suffering of the Trail Where They Cried than the Cherokee Rose(pictured at top of page). The mothers of the Cherokee grieved so much that the chiefs prayed for a sign to lift the mother's spirits and give them strength to care for their children. From that day forward, a beautiful new flower, a rose, grew wherever a mother's tear fell to the ground. The rose is white, for the mother's tears. It has a gold center, for the gold taken from the Cherokee lands, and seven leaves on each stem that represent the seven Cherokee clans that made the journey. To this day, the Cherokee Rose prospers along the route of the "Trail of Tears". The Cherokee Rose is now the official flower of the State of Georgia. " If your flower turns out to be a rose, this might be the source. The seed doesn't have a hole through the center, does it? (I love to research the web!) Bev

I live in Northbrook and there are cracks in the soil of my garden that are at least 2 inches wide and run for 8-10 feet. When watering, I pour water down these cracks and they never fill up. I have seen some trees wilting from the dryness too.

It IS taking a long time to load, Bonnie. I was able to fold half a line of clothes waiting . . . Does starting a harvest thread make sense? I had lettuce in my lunch sandwich today but we are definitely down to the last of it. We'll see if the most recent transplants can overcome the dog days of Summer. Three beds of peas have been ripped out so far. I harvested the shallots from sets this week! A little early but it was either get them out of the ground or allow the weeds in the bed to run to seed! What is with the onion family? They offer ZERO resistance to weeds and trying to pull a weed beside an onion at almost any stage of growth means taking a 50/50 chance of ripping the onion out of the ground along with the weed! Fortunately, I've still got the shallots-from-seed left in the bed, uh well, 50% of them. I think they'll be able to grow to be sets that can survive a Winter. I'd be pleased to get another variety going. All onions are doing well where more attentive weeding prevailed. Altho' I am a little worried about my leeks. I blamed the American Flag variety for being so scrawny last year and went back to Lancelot . . . they seem rather scrawny, themselves. It looks as tho' sweet onions from seed will continue "bulbing-up" sufficiently not to embarrass me in o8. The sweets from plants are HUGE! The little leeks will get more fish emulsion tomorrow and maybe they can catch up. The 1st zucchini came off a vine nearly 10 days ago. Not much sign of anything else in the cucurbit patch with the exception of small Fastbreak cantaloupes forming! Oh, and it looks like I'll have a good sized pun'kin for Halloween. The earliest of the sweet corn has started to tassel. And hey, I've got the 1st Dusky eggplant for tomorrow's lunch!! Somehow, it seems like we should be later in the season . . . Maybe that's because we went from a cool Spring, to very pleasant warm weather, to some Summer HEAT, to today. Whereas it was 91° mid-afternoon yesterday, it was 63° with a smattering of rain showers at the same time today. Makes it seem like Autumn. digitS'

Four fantastic shell-looking coasters arrived in the mail today. THANK YOU BEV! The batteries in my camera need to be replaced, so I'll have to describe them to you all. The tops are made of fabric with lots of shells in it, and the bottoms are sky blue with poofy clouds mixed in. They are all shaped like shells, and Bev quilted the shell lines into them. They are just too cool, and yes Bev, perfect! Now, how did you ever know I'm a beach addict? LOL! Either tomorrow or Saturday I'm going to have to go to the grocery store and pick up the ingredients so I can mix up some pineapple sunrises and use them! Thanks Again Bev!!!